According to The Ontario Ministry of Education (2009) students are expected to learn and use the creative process to help them acquire and apply the knowledge and skills in the arts. This creative process is supposed to be integrated with the critical analysis process I will explain below. As students and teachers become more comfortable with this process they will be able to consciously move through stages. Every student can be creative and sometimes this process is more about asking the right questions instead of getting the right answer. Teachers have an influence on the learning happening going on in their classroom based on the atmosphere created. Research shows that students may complete the full cycle, but sometimes it may only get to the exploring and experimenting phase which is the most critical phase for students to learn.
Initial Reaction
Students are encouraged to express their first impression as it is the starting point for investigation and discovery. First reactions can be useful for later evaluations. Some sample guiding questions include:
- What is your first impression?
-What does this work bring to mind?
-What does this work remind you of?
-What do you feel? What emotional does this work evoke?
Description
Students are asked to brainstorm everything they see or hear in the work through ideas, images, and elements. This list should be very simple as they are just describing their observations. Some sample guiding questions include:
- What do you see when you examine the work closely?
-What grabs your attention in the work?
-What do you sense (see, hear, smell, feel, taste) when you examine the work?
-What stand out for you? What do you notice?
Analysis and Interpretation
Students will be trying to figure out what the artist has done to achieve these effects, such as the use of elements, materials and concepts. Students may look back to their first impressions and work towards personal interpretation and cultural studies information in this stage. Some sample guiding questions include:
-What elements and conventions of the art form are used in this work?
-How are the elements organized, combined, or arranged?
-How does the work evoke ideas, feelings, images?
-What do you think is the theme or subject of the work?
Expression of an Informed Point of View
Students will compare their point of view after reflection and analysis of their initial reaction and make connections to other works of art they have seen or heard. Students will also reflect on if they have learned anything that they can apply to their own work. Some sample guided questions include:
- How effectively does the artist select and combine elements to achieve an intended effect in this work?
-What doesn't work and why?
-Has your point of view shifted from your initial reaction? If so, how has it changed?
-Have your thoughts or feelings about the work changed since your first impressions? If so, how have they changed?
Consideration of Cultural Context
Everyone views the world and other issues differently, this can be based on their own beliefs, values and opinions. Students need to know that the arts isn't created in a vacuum, they reflect they personal, social and historical context of the artists. Knowing something about the context of the work can shed a whole new light on the piece. This approach gives teachers the opportunity to use authentic cultural information and inquiry based research that can add depth and meaning to the students work. Some guiding questions include:
- Were working conditions for people in the arts more or less favourable at the time this artist lived than they are today? Why, and in what way? Are there viewpoints or voices that are left out or never heard in the works?
-Were you surprised by anything you discovered? If so, what?
-What interesting things did you learn about the artist's life and work? Is there something important that we need to know in order to understand the meaning of his or her work?
As a future educator, I want to ensure that all my students feel safe to take risks in the classroom as mistakes are not seen as a bad thing and be able to connect to material based on their own experiences. After reading through this process, I want to ensure that my students know there is no right way to get to an answer, there are actually multiple and everyone has a different thought process of getting there. The Ontario Ministry of Education states, "This is a good opportunity to remind students that different people may respond to the same work in different ways. Each person brings a particular cultural perspective and a unique personal history to experiences in the arts" (pg. 23). This quote is amazing and I feel like everyone should be told this.
No comments:
Post a Comment