Week 7 - Playing, Creativity, and Possibility - Olivia Gude

Kindergartener's depiction of Respect

A common pretense in the field of art education is that the practice of art making fosters the development of creativity yet Gude asserts the majority of art curriculums falls short when it comes to the development of “deeply personal creative behaviors.” (p 32) Skill and vocabulary based content standards leave little room to support the growth of meaningful making. Referencing the book, On Becoming a Person, by Carl Rogers (1961) , Gude tells us that the key components for creative growth stem from: play - the freedom to experiment, “openness to experience” - a willingness to consider possibilities  and the ability to “trust one’s own processes and perceptions”. (p 36 - 37)

My response - One of Liv’s personal goals is to be more articulate. She said “ I want to absorb the readings so well that I can recite them, quote them, and be able to use them to articulate.” What a powerful goal! If I could only absorb one reading to that extent, I would want it to be anything written by Olivia Gude. Internalizing her wisdom would provide great ammunition in my ongoing battle for curriculum change. The art teachers in my district met last week after hanging our annual art show. All of them would argue that their lessons develop creativity, however, three out of seven said that their projects were “directed” and left little room for students to do anything on their own. This was in regard to a report card standard, and the teachers saw nothing wrong with their practice. One of them even went on to say, “Over the years, I’ve learned that you cannot get quality student work without showing them what to do, step-by-step.” Yikes! As if quality student work involved making pretty pictures to hang in the hall! It would be nice to imagine that this is an exception, however,  a quick check of student work posted to artsonia or a look at the most popular art teacher blogs will reveal that though this type of art teaching should have died out a long, long time ago, it is, in fact, alive and well. In my case, it even threatens to outvote my attempts at being a change agent. Hence my need to channel Gude at will!

Where /when do you notice “discomfort” when you are teaching? Gude gives the example of a teacher whose frustration stems from student inability to fearlessly engage in the act of art making. Conversely, students are frustrated because they have no experience with the process of open-ended meaning making. She goes on to describe an equation of frustration: students half-heartedly going through the motions of producing art + teacher focus on the students who “get it” = shallow end product + teacher who blames student attitude. In the end, it’s a fail / fail situation.

Most of my elementary students will eagerly go wherever I want to take them. The majority readily engages in VTS discussions, and I try to design lessons that have a real life connection for them. They tend to be excited over new processes, media, and techniques and it is easy for me to feed off of that excitement. I do experience frustration stemming from seeing 430 students on a three-day rotation with no passing time between classes. I am often the last person to leave the building. I feel over-worked because I am overworked! I make a conscious effort not to let that fact define who I am and what I do though. Most of the time I am fairly successful, I like my job, and I feel like I am making a difference. J When it comes to actual discomfort, as much as I hate to admit it, it would probably be the scenario Gude describes. I only have a few students who would fall into the “never gets it” category, and as shameful as it is, after a repeated number of failed attempts, upon reflection, I think I do unconsciously tend to give up on those students. An example of this would be one of my fifth grade boys, who I will call Martin. Martin is an eleven-year-old, African American boy, new to my building this year. His work is sloppy and rapidly executed. Finished products are the level of work of a much, much younger student and he makes no attempt at meaning making. He is sweet and polite, always having a big goofy smile on his face, never failing to greet me with a “Hi, Mrs. Lamme. How you doin’ today?” Yet, after repeatedly trying to engage him, and after offering a number of modifications to no avail, I have resigned to the fact that he is lazy. He does the bare minimum and I focus more of my attention on the rest of the class. I don’t know how to meet him as he is!

What inhibits my creative development?  For many years I have joked that I prefer the acquisition of art making supplies to the actual process of making art. That being said, I would like to say that time inhibits my creative development, in all actuality, I think it’s more a matter of discipline. I have no problem being creative, and dream-up, at least in my mind, wonderful ideas. Seeing the ideas become reality requires focus and commitment. Once I’m in the flow I hate being interrupted. I can work for hours on end, not stopping to eat, drink, sleep, or even go to the bathroom.  I abhor outside interruption. I enjoy the process of sorting through what works, the tension of solving the problem.  It’s a highly satisfying experience which borders on mania, but it’s also very draining. I don’t find it as rewarding to work in smaller increments of time, though it is frequently my modus operandus these days.  

I do share my work with students, but, unlike Amy, I rarely work alongside them. They are too needy, and my administration would frown on it.