Teaching Visual Arts: Discussion

Dear Tracey,

It is a real shame that visual arts in the Australian school system has largely been seen as less important than other subjects such as English and Mathematics (Dinham, 2014). It definitely wasn’t important in my schooling and I definitely didn’t learn any technical skills or how to analyse art in either primary or high school visual art classrooms. This can be due to the detrimental effect of laissez-faire art teaching, which can be great for experimentation but not very good at teaching art skills (Brown, Macintyre, & Watkins, 2012; Edwards, 2013).

To teach visual arts effectively, the teacher must provide a safe space for students to explore and to create, and also respond to the process of creating art and its finished product (Dinham, 2014). Art is about communication and without discussion and analysis of what it is that is being communicated, visual arts will continue to be written off as an easy, unimportant subject (Dinham, 2014; Edwards, 2012).

I was surprised by how cross-curricular drawing actually was when I drew my hand blind and also when I drew two images from two children’s books (Nick Bland’s ‘The Wrong Book’ and The Island’ by Armin Greder). For instance I struggled with proportions, which you would think belonged in the maths world but here it is propping up in art. It was also really fun creating the drawings and I can see that experimenting with other subject concepts within visual art might allow some students to gain a deeper understanding of topics that previously baffled them (Brown et al., 2012; Edwards, 2013).

Here are my drawings: first my hand drawn blind but then nails and wrinkles added in after and my drawings alongside the originals from the books. 'The Wrong Book’ is on top and ‘The Island’ is on the bottom:

Yours,

Kelda

References:

Bland, N. (2010). The Wrong Book. Australia: Scholastic.

Brown, R., Macintyre, P., & Watkins, M. (2012). Learning in and Through the Visual Arts. In C . Sinclair, N. Jeanneret & J O’Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2^nd Ed) (pp. 111- 127). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering authentic Arts education. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.

Edwards, J. (2013). Teaching primary art. United Kingdom: Pearson.

Greder, A. (2007). The Island. Australia: Allen & Unwin Australia.

Teaching Drama: Reflection

Dear Kelda, 

Reading your letter it sounds like you have great understanding of the powerful impact that using dramatic elements such as taking on a role, experiencing the tension and climax that drama can provide and understanding the importance of de-role. 

I love the idea of utilising drama strategies to unpack literary content with students. Two strategies that I could effortlessly assimilate into a teaching practice would be writing in role and freeze frames. As you have mentioned using a freeze frame of the story and having the students express the emotions, context and the thoughts of characters using only they’re bodies, gestures and expressions is a wonderful way in which students can utilise their understanding of complex sentiments. I think it is important for students to reflect on these so that as Gibbs (2010) encourages teachers, learning is ‘informed by thinking, feeling, knowledge, values and beliefs’ (p.25). 


Keeping the aesthetic education processes [AE] in mind [Making, Presenting, Responding] (Sinclair, 2012, p.47), we can see that even in only using a few dramatic strategies in our teaching we give students the opportunity to operate in the AE way for instance by making a tableau or freeze frame and here students will also present this freeze frame to themselves and each other, and respond to it when reflecting.

While this type of drama in the classroom is exciting and relatively simple to explicate the extent of my own teaching with drama in classes has been limited to dramatic readings and asking students to identify characters thinking and feeling so the idea of bringing drama comprehensively into literacy is a wonderfully dynamic way to bring life into literacy.

I was quite titillated by the Drama for learning and creativity initiative [D4LC] and am curious about its uptake in Australia. I did find founder Patrice Baldwin’s page and it mentions Australia but the UNESCO, (n.d) paper on D4LC doesn't. One other thing to add to my findings is the idea of Augusto Boal’s process drama and it being somewhat equal to children’s play (Bird et al. 2012, p.68). Specifically that I can use Augusto Boal's unscripted style of play in the context of the story, having everyone being involved and maximising that potential for learning using process drama.

Regards, 

Tracey




References:

Baldwin, P. (n.d). Drama for Learning and Creativity (D4LC). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/artseducation/pdf/fullpaper301patricebaldwin.pdf 


Bird, J., Donelan, K., Freebody, K., O'Tool, J., and Sinclair, C. (2012). Drama: Social Dreaming in the 21st Century. In Sinclair et al. (Ed.). Education in the Arts. (p.68). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Gibbs, C. (2012). The Reflective Practitioner. in Gibbs, C. To be a teacher: Journeys toward authenticity (pp. 25-45). Sydney, NSW: Pearson.

Sinclair, C. (2012). Teaching for the Aesthetic, Teaching as Aesthetic. In Sinclair et al. (ed). Education in the Arts. (pp. 43-53). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Teaching Drama: Discussion

Dear Tracey,

It was interesting to learn about how drama can be such a powerful tool for students and teacher alike to engage deeply with learning across the curriculum and beyond, exploring broader human issues (Bird, Donelan, Freebody, O’Toole, Sinclair 2012; Dinham, 2014). The potential for everyone to explore a range of content and social roles without getting in trouble or being judged is especially important in young children who are starting to think about their own position within wider society (Ackroyd & Boulton 2001; Dinham, 2014). Also, drama is FUN and the ability to process life through play is so important for children (and all of us!) and that is what drama allows children to do (Bird et al., 2012; Dinham, 2014).

When teaching drama it is important that teachers establish a safe place where students feel able to explore without judgement (Bird et al., 2012; Dinham, 2014). It needs to be safe both emotionally and physically for students to be able to feel truly free to engage with drama (Dinham, 2014). Providing opportunities for students to de-role is also vital when teaching drama (Bird, et al., 2012), especially when exploring sensitive/emotional topics.

Here are some photos of me 'freeze framing' some emotions discussed in Fox by Margaret Wild.

                                                                              Jealousy:

Belonging:

Dispair/Shock:

Yours sincerely,

Kelda

References:

Ackroyd, J., & Boulton, J. (2001). Drama lessons for five to eleven year olds. London: David Fulton.

Bird, J., Donelan, K., Freebody, K., O’Toole, J., Sinclair, C. (2012). Drama: Social Dreaming in the 21^st Century. In C . Sinclair, N. Jeanneret & J O’Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2^nd Ed) (pp. 65- 90). South Melbourne: Oxfore University Press.

Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering authentic Arts education. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.

Wild, M. (2000). Fox. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.