RQ: How do
middle school students view artists?
How would they identify themselves?
SQ: What teaching approach allows teachers to sufficiently
understand their student’s individual identity, abilities, aptitudes, and needs
in the student’s current cultural climate?
Goal: To look
at students who identify as artists and investigate how they see their
identities transforming?
Annotated
Bibliography
Sweeny, R. W., Buffington, M. L., Helms, K. R., Johnston, J. A.,
& Yoon, S. (2010). Web 2.0 and Social Constructivism. Inter/actions/inter/sections: art education
in a digital visual culture (pp. 161-169). Reston, VA: National Art Education
Association.
The development
of Web 2.0 supports socially mediated, constructivist learning
environments. The article states
that its emergence has the potential to dramatically alter current educational
practices. The data sources are
three technologies associated with Web 2.0: Delicious, Blogs, and Second
Life. The article seeks to
explore how teachers and students could utilize them to promote constructivist
learning. The article defines
constructivism as "The notion that knowledge is not a thing that can be
easily conveyed from one person to another in the manner that a coin can be
exchanged." The article draws
the conclusion that "as students will encounter these technologies in
their lives, we need to teach them meaningful ways to use these technologies
that can further their classroom learning." This article is important in understanding the way a
student's individual aptitudes and abilities can be honed within the classroom
to meet the digital visual culture of today.
Sweeny, R. W., Darts, D., Castro, J. C., Sinner, A., & Grauer,
K. (2010). New Media Arts Education: How Community-Based Programs Can Reshape
Teaching and Learning in The Age of Web 2.0. Inter/actions/inter/sections:
art education in a digital visual culture (pp. 80-89). Reston, VA: National
Art Education Association.
The problem this article
proposes is the significant disparity and disconnect between new technology and
school education. New technology
is categorized under Tim O’Reily’s marketing phrase, Web 2.0. Web 2.0 marks the shift made in
Internet activities by “emphasizing the Web as a place for collaboration,
sharing, and interaction,” instead of simply a venue to present
information. With this change and
advance in technology comes a new way in which teens are creating and
participating in activities outside of school. The article states that digital communication networks and
technologies are “lowering the barriers to cultural participation and
co-creation.”
The
research questions in the article aim to find a solution to the void of new
technologies in schools today. The
stated goal is “to understand the diverse ways arts and learning can emerge and
shift our conceptions of contemporary arts educational curriculum and
pedagogy.” The proposed solution
is to look at how community new media arts education programs have responded to
this phenomenon. The article
states that these “community-based initiatives approach media education from
creative, artistic/aesthetic skill sets and are grounded in curricula that
foster self-expression, creativity, critical analysis, and the development of
identity and voice.”
Stoddard, L. (2012, June 2). Saving Bullies and Dropouts. The
Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved June 9, 2012, from
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/54210825-82/students-bullying-feel-student.html.csp
According to Lynn Stoddard’s article, Saving Bullies and Dropouts, when only a few subjects are used to
assess a student’s success in school, many begin to feel inferior, which causes
students to be cruel to those who are naturally talented in these “core”
subjects. Stoddard proposes
redesigning education in order to help every student excel and feel
valuable. “What if we were to change
the main goal and purpose of education from student achievement in a narrow
curriculum to this: Help each student find a purpose for existing, to be a
special and valued contributor to society?” Stoddard gives a personal example of an educational design
she implemented while serving as principle, where teachers united to help
students grow in “three dimensions of human greatness: identity, inquiry, and
interaction. By using classroom
subjects, not as goals, but as tools to grow towards greatness, students were
allowed to excel in areas where they were inherently skilled. Resultantly, bullying largely
decreased.
The Importance of Middle Level Education. This We Believe: Successful Schools for Young Adolescents .
(n.d.). Association for Middle Level Education - AMLE . Retrieved June 15, 2012, from http://www.amle.org/portals/0/pdf/publications/On_Target/middle_or_high/middle_or_high_8.pdf
This article outlines aspects of young adolescents that are
important to understand for educators and education systems to succeed in
meeting the needs of middle school students. Meeting students where they are at requires relevant
curriculum that both engages and complements contemporary students. The article states “Young people
undergo rapid and profound personal changes between the ages 10 and 15 than at
any other time in their lives… early adolescence is a period of tremendous
variability among youngsters of the same gender and chronological age. Dissimilar rates of growth are common
in all areas of their development.
Changes occur irregularly, and no two young adolescents enter puberty at
the same time or progress at the same rate.” There is a strong desire for peer acceptance. Middle school students feel a need to
belong to specific social groups.
Ultimately, “The guidelines for selecting educational goals, curriculum
content, and instructional processes grow out of an awareness of and respect
for the nature of these distinctive young adolescents.”
Smith, F. (2009, January 28). Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and
Who's Doing It Best | Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations
with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from
http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development
As the title
of the article states, art education is important not just for students who
consider themselves artists, but for all students. “Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math,
reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve
motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork… They can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new
ways of seeing, creating the foundation to forge social bongs and community
cohesion.” The article
stresses the public’s perception that the arts are lovely but no essential. Schools seem to be missing the
connection between art education and academic achievement. The article concludes with a statement
by Tom Horne, the state superintendant of public instruction in Arizona, “We’re
preparing kids for jobs. We’re
preparing them to be citizens. And
we’re teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of
beauty. The third is as important
as the other two.”
Sprague, M. M., & Bryan, S. L. (n.d.). JSTOR: The Clearing
House, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Sep. - Oct., 2001), pp. 41-44. Aesthetics and the
Middle School Learner. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30189697?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=56263010723
The article
starts by stating two important questions: What is beautiful to a middle
schooler? How often are middle
schoolers asked to think about what they find beautiful and why? The article addresses the importance of
these questions in understanding their relation to education. Recognizing and creating beauty are
critical to achieving the full potential of an adult. It is the teacher’s job to make clear the underlying
elements of what is beautiful and to help students explore, locate, and
manifest their ability to create beauty themselves. The article references John Dewey and his portrayal of the
teacher as “an artist who facilitates the development of the child as
artist.” He believed that “For the
artist, aesthetic insight leads to further insight” and that “No intellectual
activity is complete without aesthetic quality.” Read, a follower of duty believed that the “purpose of
education is to foster growth of the individual while harmonizing the
individual with his or her social group. Other educations, such as Broudy,
believe that the use of the arts to teach other subjects, “Results in lessons
that are more concrete, motivating, and engaging… Aesthetic lessons foster
higher academic achievement. It is
this integrative approach to aesthetics that has the most potential for
reaching all students.”
Ultimately, the article encourages middle school teachers to
“incorporate the study of aesthetics—the search for and appreciation of
beauty—into all aspects of the curriculum,” and to investigate how knowledge of
content can “enrich and complement the beauty inherent in each subject.”
NGA Classroom: Who Am I?: Self Portraits in Art and Writing: About
This Lesson. (n.d.). National Gallery of Art. Retrieved June 15, 2012,
from http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/self_portraits/
This is a lesson that investigates the middle school
identity, specifically through art.
It includes a set of art and writing activities designed to help these
students begin to answer the question, “Who am I?” After seeing images of self-portraits by artists such as van
Gogh, Gauguin, Warhol, etc, students will make a variety of self-portraits of
their own, write poetry, write a speech, and a letter about themselves. Some questions they will be encouraged
to answer or think about are:
-What are the distinctive things that make me “me?”
-How do I want people to see me?
-How do I see myself (I added this one)
-How am I changing from day to day or year to year?
-Who do I want to become?
This will be a unit on self-exploration through
self-portraiture to encourage the artist to make decisions about how to
represent him/herself authentically.
Roland, C. (2005, September 1). Identity in the artroom. - Free
Online Library. Free News, Magazines, Newspapers, Journals, Reference
Articles and Classic Books - Free Online Library. Retrieved June 15, 2012,
from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Identity+in+the+artroom.-a0135932155
This article gives several examples of ways students can
investigate their identity in the art room. One project is to have students look at Van Gogh’s use
of color and portraiture. Van Gogh
used color to express mood and emotions.
Students should create a self-portrait using color to express a quality
or characteristic about themselves.
Another project is to create a self-portrait as a chair. This is a new way of viewing
self-portraits in which students look at Pepon Osorio’s work where he explores
issues of cultural identity and place by altering and decorating objects and
environments. Students then
would create portraits of themselves by decorating wooden chairs with images
and symbols of their cultural heritage.
Another example of a project is Identity in Ethnicity in which students
explore ethnicity and identity through writing and photography. Students would shoot black and white
photographs of themselves and then manipulate and write about it to describe
their characters.
Accelerating Struggling Students' Learning through Identity
Redevelopment - Middle School Journal
. (n.d.). Association for Middle Level Education - AMLE . Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://www.amle.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/March2011/Article3/tabid/2354/Default.aspx
This article
discusses the importance of identity development in education. When students see themselves as
failures and incapable it has a large affect on their schoolwork in the future
and often results in student drop out.
This article stresses the importance of reshaping and redeveloping
student’s identity into capable, productive, contributing citizens. When they have a feeling of success and
identity students become aware of the influence of their own beliefs, behavior,
and efforts on their academic and social accomplishments. Students succeed when they view
themselves as learners and contributing members of a classroom community. “Students are more apt to learn in environments where they
feel a sense of belonging or believe they are welcome and contributing members
of the group.” The research
discussed in the article examines an enduring aspect of self through three core
constructs of self: accomplishment, belonging, and engagement.
CCSDTV | 6th-8th Middle School Art Using the Enduring Idea of
Identity | Clark County School District. (2011, March 29). CCSDTV |
tv.ccsd.net. Retrieved June 12, 2012, from
http://tv.ccsd.net/watch?v=NDmwUW5kLkBM
This is a video
of a classroom discussing different ways an individual can express their
identity. The
middle school art students brainstorm “possible ways of communicating their
identity, selecting the top five things they find the most important. Students
then collectively discuss one part, their name, to use on the next project.
Students are introduced to a project using their name and Sign Language, and
come up with ways to enhance the project, communicating more about
themselves.” The students discussed
adding elements of art they previously learned in class such as texture and
shading and combine that with a background that depicted things they like to do
or other ways of expressing their identity.
Students
described other ways identity can be expressed:
-How
you live
-What you celebrate
-Personality
-Age
