AVODAarts

AVODAarts. "Jewish Education and the Arts: What We Can Learn from the General Education Field: A Review of Literature." AVODA Institute, Ltd. 2010.

ABSTRACT

//Quick Summaries and Questions from AVODAarts “Jewish Education and the Arts: A Review of Literature - March 2010// __• From__ __Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development__ __. Arts Education Partnership - Richard Deasy, editor - 2002__ Richard Deasy, editor, concluded that the results of Critical Links stated that there was evidence to support the notion that “well-crafted arts experiences produce positive academic and social effects” including assisting in the development of critical academic skills such as literacy and numeracy (Deasy, 2002, p. iii). These include spatial reasoning, mathematics proficiency, and reading readiness. QUESTIONS/IMPLICATIONS · //How can we use what we have learned from Critical Links in this project?// · //Are there specific results from this study that would benefit our teacher participants?// __• From Project Zero. Winner and Hetland – 2007__ “While arts learning might not directly improve academic performance in other areas, the arts do cultivate broader dispositions that have the potential to transfer to other areas. Based on a study of five arts classrooms, they suggested that the arts help students expand their capacity in the following areas: developing craft, engaging and persisting, envisioning, expressing, observing, reflecting, stretching and exploring, and understanding the art world.” QUESTIONS/IMPLICATIONS: · //Do these “areas of benefit” provide possible arts integration connecting points for learning goals?// · //Where do we see these concepts in the arts benchmarks? In other content area benchmarks?// __• From The Flow Experience. Mihaly Cskiszentmihalyi – 1990__ As a result of hundreds of personal interviews//,// Csikszentmihalyi described the flow experience as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost” (Geirland, 1996). QUESTIONS/IMPLICATIONS: · //This is about the personal engagement in the arts that motivates kids and teachers. Is this obvious to our participants, or should we consider exploring the concepts of “heightened state of consciousness, becoming lost in an activity, and a sense of rising to the challenge”?// · //Are there benefits for our participants to be reminded of the ideas of Gardner, Vygotsky, Piaget, and Dewey?// · //How much of this “educational thinking” will we purposefully present? How will we decide?// __Third Space: When Learning Matters.__ __Stevenson and Deasy – 2005__ There are many ideas about teaching and learning in and through the arts in the publication that may serve our project well. The focus here is on chapter 5, “When Teaching Matters” as this section relates closely to arts integration. The chapter addresses: · Learning from Artists – how non-arts teachers need to have an understanding of the artwork that their students will create · Enlightened Teaching – learning new attitudes and skills from collaborations with artists or arts specialists · Teacher Satisfaction and Renewal – how collaboration through the arts increase teacher confidence and professional satisfaction · The Challenge of Change – working through old habits using a focus on greater opportunities to reach students · Support for Change – the importance of quality professional development, adequate time to collaborate (plan and practice new skills), and the support ad encouragement of supervisions · Teacher Collegiality – building professional competence and comfort through relationships with colleagues · Creating the Conditions for Quality Arts Integration – the importance of “grassroots transmission”, having teachers “see” how arts integration engages kids · Professional Development - that includes; o adequate time and conditions to get to know one another and to plan how to work together, o opportunities to personally participate in the types of arts experience that they would use in the classroom o framework for meaningful arts integration connection points; learning goals, local or state standards, curriculum maps o constructivist – teachers make sense through arts experiences and then are trusted to make the translation to the classroom · Teachers as Learners – classroom teachers take lessons from arts specialists · Imagining Success – “Imagination is as important in the lives of teachers as it is in the lives of their students, in part because teachers incapable of thinking imaginatively or of releasing students to encounter works of literature and other forms of art are probably also unable to communicate to the young what the use of imagination signifies.” · //Each of the points outlined in this chapter seem important to our project! How and when will we address each of these?// · //If we believe these points to be true, is it important that our participants know them as well? Will we articulate and share project documents such as mission statement, beliefs, learning goals, instruction strategies, assessment activities, and evaluation criteria?// **Some of the rationale for a well developed and carefully presented art program will most likely hold true for our arts integration project. How can we best remind our participants of these ideas? The following may be one good example.**
 * QUESTIONS/IMPLICATIONS **

**__• Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning. Arts Education Partnership - (1999)__** “Researchers found that learning can attain higher levels of achievement through their engagement with the arts. Moreover, one of the critical research findings is that the learning in and through the arts can help “level the playing field” for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances.” QUESTIONS/IMPLICATIONS: · //How will the Stiggins alignment process work in conversations across content areas? Do other content area benchmarks clearly identify knowledge, reasoning, skill, and performance product?// · //What would a quality checklist look like for an arts integration project?// · //In what ways will we “measure” student (and perhaps teacher) engagement/motivation? What will evidence look like?// · //How much will an arts teacher need to know about the other content area? How will they engage in that learning? How much will a non-arts person need to know about the art? How will they engage in that learning?//
 * The arts reach students who are not otherwise being reached
 * The arts reach students in ways that they are not otherwise being reached
 * The arts connect students to themselves and to each other.
 * The arts transform the environment for learning.
 * The arts provide learning opportunities for the adults in the lives of young people.
 * The areas provide new challenges for those students already considered successful.
 * The arts connect learning experiences to the world of real work.