This is a series I started on my Facebook page as notes last month. I've transferred the first three and will continue on this site:
Just finished day 1 of a great Arts Integration summit held by the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. For those who can't quite place that name, Phillips was the gallery that lent In the American Grain to the Portland Art Museum back in 1995-96, the year Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (VSAA) opened. (VSAA based that entire year of integrated curriculum around that collection of work by the Stieglitz group). Coincidentally, the keynote speaker was Eric Booth, who also key-noted VSAA's Origins national conference on Creativity in Education back in 2002.
Booth was the highlight of the day. He had several great points:
1. Verbs vs. Nouns - the more we talk about the nouns of arts integration, the more divisive we'll be and the shallower the projects can get. The more we stick with the verbs, the processes, the deeper it will be and the more authentically we'll be able to connect with other disciplines. Not that we didn't know this, but the verbs/nouns language makes it easy to explain to newbies.
2. The Law of 80% - OK, Booth admitted he made up the statistic, but my gut feeling is he's got it about right. The gist is, teaching is 80% about you, the teacher - what you bring in terms of interest, knowledge, passion, etc. Now, there's some actual research about the zone of flow for learners - halfway between anxiety and boredom. Booth's contention is that at any given time, a few members of your class will fall out of motivation because they are bored and a few more because they are too frustrated - it's too hard. But, if they sense that you love them, that 20% will self-correct back to what you are doing. The frustrated kids will give themselves permission to drop out a few details that are hanging them up, and the bored kids will add a few bizarre twists of their own to keep it interesting.
I love this part because of the way it intersects with critical race theory as practiced at the FAIR Schools and elsewhere - it's all about relationships. And, that doesn't mean you have to keep it easy or safe to stay in relationship with a kid - what you have to do is put energy into the relationship before the work gets hard, so they will have a reason to come with you when it does.
More tomorrow about Plato's theories of learning and the roots of the word, "Bravo!"
Just finished day 1 of a great Arts Integration summit held by the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. For those who can't quite place that name, Phillips was the gallery that lent In the American Grain to the Portland Art Museum back in 1995-96, the year Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (VSAA) opened. (VSAA based that entire year of integrated curriculum around that collection of work by the Stieglitz group). Coincidentally, the keynote speaker was Eric Booth, who also key-noted VSAA's Origins national conference on Creativity in Education back in 2002.
Booth was the highlight of the day. He had several great points:
1. Verbs vs. Nouns - the more we talk about the nouns of arts integration, the more divisive we'll be and the shallower the projects can get. The more we stick with the verbs, the processes, the deeper it will be and the more authentically we'll be able to connect with other disciplines. Not that we didn't know this, but the verbs/nouns language makes it easy to explain to newbies.
2. The Law of 80% - OK, Booth admitted he made up the statistic, but my gut feeling is he's got it about right. The gist is, teaching is 80% about you, the teacher - what you bring in terms of interest, knowledge, passion, etc. Now, there's some actual research about the zone of flow for learners - halfway between anxiety and boredom. Booth's contention is that at any given time, a few members of your class will fall out of motivation because they are bored and a few more because they are too frustrated - it's too hard. But, if they sense that you love them, that 20% will self-correct back to what you are doing. The frustrated kids will give themselves permission to drop out a few details that are hanging them up, and the bored kids will add a few bizarre twists of their own to keep it interesting.
I love this part because of the way it intersects with critical race theory as practiced at the FAIR Schools and elsewhere - it's all about relationships. And, that doesn't mean you have to keep it easy or safe to stay in relationship with a kid - what you have to do is put energy into the relationship before the work gets hard, so they will have a reason to come with you when it does.
More tomorrow about Plato's theories of learning and the roots of the word, "Bravo!"
No comments:
Post a Comment