LTC 8740 - Day 5

Chapter 6 Eisner

Thus far, The Centrality of Curriculum and the Function of Standards has been my favorite chapter in Eisner’s book. Chapter 6 is covered with bright yellow Sharpie gel highlighting and the margins are filled with an assortment of stars, YES, and ME TOOs.

Both Freedman and Eisner agree that there is no one right way to create a curriculum. Additionally, there is a need for some form of standards and guidelines, but they need to have room for flexibility. No two students are the same, no two teachers, are the same, and the arts are definitely not one size fits all. Arts integration appeals to me, because real life is not separate. It makes sense that meaning-making take place across and through the subjects. However, please don’t expect me to sacrifice the quality of what I do to meet the criteria for another class. Integrated learning has to be meaningful for all those involved. Eisner says this makes more demands on the teacher. Amen to that, and you risk creating a really sticky wicket when the classroom teacher assumes that their model of project based learning fits into your curriculum. Anyone up for building salt dough maps of the state? No thanks, but thank you for offering!

In the amount of time I have been in my district we have rewritten the art curriculum twice. The first time I was a baby teacher, and remained very quiet, taking everything in and trusting my more experienced colleagues to do the job. The last time, and some of you are familiar with this story, I was quite vocal. “The curriculum,” I argued, “ needs to be based on more than the elements and principals, we need to focus on overarching commonalities and big ideas.” My colleagues were aghast!” What?! That’s too hard and besides, I already have all my examples and lesson plans for teaching the Elements ad Principals.” “ We’d be limiting ourselves and locked into teaching the same things.” “ It takes too long to teach big ideas and we’d never have any student artwork for the annual art show, nor good student art to hang on the walls.” Yes, I’m telling you folks, it was BAD! Oh, I failed to mention that we were expected to accomplish the arduous task of writing the entire K-6 curriculum in a time span of three hours. More BAD. I’d like to say that I was able to convince the group that my way was the best for students, but sadly enough, I was kind of ostracized from the group. (Don’t mind her, she likes to toss around fancy words, but clearly she wouldn’t know a good art project from a hole in the ground. She barely had anything to hang on the bulletin board for her month at the administration building. Okay, so I probably just imagined that last part.)

Chapter 6 Freedman (Concepts and Fragments and Culture – OH MY!)

“If we choose, we can promote ideals that have been impor-

tant to the arts and to democratic curriculum, such as intellectual free-

dom, creative imagination, and social responsibility.” (p 106) YES, and, (my new way of thinking, thanks Michelle R!) In the words of my hero, Olivia Gude  “We must also acknowledge that there is also too much time devoted to teaching skills or perceptual awareness with outmoded, time-consuming methods and that this takes away from the time in which students can develop creative capacities and complex critical thinking while engaging in authentic meaning making art activities.” (https://naea.digication.com/omg/Welcome/published)

Both the ways and the content taught, or not taught affect the student’s outlook on the way he perceives the world, and his role in the world. When the curriculum places too much emphasis on formalism, it is easy to perceive the subject as a frill. However, as Freedman says, when art education focuses on meaning, interpretation, and representation, learning in and through the arts is critical and essential. 

The Visual Literacy White Paper Dr. Anne Bamford

“To be an effective communicator in today’s world, a person needs to be able to interpret, create and select images to convey a range of meanings.” (p 1) Bamford asserts that visual literacy, like curriculum, is something that cannot be fixed. Visual literacy is social, and requires a skill set that should be taught across subject areas. A higher level of understanding in visual communication does not develop on its own without being taught.  One strategy described for developing visual literacy is the study and discussion of images in what the author describes as a “creative and innovative way.” VTS immediately came to mind.

As I said in an earlier post, learning in and through the arts is not about teaching students what to think, but giving them the tools to think on their own, a critical skill for a democratic society.