Junior The Arts

Philosophy

A constructivist approach to teaching
is a “best practice” for learning
in the arts:

“[A] constructivist approach to teaching and learning argues that the goal of teaching is students’ understanding and that students construct knowledge, not simply reproduce it through memorization, recall, or routinized application.” (Sydney Walker)

This method of teaching is particularly applicable to education in the arts, as well as to the unique needs of gifted students.  The Arts Department of The Sage School is committed to utilizing this approach in planning for a year’s curriculum, varying curriculum as students’ needs unfold, and in the very nature of interaction between and among students and instructors. 

In brief, the constructivist approach can be described as follows:

The teacher prepares a framework for introduction and exploration of a topic.

Student responses to initial experiences drive the path of the lesson, and possibly sequential lessons.  Open-ended questions encourage the spirit of inquiry and thoughtful discussion. Students are partners in directing the experience, and therefore in taking responsibility for constructing meaning, within the parameters intended by the teacher.  Student outcomes are  individual, and reflect the individual’s own understanding and initiative.  The teacher guides a summary articulation of what is learned, and students communicate their insights, learning additionally from the variety of outcomes.

This concept of teaching answers the charge that contemporary teachers must be the discerners of patterns, not the givers of information.  Seen in a historical context, we are moving  “from the transmission curriculum to a transactional curriculum.”  (Audrey Gray.)  Given that one of the three components of giftedness is creativity (according to Renzulli,) it is logical that gifted students especially need opportunities to practice and strengthen their capacity for making personal sense of learning in all areas. This ability is essential to empower the gifted child’s identification and expression of insight, in fact discovering new and unique connections and inventions.  Further, this model seamlessly incorporates the needs of all types of intelligences and learning styles.

The arts are a natural venue for employing this learning approach. New knowledge is utilized in the realization of a work of art.  Immediate use of learning is understood to be the best method of retention of what is learned. Gradually, students learn that ambiguity can be resolved through personal effort and conviction. The SageSchool is committed to including the arts in the total learning package as a key component of educating the whole child.

Our written curriculum divides material throughout the art forms and divisions into three categories:  Making, Literacy, and Context.  In “Making,” we focus on identifying worthy ideas and developing the skills to express them through creating works of art, dance, music and theater.  In “Literacy”, we focus on the application of knowledge to informed engagement with the wider world of culture and philosophy in the forms of appreciation, response, inspiration and articulation.  In “Context,” students learn that their own discoveries are connected to human effort throughout history, across diverse cultures, and to the exciting fields of contemporary culture.  

Given that the nature of our pedagogy depends upon responsiveness, the written curriculum outlines examples of the appropriate skills and concepts for each division.  It is likely that these examples represent a baseline expectation, while actual lessons and themes will be more specific and in depth.  Given the synergy of students and faculty, the real excitement is in finding out.

We believe:
a. All children deserve, can succeed in, and benefit from sequential education in music, visual art, dance, and theater
b. Our approach is intended to equip the child with lifelong habits/skills of arts appreciation
c. Arts participation teaches habits of mind that apply to all subject areas
d. Arts are particularly important for gifted students, in that the “right” answer is different for each individual, and must be discovered
e. The arts classrooms are social and cultural environments where the development of social and collaborative skills are important
f. Negotiating the process is much more important than the appearance of the product
g. The most important outcome is the growth in ability to construct, express, and share meaning

Visual Arts

a.       Making

i.      Painting
1. Skills:  mixing colors, values and tints, choosing brush size, using entire substrate, acrylic painting
2. Ideas:  strategies of abstraction and representation, working with the illusion of depth, incorporating chance and intention, shaped canvas, layering of ideas and media

ii.      Drawing
1. Skills:  using preparatory sketches, studies, and finished drawings, graphite pencil, charcoal plus previous media.  Observation, imagination, and experimentation.
2. Ideas:  maintain sketchbook for assignments, homework, and independent use of time, draw to blow up (expand) objects, and work on detail.  Recall events, and narrate them through drawing.  Students pose for each other to study body language and proportion.

iii.      Printmaking
1. Skills: two color reduction block prints, printing in series, safe use of tools, printing on alternative surfaces
2. Ideas:  Working with multiples, variations, partnering, photocopy as a form of printmaking

iv.      Collage/Mixed Media
1. Skills:  refine cutting, selection, alternative composition, controlled use of adhesives, color and texture strategies
2. Ideas:  altered books telling parallel stories, foil relief suggesting symbols from antiquity, collage of personal ephemera as self-portrait, overview history of the collage and evolving “permissions”

v.      Sculpture
1. Skills:  mold-making, polymer clay, papier mache, creating an armature, wood assemblage, use of vice, coping saw, clamps, gesso as primer, finish and surface treatment 
2. Ideas:  reproduction of original, use of assembled multiples as sculpture, relationship of balance and precariousness, use of space, suggestion of figure, look at DuBuffet, Red Grooms, Nancy Graves, Louise Nevelson, Calder

vi.      Design
1. Skills:  strategies for use of space,  transferring concept to plan, sketchbook as planning site for sequential projects, precision in measuring, working on a design team
2. Ideas:  work with positive and negative space, silhouettes become shadow puppets and tell stories, op-art paintings based on grid variations, principles of architecture, translate two dimensional labyrinth into three dimensional form

vii.      Technology
1. Skills:  use internet to research artists, imagery, and source material
2. Ideas:  for homework, assign “how-to” op art pages, interactive art-based games for children, locations of walkable labyrinths

b.      Literacy

i.      Look at and Discuss Artwork
1. Skills:  learn to observe, describe, develop theories, evaluate.  Compare works of art.
2. Ideas:  aesthetic decisions are not random, unless the element of chance is intentional; examine a theme over time, culture, and individual style; engage in museum-based investigations through worksheet prompts during Junior Arts Field Trip Day.

ii.      Visual Art Vocabulary
1. Skills:  use in discussion whatever is relevant to current project;  examples:  contrast, positive and negative space, intention, asymmetry, mood, blending, value, tint, shade, cast shadow, content, and focal point
2. Ideas:  ability to see and appreciate is augmented by ability to identify elements and ideas with words, keep notes of vocabulary in sketchbook, find alternatives to cliché responses:  “good,”  “done,” etc,

iii.      Read and write about art
1. Skills:  read art aesthetics text, and be prepared to write a response to chapter.
2. Ideas:  differentiate objective response from personal opinion, keep response journal, makes notes about plans for projects

iv.      Sharing with others
1. Skills:  participate in class discussion exploring ideas, display solution to assignment in turn, contribute to group decision making in collaborative projects
2. Ideas:  discuss aesthetic questions/readings with family at home, identify discoveries in course of working and acknowledge challenges, directed discussions in dialogic pairs

v.      Apply understandings
1. Skills:  recognize variety of possible responses, develop confidence in own style, encounter new work with enthusiasm and confidence
2. Ideas:  determine own assignment based on accumulated ideas about previous unit

c.       Context

i.      Recognize the social, cultural, and historical significance of art
1. Skills:  see uniting factors within style/movement/culture under study.  Name influences such as function, historical period, and formal strategies; appreciate differences
2. Ideas:  contrast representational and abstract figures, compare Western and Eastern landscapes, connect myths and their representations

ii.      Connect art to other disciplines
1. Skills: use source material and concepts from division themes, current studies.  See connections among the arts in expressions of annual arts department themes.  Understand that vocabulary crosses “boundaries.”
2. Ideas:  building toys that move with gears, learning simple perspective during Renaissance study, Day of the Dead figures with foreign language, parallel lines and angles in grid-based art and pattern study

iii.      Awareness of art-related institutions
1. Skills:  attend exhibits, workshops – be aware of opportunities to learn and participate
2. Ideas:  enter into Junior arts days fieldtrips, complete assignments, discuss work and concepts, connect to museum education programs.

iv.      Approach contemporary art
1. Skills:  apply literacy skills, connect previous experiences to what is seen, recognize multiple options, become aware of evolving use of unusual media, the proliferation of mixed media, and sites where art may be encountered first-hand
2. Ideas:  use of excellent DVDs:  Art 21 segments, invent new combinations of media in projects, visits by artists and parent-artists

“ If all children in every school from their entrance until graduation…were given the opportunity to experience dance as a creative art, and if their dancing kept pace with their developing physical, mental, and spiritual needs, the enrichment of their adult life might reach beyond any results we can now contemplate.”
~ Margaret N. H’Doubler

Materials

Teacher References:
Gilbert, Anne G. Creative Dance for All Ages. National Dance Association, 1992. 
Hughes, J D. No Standing Around in My Gym. 1st ed. Human Kinetics, 2002. 
Landy, Joanne, and Maxwell Landy. Ready to Use P.E. Activities for Grades K-2. Parker, 1992. 
Nichols-McGreevy. Building Dances. Human Kinetics, 1995. 
Nichols-McGreevy. Building More Dances. Human Kinetics, 2001. 
Purcell, Theresa. Teaching Children Dance. Human Kinetics, 1994. 

Dance Magazine monthly publication
Dance Teacher Magazine monthly publication
Journal of Dance Education Journal of the National Dance Education Organization

Student Text:
Scheff, Helene. Experiencing Dance, Human Kinetics, 2005

Media Examples:
“Behind the Scenes” series.  David Parsons:Pattern, earning Designs & WNET, New York City. 2004
“Let’s Go! WONGAI.” B-rave STUDIO, 1999
“The Language of Dance,” Insight Media
“Paul Taylor: DANCEMAKER,” Docurama, 1998

Web-Site Examples:
http://www.abt.org/education/library.asp
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/
http://www.lodc.org/

Software:
Labanwriter

Music

A. Making
a. General
i. Singing: Sing alone and with others: unison, rounds and partner songs.
ii. Playing: Play traditional and non-traditional instruments to recognize different pitches and timbres.
iii. Expressive movement and response: Demonstrate through movements rhythms and patterns related to walking, jogging, running and skipping.
iv. Improvise and create: Create a soundscape based on a story, attempting to capture its essence.

b. Choral
i. Production: Vocalize using warm-ups and exercises that reinforce such areas as musical expression, pitch, breathing and vocal range.
ii. Ensemble: Perform choral pieces in English and foreign languages, developing cultural context. Sing unison songs, rounds and two part songs.
iii. Improvise/Create: Use poetry or lyrics created to develop musical compositions that could be performed.

c. Instrumental
i. Technique: Develop instrumental technique through group exercises including realization of rhythm and dynamics.
ii. Ensemble: Perform with attention to dynamics, rhythm, and other expressive elements. Participate in an instrumental ensemble.
iii. Improvise and create: Develop a strong grasp on call and response method.

B. Literacy
a. General
i. Respond imaginatively to expressive quality: Listen to musical selections and discuss the feelings evoked.
ii. Listen Critically/Analyze works: Discuss how composers use dynamics, tempo and instrumentation to tell a story in a piece of program music.
iii. Musical notation: Recognize, identify and notate the pitches of the treble staff. Sight sing melodies using whole, half and quarter notes, including their corresponding rests.
iv. Vocabulary: Develop and use descriptive vocabulary of comparatives in music such as melodic structure and phrasing.

b. Choral
i. Respond imaginatively to expressive quality: Experiment  with contrasting dynamics.
ii. Listen critically/Analyze works: Listen to performances of choral ensembles, with attention to tone quality, sense of ensemble and voicing.
iii. Musical Notation: Sight-sing a simple melody which incorporates stepwise motion, ascending and descending intervals.
iv. Vocabulary: Examine a piece of choral music with attention to pitch, dynamics, meter and rhythm.

c. Instrumental
i. Respond imaginatively to expressive quality: Listen to instrumental selections and respond imaginatively through movement. Experiment with contrasting dynamics.
ii.Listen Critically/Analyze works: Listen to a short instrumental excerpt and use appropriate terminology to describe tempo and dynamics.
iii. Musical Notation: Be able to identify visually the pitches of the C Major scale on the treble clef.
iv. Vocabulary: Pitch, dynamics, form and timbre.

C. Context
a. General
i. Understand the role of music: Articulate how the musical setting affects the feeling of a story: melody, texture and culture. Understand call and response, use of rhythmic pulse and improvisation. Listen to songs from a variety of cultural heritages and historical periods. E.g. While learning “Swing low, Sweet chariot”, examine the role and function of spirituals during the time of slavery in the United States. Discuss the indigenous musical characteristics that inform the performance of spirituals such as: Call and response, use of rhythmic pulse, and improvisation.
ii. Apply musical concepts and skills: be able to discuss the relevance of certain concepts and skills. Be able to understand ABA, Rondo and Binary forms. Identify phrases as same/different. Use theme and variations, introduction, first and second endings. Learn about the impact of spirituals on the development of American music to the present.

b. Choral
i. Understand the role of music: Explore universal qualities of lullabies in diverse cultures.
ii. Apply musical concepts and skills: Discuss relevance of certain concepts and skills with regard to texture, expressive elements and personal response.

Gardner, Howard. The Arts and Human Development: A Psychological Study of the Artistic Process. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1973. (builds a case for using arts to facilitate cognitive and affective skills)
Bamberger, Jeanne. The Mind Behind the Musical Ear: How Children Develop Musical Intelligence. Boston, MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1991. 
Harris, R., and E. Hawksley (1989). Composing in the classroom. Cambridgew, England: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Professional publications:
[Music Educators National Conference (MENC) publishes books and pamphlets          on curriculum, philosophy and advocacy (Reston, VA).]

Student text:
Covert, Rosemary.  An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians.  Ontario:  National Library of Canada, 2000.

Media examples:
“The composers’ Specials” series.  PBS Home Video, 2002.

Website examples:
www.dsokids.com