Approaches to teaching in the arts art and music

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Approaches to teaching in the artsart and
music
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• Your examples of the arts

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What purposes might the arts serve, now and in
the future? What purposes might primary arts
education serve?What understandings/beliefs/defi
nitions do I have about the arts, and how will
this inform my teaching?
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Kids comments
Part of life guided by understanding.K.F. grade
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Your imagination on the outside.K. H. grade 6
The world around us. E. S. grade 6
A way to express yourself. J. S. grade 6
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At Primary level the Arts provide a means

• to develop, share and affirm practical,
  creative, motor and cognitive skills personal,
  social and historical meanings and the use of
  specific language systems including
  symbols/metaphors

• to engage in sensory, imaginative, spiritual,
  linguistic, emotional and cognitive exploration
  and expression in many forms (including pleasure)

• to document, categorise and communicate
  experience in non-written forms

• activate, develop and acknowledge the diverse
  abilities, inclinations and cultural traditions
  of students

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• At primary level students are developing the
  foundational knowledge, skills and interests that
  will ultimately shape, colour and engage them in
  the world they live in.

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Too few adults engage in art and so miss out
on a powerful means of expression and engagement.
This applies to both the consumption and
production of art. Art is too often viewed as a
closed message rather than as an open invitation
to interpret and relate it to the self and those
around you. Samuel Jones, Demos Source
www.art-works.org.uk

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3 approaches evident in contemporary
Arts/Education

• Mastery to observe/reproduce/learn/excell
  materials/techniques/traditions/skills
• Aimed toward end product (expert/teacher
  focus)
• Creativity/play/innovation to re-imagine
  creativity/self-expression/critique
• Concerned with process (child/artist focus)
• Interpretation/context to understandmeaning/mean
  ing making (individual/society focus)
• Concerned with social/individual
  value/purposes

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Mastery (Traditions/Artisans)

• Focus on skills/observation, reproduction,
  tradition, aesthetics, technique, crafting,
  specialisation, excellence.
• High Art disciplines. Other approaches
  amateur, naïve, popular, not real art
• Aesthetic principles eg. harmony, beauty
• Service Mastery of specialist technique/
  materials, patronage, value of end product.
  Continue tradition.
• Traditional teaching approach
• Increasing mastery of materials, changes,
  technique assessed. Likeness to master/original.
• VELS Structure of learning levels, domains,
  development of skills, aesthetics

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Creativity/Play (Art for Arts Sake)

• Individual creative expression, ongoing
  exploration of ideas, concepts, processes.
• Unconventional. Innovative. Inspired.
• Service Art/Individual. originality, play,
  imagination, emotion, individual
  expression/ideas, energy.
• Mingling of specialist areas (VELS domains)
• Value of artistic process/struggle
• Not seeking popular acclaim/consumption often
  criticalof art market/social values. Eg Street
  art, ephemeral art
• Alternative galleries, including cyberspace,
  experimental theatre/dance/film/music

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Creativity cont

• Mastery of traditional technique sometimes
  impediment. Too structured, perfect.
• Creativity cannot be taught (talent) and
  should not be assessed???
• VELS imagination/creativity pivotal to the
  arts, broader curriculum

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Art as individual, community and cultural
capital or wealth (local/global)

• Meaningful/meaning making/ whos meanings?
• Mingling of arts domains, involvement of
  popular/low art eg. circus skills, cinema. Visual
  culture/media.
• Can take place across a range of sites including
  cyberspace
• Service Has a range of purposes/value within
  individual lives/communities but also globally.
  Historical/social value.
• Everyone has creative potential diverse
  purposes/ expressions/abilities valued.
  Process/product valued Communication
• Purpose, processes, understandings, criteria,
  outcomes can be defined, critiqued, assessed
• VELS Arts pivotal socially, economically,
  culturally. Prepare for roles in post-industrial
  economy. Communication. Cultural diversity,
  visual culture. Indigenous cultures of Australia,
  cultures of nearest neighbours

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As generalist teachers you need willingness

• to engage with the arts in y/our classrooms
• to be an advocate on some level at least for the
  arts
• as individuals and professionals to take whatever
  opportunities and engage in whatever processes
  you can, to further understandings and skills
  within the arts.

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• Think about own philosophy (may change over time,
  but a clear starting point helps)
• Understand basic terms and concepts (refresh
  before teaching) Glossaries, Artlex
• Adopting inquiry approach allows you to learn
  alongside students
• Purpose of activities/units what is its value
  to student?
• Be aware of where to go for resources (community,
  internet, TRC, professional bodies)
• Awareness of how basics can be made more complex
  - look at what other teachers are doing in
  schools/via internet
• Adapt units of work from VELS and other
  curriculum bodies - NSW, NZ and British Columbia
  have useful examples including assessment

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• References
• Jones, S. (2005) How Old Do You Have To Be To Be
  An Artist? London The Clore Duffield
  Foundation/DEMOwww.art-works.org.uk
• Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
  (2005) VELS (ARTS)lthttp//vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/e
  ssential/discipline/arts/index.htmlgt
• Wright, S. (ed). (2003) Children, meaning-making
  and the Arts. Frenchs Forest Pearson

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Big A Specialist Arts
Orchestra, choir, recording stars and groups,
musicians, opera Conductors, soloists, sound
technicians, recording studios, support staff -
publicity, management, wardrobe, production
assistants
Painters, sculptors, drawers, ceramicists,
printmakers, photographers, filmmakers,
multimedia, installation, performance,
environmental artists
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Big A little a?
Little a Music in everyday life TV, radio
jingles, movie soundtracks, mob ring tones,
openings/events, hymns/chants, play,
advertising, creating atmosphere (shopping
plazas, self amusement/ expression, karaoke,
lullabies, sing-a-longs, work chants/rhythms,
anthems, sports chants,raps, skipping
songs,pipe bands
Little a Visual/tactile arts in everyday
lifecrafts, urban, landscape, industrial
domestic, interior design, fashion, floristry,
food presentation, display, architecture, events,
illustrators, tattooists, self amusement/expressio
n magazine editors, so called amateur artists
Big A Specialist Arts