Fine Arts Teachers "Get It"

Photo Courtesy of Scott Ableman

Yesterday I read about yet another school district possibly cutting fine arts programs in order to save money. I always cringe when I read this—the fact that many still view art, music, and theatre as “add ons” instead of an essential component in a child’s education. The preponderance of research that shows the correlation between fine arts education and student achievement is staggering.

But this post isn’t about that.

Clearly, many of the arts classes are not valued by some pencil sharpeners and belt tighteners. But what about the fate of those professionals who teach art, music, and theatre? I’m sure that most of them will migrate to a district that either values or can afford them, but I believe we are all missing out on something very special.

In today’s education landscape, change is in the air. We are looking to make classes more “student centered, ” projects more relevant, and assessment more formative. Some of these changes are met with less-than-exuberant responses by some more “traditional” teachers. Districts are spending thousands of dollars on staff development to teach “Project-Based Learning,” “Authentic Assessment” and “Collaboration.” Unfortunately, these initiatives are sometimes piecemeal, and too often fall on deaf ears. I have observed that sometimes fine art teacher seems to be politely passive during these sessions. Why? The reason is because fine arts teachers have been teaching this way all along.

Consider some of the pedagogical changes that visionaries are suggesting to transform our schools, and how fine arts teachers have already embraced them:

Project-based learning with specific goals: For the choir, it’s preparing the Hallelujah Chorus for the winter concert, the jazz band will perform at half time of the basketball game, opening night of Guys and Dolls is only two weeks away. For arts students, every action, every repetition, every procedure is geared toward fulfilling a very precise, focused goal: the performance.

Emphasis on formative assessment: The majority of assessment in a music class is formative. Daily rehearsals (not lessons) are met with continual scrutiny and suggestions. Groups work hours upon hours to prepare for the upcoming event. Missing a beat at the rehearsal can be remedied before the performance. Early in a semester, very few grades exist in the art teacher’s grade book because the teacher recognizes that the student is still working, experimenting, and learning... how can you put a grade on that? Isn’t the end result more important to evaluate? Because of this atmosphere, kids are more likely to experiment, fail, and try again, resulting, ultimately, in higher achievement.

Purposeful homework: The oboe player must practice on her own outside of class, the photo student must compose images in “the field” and Stanley Kowalski must practice his lines. Since students see a direct connection between the hours spent and the quality of the performance, they are much more motivated to spend extra time on tasks.

Professional Learning Community (PLC) Model: Whether it be planning the upcoming concert, coordinating the set, score, lighting, and direction of a musical, or putting together an art show, by definition, fine arts teachers must work together seamlessly to develop their performances and products. The fading notion of teaching in “isolation” was never an issue with teachers of The Arts.

Building a Collaborative Classroom: By virtue of the activities, fine arts students MUST work together; they develop Positive Interdependence organically. The first violinist realizes he needs the rest of the section as well as the other instruments to perform the piece; he can’t do it alone. Also, you probably find that in your school (like mine) music kids hang out together in the music hall because of the common bonds and interests that have developed. The culmination of this is that they trust each other.

Teaching Visual Literacy: Even the NCTE recognizes that “text” no longer is limited to words, but includes a variety of media. Who better to address visual composition than a 2-D art teacher? Have we tapped these resources to teach the rest of the faculty concepts such as line, contrast, value, vanishing point, and rhythm? What about the photography teacher to share expertise in lighting, framing, and the difference in effects of a low and high-angle shot?

Of course when you talk about Portfolio Assessment, and Authentic Audience…need I say more?

I consider myself very fortunate to work in a school that not only values The Arts as an essential component in education, but also is blessed with a talented, dedicated group of fine arts teachers who inspires, ignites, and, motivates students to develop their own potential. Perhaps some day everyone will “Get it” the way fine arts teachers do...and instead of cutting out programs, they can be expanded.

Or at very least, can share some of their teaching methods with the rest of us to embrace.

Seduced by Novelty

It’s a new year, and with it comes more and more tools for teachers to use in the classroom. In my Twitter group, I still hear about more and more ideas that I can barely keep up with. Perhaps keeping up isn’t what it’s all about.

It never fails, I will be at my desk, doing research on bleeding edge technology, bookmarking sources, cross referencing…and the phone rings. A teacher wants to know how to set up a blog so other students can see posts, but not comments she makes to the students.Some may sigh and think, “A blog…that’s so last year.” However, my reaction is this: “This teacher didn’t even know what a blog was last year, and now she’s tweaking it to help her students…yes!”

The point is this: we sometimes get seduced by the novelty of a new tool or idea and want to do it faster than our colleagues. Well, perhaps instead of faster, we can do it better. I can honestly say that in 25 years of teaching I have stolen far more ideas than I have created. However, those ideas I have stolen I have tried to adapt and refine to best meet the needs of my students. The goal is not to be the quickest to apply new strategies, it is to wisely select the tools that create meaning and extend student learning.

Often, teachers learn that a tool exists, try it, and unfortunately move on.It’s one thing to say “I am doing a wiki with my kids,” and yet quite another to use the wiki tool as a means to extend the learning beyond what could have been done without it. Perhaps we need to revisit some “old” technologies (meaning older than this week) to make sure we are getting the most out of them.

Microsoft Word More than just word processing, Word contains literally dozens of features that enhance learning. One of my favorites is the comment feature which allows teacher or peers to neatly add comments in the margin. The viewer can read, revise (or ignore) and then quickly delete the comments for the final draft. Auto summarize allows the reader to have Word “highlight” key points. This is great to make sure topic sentences are truly topic sentences. Using the thesaurus wisely (yes, teaching is involved!) can increase a student’s vocabulary by recognizing subtle differences in connotations and select just the right word. And the list goes on.

Microsoft Powerpoint Clearly, the most abused software in schools, can be a powerful visual aid. However, too often the slides upstage the presenter, and at worst, become a teleprompter. Teaching students basic visual literacy through Powerpoint can be quite valuable. Color awareness and using as few words as possible on screen greatly enhance presentations. I have gone so far is to allow a maximum number of slides (5?) and words (say, 15 in the whole presentation). This puts the onus back on the star of the presentation: the presenter, not the software.

Digital Storytelling True, I do have a soft spot in my heart for DST, but that doesn’t diminish the power that it can create in the classroom. Focus on story and revision instead of flash and effects (in other words, avoid programs like Animoto). I find that the constant viewing of images along with listening to words enables students to greatly improve their writing. Encourage students to use images that metaphorically represent emotions rather than only literal representations. I picture of a lightning bolt may serve better than a one of “mom angry.”

Screencasts The value of using screencasts as a “how to” is undeniable. But here’s another idea: Why not have students create the screencasts? They could be used as a meta-cognitive tool to allow students to reflect on, say, a research project, and demonstrate for the teacher (and themselves) how they may have discovered a source, paraphrased a passage, or revised their thesis. Viewing these could give teachers a snapshot of what’s going on inside their brains (Thanks to Scott Meech for inspiring me to think about this).

Blogs OK, everyone reads them and more and more people seem to be writing them. But what role do they play for learning? Here are two ideas: First, we need to embrace some professional blogs as credible resources for supporting research. Professionals are constantly referring to colleagues’ blogs, so why aren’t students? And there’s a bonus: Students can actually ask the experts questions…and possibly get a response! I wish I would have been able to do that 30 years ago. Of course, we need to teach students to evaluate credibility of sources, as well as bias. The second idea (again, not new) is to set up individual blogs for every student, which are used as a means to record the writing and thinking experience of the entire course. The best feature is that it creates a means for continual communication between student and teacher allowing for a substantial “Assessment for Learning.” Teachers can even copy rubrics, highlight and comment on work, and view multiple drafts.

Wikis In an earlier post, “Turbo-Charged Wikis” I stress the important of Positive Interdependence and Individual Accountability. One of the best ways to achieve this in a collaborative writing experience (a rather sophisticated process) is to: limit participants to three or four per group, assign specific roles, and assess the work frequently. This will overcome the two biggest problems associated with wikis in school which are inequitable work distribution and the “quilt phenomenon” which occurs when students write their own section with little regard for what their collaborators have written. And here’s another idea: research supports that when students take a role in creating their own rubrics, they achieve more. How about a wiki that enables students to collaborate on the rubric itself.

Google Clearly the most conspicuous presence on the web, some educators shy away from this Goliath, or write it off as passé. Nothing could be further from the truth. Google has embraced education and offers more tools for student (and teacher) learning than you could possibly use in a career. If you don’t have an account, get one, and start looking. My new fave is the Life photo archives on Google. Try it! Also, if you get the opportunity to become a Google Certified teacher, I highly recommend it.

Creation software, Blogs & wikis, digital storytelling, and Google are entrenched in our lexicon so deeply, that it is hard to imagine a time when they weren’t. But just because they’ve been around for a while doesn’t mean their importance in the classroom has diminished. On the contrary, the acceptance of these tools in the mainstream has gotten us past the novelty concept where the tool du jour becomes the driving force. Now we can get back to “What do I want my students to do?” and use the repertoire of tools when the time is right.

So what are some "old" tools you're utilizing better than ever? Please share!

Image courtesy of Flickr contributor aaronfreimark.