Memo # 1: Thesis and Overview

Performing Arts In The Classroom

“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…music, dance, painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.” –William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education
 

     As I began searching texts and advocate speeches on the performing arts in classrooms, I came to the quick realization of two things. One was that the performing arts usually fall under the branch of “the arts”. It’s difficult to find specific text on the performing arts as a whole. They can focus on one of those aspects, say theatre, where I have a found a great book called Theatre in the Secondary School Classroom: Methods and Strategies for the Beginning Teacher by Jim Patterson, Donna McKenna-Crook and Melissa Swick Ellington but never as a whole. Many of the information I provide from my research will be simply considered as “the arts”. As I have mentioned in my proposal, “the arts” extends out to visual art, dance, music, performance art and theatre but I will try to focus on the latter four, the ones that contain performance. I will from henceforth be removing the quotes around the arts. The second realization I have come to is that there is a lot out there and it’s going to be very difficult for me to narrow it down.

     I am both relieved and excited to find many books, websites and speeches by advocates for the arts. These range from former artists who have since turned to teaching and/or spreading the word, politicians and passionate people who work in the arts fields. I was amazed to find loads of arts council and government standard websites like National Arts Education Association (NAED) [http://www.arteducators.org/grants/national-art-education-foundation] and National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) [http://www.nasaa-arts.org/]. A website that I will probably be referring to the most is the National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC) [http://www.performingartsconvention.org/advocacy/id=28].

     The key book I will refer to is Why Our High Schools Need The Arts by Jessica Hoffman Davis. The selling point for me was a chapter called “A Focus On Emotion” where expressions and empathy is discussed. In this book Davis gives a bit of history behind where the arts used to stand and where they rate now in schools.  In the nineteenth century arts were encouraged in schools because America wanted to compete with artistic Europe (pg. 7). During the mid-twentieth century when Russia had won the race against America for the first satellite launched, the government slowly started to remove the arts from the curriculum and replace it with math and science to turn out little scientists who could create other forms of competitive innovative tools (pg. 8). It was here where I learned what started the declined focus on the arts in education.

Sir. Ken Robinson Why Arts Education Matters

          Sir. Ken Robinson, a leader in arts and creativity education, is one of my heroes. He started his focus on drama and theatre in the curriculum but has expanded out into all of the arts, often sharing stories of inspiration from the fields of theatre, dance and music. I have two books from him that I hope to reference, although they are based on England’s system, over thirty years ago! They are The Arts In Schools; Principles, Practice and Provision and Learning Through Drama: School Council Drama Teaching Project 10-16. I will most likely refer to his videos more than anything. Here he speaks about the No Child Left Behind policy has chosen to replace the arts more and more with standardized tests. By doing this, they are also removing arenas where students can experience what it means to be a human being through vision, sounds, words and movement. Robinson, like many others points out that the arts is the only subject where students can show us who they view the world and to think for themselves. 

     In my searching, I have come across another great speaker and advocate, in the same vein as Robinson. His name is Eric Booth, a former actor and now an author and developer of programs, organizations and conferences focused on arts education. I found a commencement speech given to a graduation class at the New England Music Conservatory which moved me to tears because he showed how by giving a bit of background and making a personal connection to a piece before delivering it can move and reach people is a much more profound way. “Through making and finding meaning in art, we discover out capacity to feel and care, to be true to ourselves and responsible for others (Davis, pg. 36).

            I have found that these advocates for arts education use real-life examples of students who are affected by the arts in great ways to prove their point. I plan on doing the same both from students who used the arts as means to get them through the other subjects in school and former students who now work for a living the arts. Davis’ book and Herbert Kohn’s The Muses Go To School: Inspiring Stories About The Importance Of Arts In Education will provide me with such examples.  A common theme I came across is the alarming high school age drop-out rate. What research has found is that this is often because students feel bored and don’t have any subjects that they are interested in to balance out the rest of the required subjects. A high school senior said “in other classes like geometry and science, you’re stuck with the curriculum the teacher gets to choose. It’s a dictatorship in a way. “I have this stuff to teach you and I am going to force you upon it and you can’t do anything about it learn or fail,” that’s the attitude I get from all of my academic classes besides art (Davis, pg. 18). No wonder why students are so removed from themselves and school!

     Other books I will turn to are Literacy and the Arts for the Integrated Classroom: Alternative Ways of Knowing by Nancy Lee Cecil, Strong Arts, Strong Schools: The Promising Potential and Shortsighted Disregard of the Arts in American Schooling by Charles Fowler, Readers Theatre in the Middle and Junior High Classroom: A Take Part Teacher's Guide : Springboards to Language Development Through Readers Theatre by Lois Walker and Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development by Richard J. Deasy among many others. All of these sources will help me to focus on three defining aspects for why I feel arts education is essential; self-expression/confidence, compassion/empathy and connection/understanding. No other subject is able to hit these in such an enriching, powerful and personal way.

      To conclude, I’d like to share another video I found on why art education is important, which I feel sums up some key reasons through text while the rising of an uplifting song can restore hope for an education system that thrives in the arts.

Picture Link:

http://www.ucira.ucsb.edu/wp-content/files_flutter/1320789925ARTS_Really_Teach_RGB.jpg

The Performing Arts In The Classroom

My “I-Search” Project:

 

"The arts have been an inseparable part of the human journey; indeed, we depend on the arts to carry us toward the fullness of our humanity. We value them for themselves, and because we do, we believe knowing and practicing them is fundamental to the healthy development of our children's minds and spirits. That is why in any civilization - ours included - the arts are inseparable from the very meaning of the term 'education.' We know from long experience that no one can claim to be truly educated who lacks basic knowledge and skills in the arts."

–National Standards for Arts Education

1-Performing Arts in the Classroom: Curtain up, spot light on. A Chorus Line was playing on the living room stereo where a two-year girl is kicking out her legs in synchronicity with the directions blaring from the speakers; “one, two, again!” Her mother ascends the stairs and creeps around the corner spying a star in the making. “Oh no, she’ll be a performer” she says out loud or so I’ve been told the story goes.

I grew up in the theatre. My mom got her bachelors in the theatrical arts when I was a little girl. Since I was old enough to hold a clipboard, I was her assistant for shows she directed. Staying on book for productions or running lines with her. Later I graduated into choosing the music for shows. So it’s no surprise that it such a huge part of my life today, although I have tried to suppress it for the past decade until just recently because society tells me there are no careers to be had in this avenue.

When I was old enough to try out for roles, I did so and ended up spending my high school years in the performing arts wing of school rehearsing for concerts and plays. But that’s not where I started. I was that little girl kicking out to A Chorus Line after all. Dance was my first passion. When I was a kid I took it for six years until it became too expensive. I lived for tap and jazz, the latter being my favourite of the two. The routines consisted of the movement we see now in contemporary dances on So You Think You Can Dance for the most part. If I could have taken dance in school, I think I would still be taking it today but it wasn’t available to me. The only thing I remember is sweating to the oldies in gym class.

I always enjoyed singing in our weekly chorus class; in fact it became my new favourite creative outlet. When I got to junior high, you had to try out for the chorale group. I remember being so nervous because I felt like a big fish in a bigger pond, would I make the group? I also remember feeling extremely depressed and lonely. Of course, it’s middle school, the worst time in an adolescent’s life but really, to the point of really dark thoughts. I was a fan or things way beyond my age like the music of Pink Floyd and the Indigo Girls and wacky hologram clothing and so I just didn’t fit in. Still, when I made that chorale group, I felt like my whole life was going to change. I was going to travel where I’d get to sing amazingly beautiful songs. More than anything I’d finally be in a place where I fit in. I only ended up having that teacher for a year but in that year she instilled confidence in me that was the foundation for who I am today.

In high school I ventured into the theatre group but it wasn’t as great as I hoped. I chalk it up to the lack of funding and interest of our instructor. I still had chorus though and I truly believe that is what got me through all the right brain work. I joined a jazz chorus and tried out for the first jazz all-state choir. Another huge moment for me because there were only four spots for my voice group. I didn’t think I would ever make it-talk about a confidence booster. Without these outlets I would have felt even more alone and in despair. I would have had nothing to look forward to. I wouldn’t have had an outlet to place my abundant energy into. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be me.

Although music is my ultimate art, I feel that all of the performing arts are key to a student’s full growth. Within this interpretive movement, they are able to explore emotions and feelings, getting to the root of a character’s motivation. Yes, characters can be found throughout dance, music, theatre and performance art. The arts are a different way to problem solve. This medium in a study in understanding and empathy. It is a way we can communicate without the use of words at all. Or it is a way in which we communicate words in relatable situations or futuristic views on where we are headed as a human race. As the arts are stripped more and more from the schools, we need to begin to implement it more in the classroom environment!

"The arts are not a frill. The arts are a response to our individuality and our nature, and help to shape our identity. What is there that can transcend deep difference and stubborn divisions? The arts. They have a wonderful universality. Art has the potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator. The arts do not discriminate. The arts can lift us up."

–Former Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan

Picture Links:

http://www.scilynn.org/files/pictures/1886/music%20theater%20dance.jpg?1332169500

http://jazztimes.com/images/content/articles/0012/8688/Performing_Arts_High_School_All-Star_Sextet_2013__span9.jpg?1371243693

 

Feelings (Nothing More Than Feelings)

My Gods’ Man Assignment:

 

 

A1 - Feelings (Nothing More Than Feelings): Choose four pictures from the novel that are different from one another. How do you think the main character feels in each of these pictures? Write out a list of feelings and emotions for each photo. Then by taking magazine and newspaper words and pictures, make a collage for each picture to represent how the main character feels. Show us how you think he feels.

A2 – This assignment will be for students in high school so they are already in the formal operational stage of development. Here they start to see the consequences of actions. They start to make connections between these actions and the effects they have on others. In having the students focus on the feelings of the hero, based on the events of the novel, enables them to dig deeper into how he is affected, perhaps even bringing about empathy in the student. This assignment completes all four aspects of the depth of knowledge model: recall, summarizing, strategic thinking and analysing.  It also fills the CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3b - Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

B1 – The final products of this assignment will be taking four frames of “blank verse” and feeling it up with pictures and words that represent how they think our hero feels in that moment. The four colleges will show the hero’s range of emotions (or lack thereof) on his journey.

B2 – Each frame will be graded on a four point scale for a total of sixteen points, worth 10% of the student’s grade. Each point is awarded as they meet each requirement:

·         Analysis: Student has done an in depth study of the pictures they chose, drawing on connections they made throughout the text.

·         Narration: Student tells a story through the pictures that makes sense in relation to the text, even with their own flourishes.

·         Expression: Student clearly understands the characters emotions and journey, using at least ten pictures or words for each frame to represent the emotion(s).

·         Creativity: Student’s work is clean, organized and creative. It is clear a good amount of time was spent on putting it together.

C1 – I will make the instructions very clear and not too wordy. I will so examples in the classroom so they can see first-hand what I expect. I will let the students know that they can come to me with any questions regarding understanding the assignment. We will do an example in the classroom of choosing a picture and brainstorming the feelings and emotions in it.

C2 – The scaffolding will be as follows:

In class:

·         Individual brainstorming.

·         Group brainstorming.

·         Free-writing (honing in on final list).

·         Conference with teacher on ideas.

Out of class:

·         Free-writing (final list making).

·         Information gathering (searching through periodicals for pictures and words).

·         Creating final piece.

D1 - The student will have to first study the picture, writing down how they think the character is feeling. Then they will compare those feelings to the text as a whole to find connections. Through the words they choose to represent, they will have to find pictures that represent them, showing their own connections to the piece.

D2 – By first brainstorming alone, they will have some idea to share with a group. When they share their ideas with the group, they will gain a more vivid picture of their project as they start to see the correlations.

 

E – I already feel like there is not enough writing in this assignment so I could be posing a challenge in grading these artistic interpretations of the text. But perhaps, that’s what makes this assignment so great-that the students can move around out of the confines of words. The assignment starts with the words but the picture will represent what the word means to them.

 

Picture Link:

http://www.blueheronvisions.com/wp-content/gallery/collages/inner_vision.jpg 



Two Ideas for “I-Search” Projects In Depth

1-Performing Arts in the Classroom: I feel that by thinking outside of the "pen and paper" model will allow navigation of the "pen and paper" model  to become much more fluid for students. This is because by discovering how the words come alive through movement; the students are able to use more than just their hand and brain. This moves away from the essay format in order to get the students excited and prepared to go back to the essay format without the feeling of the task being daunting and boring. This process also allows the student to feel what they will later need to communicate with words, giving the writing a much richer insight.

     I would do extensive research in books and on the internet to find classrooms that implement this similar format, sharing the results. I would also look deeper into how this affects the students writing and feelings about the assignment. I want to see how approaching writing in this way changes the students engagement with their own perceptions and words.

     Since I am a huge advocate for the arts in the classroom, I know that this topic will keep my excited interest while playing to my greatest passions in the arts and of helping students find their own voice. Doing this research would prove why the arts are so fundamental to a student’s well-being. The evidence would advocate positively for how the students involvement with the arts can give them opportunities to discover who they are in ways the traditional courses just cannot offer. Nothing matters to me more than proving this so hopefully I am not disappointed by the results. I don’t believe I will be.

2-International Discussions: Enabling students to communicate with other student from various countries would offer them different perspectives on their own language. As the students from other countries share what they think the fundamentals of English are, they can be guided students towards seeing what they think is important within their own language and style of writing. In gaining a new perspective from someone whose first language is structured differently, they can see how their writing fits or fights against other languages structure. They can discover through each other’s writing what keeps their attention and what hooks them as a reader so that their writing can improve.

     There are already classrooms that use this technique around the world so I would look into hands-on cases closely to see how this approach works or doesn’t. I want to know if in speaking with others, the student gains a new appreciation for the written word. I want to know what the pros and cons of such a clash of customs are and on the flip side, how the similarities are helpful. Perhaps, reading the writing of someone who has English as a second or third language actually takes away from the American students learning because of mistakes or misinterpretations. This may show that this kind of study only works with countries whose first language is English.

     Acceptance and tolerance are two aspects I am very passionate about cultivating in students. This idea would open the world up to our students, allowing them to engage with the unknown. Instead of fearing people who are different than you, they can see how those differences are not something to fear or judge.


Picture Links:

http://www.zaccho.org/ypap3.jpg

http://www.nph.org/ws/images/pictures/articles/honduras/ally1.jpg