Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
In This Program
In a rich learning environment, teachers recognize the central role of creativity and engage students in exploring ideas and issues, challenging traditional assumptions, solving complex problems, and constructing knowledge rather than just memorizing it. Skillful arts teachers create an atmosphere of mutual trust where students feel free to take risks and explore their own thoughts and feelings. Constructive criticism is the norm, and students benefit from the responses of others.
In a safe and creative learning environment, teachers:
Learning Goals
The goals of this workshop session are for you to:
Being creative involves exploring the unknown, taking risks, and being innovative. These challenges apply to teachers as well as students.
Discuss the following questions about risk-taking:
Critiquing student artwork demands care. Teachers must be honest in their judgments, because students can only develop as artists if they learn to value critique and take it seriously. But honest judgements may also risk making students feel inadequate or self-conscious, hindering further growth.
Arts teachers have many ways of helping students understand how their work can be improved, without shutting down their initiative.
Elements of effective critique include the following:
At Mamaroneck High School there is frequent peer critique in visual art classes. In addition, students ask teachers for feedback on their artwork, and some students have also formed an Art Critique Club, where they give each other feedback.
NOW: Write and Reflect
Read the following questions and respond in light of the students and art form you teach.
Questions to write and reflect about:
The information sheets below provide helpful background on the classrooms, programs, and schools featured in each segment:
Segment 1: Theatre (PDF)
Segment 2: Dance (PDF)
Segment 3: Visual Art (PDF)
Segment 4: Music (PDF)
THEATRE Joseph Mancuso and Andrea Arden Monologues/Building Confidence
DANCE Mary Harding Modern Dance Technique
VISUAL ART Jon Murray Art Department Community
MUSIC William Taylor Vocal Improvisation
Expanding Boundaries and Taking Risks
Taking risks within the learning environment requires a willingness to:
Print and distribute the charts so that each participant has at least one chart related to his or her discipline. Take notes on the risks and benefits of several of the enrichment activities, and share them with the group.
After several charts have been filled in, discuss the following:
Enrichment Activities
Homework (On Your Own)
In your journal, reflect on the learning environment you have created for your students. Write down three adjectives that describe how you would like students to feel as they enter your classroom. For example, ‘safe, stimulated, free to express themselves.’ Then reflect on these questions:
Cognition and Creation
http://www.getty.edu/artsednet Select: Image Galleries and Exhibitions, then Student Art Galleries
An interpretive exhibition of student artwork intended to help people understand the relationships between thinking and the creation of visual art
Bobby McFerrin Web site
http://www.bobbymcferrin.com
An appealing site about the work of jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin
SCHOOL AND TEACHER SITES
Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School Performing Arts Dept.
http://www.scvths.org/
Select: performing arts at scvths
Information on the performing arts program where Joseph Mancuso teaches
Arts High School Dance Department, Perpich Center for Arts Education
http://perpich.mn.gov/arts-high-school/dance/
Select: Program Areas, then Dance
Information on the dance department where Mary Harding and Tom Kanthak teach
Mamaroneck High School Art Department
https://www.mamkschools.org/schools/mamaroneck-high-school/mamaroneck-high-school-departments/art Select: Departments and Class Web Pages, then Art
Web page for the Visual art department where Dale Zheutlin teaches
World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition
http://www.wtcsitememorial.org
Select: Exhibition Search for: Murray Jon
Jon Murray’s submission for the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition
East High School
http://east.dpsk12.org
Web site for music teacher William Taylor’s school
In Print
Kirby, Gary, & Goodpaster, Jeffery. Thinking. Prentice Hall, 3rd edition, 2001. ISBN: 0130923915
A widely used interdisciplinary undergraduate text that considers the processes at work in critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity
Thousand, Jaqueline, Nevin, Ann, & Villa, Richard. Creativity and Collaborative Learning: The Practical Guide to Empowering Students and Teachers. Nevin Brookes Publishing Company, 2002. ISBN: 1557665788
Shows how collaborative learning addresses challenges such as literacy, behavior issues, teacher success, and multiculturalism