Collab Lab 8 focused on integrating the arts across disciplines. We used three questions to guide the discussion:
- What capabilities do arts educators bring to schools?
- How might those capabilities be leveraged across disciplines?
- How can can we get started?
Thanks to Nancy Blair for a wrap up process that helped us get down to the one big idea coming out of the discussions of each question. Here’s what our discussion groups came up with:
What insights/capabilities do arts educators bring? (Raw materials)
- Metaphor
- Teaching life skills through the arts
- Boost in self concept especially with low performing students
- Accountability through feedback
- Develops relationships
- Gives students power to create and execute
- Gives light and energy to students day
- Symbiotic relationships teachers teaching kids teaching teachers.
- Can reinforce/correlate with other subject areas (reading, math, art, social studies, science)
- Inspiration, different way of seeing, Skills (how to)
- Opportunity for collaboration through different points of view. (requires a structure)
- Supports a project based approach to learning
- Meaningful creation-problem solving
- Art is about everything and nothing without context
- Performance amazes the audienc
- Knowledge of material
- Manipulation of phenomena
- Art is about “everything”
- Art is nothing without context
- Creativity within PBL
- Balance between skill building and creativity
- Leverage “taste” vs natural exploration
- Creativity and learning or built-in
- Creativity leads to understanding and “lateral moves”
- Understand struggle and making “mistakes”
- Content →skills → engagement (motivation)!
- Evaluate the accomplishment/competency
- Creates engagement and motivation
- Creates trust for problem based learning
- Teacher is coach-role model-how do you learn from mistakes
- Create time and space for students to guide their own learning.
- Bust out of rigid traditional structure
- Models personalized learning
- Can teach the design cycle that can then be applied to individual interest area.
- Rich feedback and critique
- Arts are a way for communicating the inevitable-brings out tacit knowledge from students
- Values what each student brings to the table.
- Creativity
- Questions
- Ability to work in chaos
- Embrace uncertainty
- Different way of seeing
- Healing
- Willing to accept randomness
- Provide permission to play
- Make us human
- To dream new view-what is work
- Being vulnerable
- Connection
- Empathy/compassion
BIG IDEA: Art and Art Educators provide structure to build skill and catalyze creativity that connects to everything.
How can those be leveraged across the curriculum? (New ideas transferable to other parts of the school/curriculum)
- Shared resources, space,
- be scrappy
- artist resource network
- collaboration can pic up slack-partnership, creating innovative environment, inspiration, different levels of funding, New relationship, partnership,
- change and inspire
- adopting new technology
- promote unplanned , unstructured learning opportunities
- Arts educators are often isolated in schools-others don’t understand what you do
- The more relationships can be built across departments the more advocacy can occur for project-based learning
- Once relationships are established gaps can be bridged
- Build a small group of teachers that can build consensus then it can spread.
- Pick a sample project that can be shared with other teachers to peek their interest
- Showcase the work so teachers can appreciate the students work
- Take the opportunity to showcase the process as well as the product. (informance)
- Some arts educators see arts integration as a threat or “arts light”: Have to be careful with approach.
- Administration can offer time for art educators to collaborate with classroom teachers.
- PD for leadership to make initiatives sustainable
- Takes one or two energetic people in the building that want to take it on
- Has to grow organically
- The FabLab is a space where other disciplines could be reaching out
- Break down silos
- Usually doesn’t come from leadership
- Just do it and see what happens-grab it through the children
- Make products visible-provide exposure to peek someone’s interests
- Make cool stuff and give it away
- “Explore Like a Pirate”, a game application for the classroom
- Show link between art/design to 21st century skills
- Build the technical skills to apply to different content
- Build the bridge between what the students are learning and the type of world the students will live in.
- Build literacy skills across all subject areas: process and conception different.
- Effective use of maker spaces-making things that are quality, sustainable, repairable
- How can the arts to build a better future- a world that is want to live in
- Create positive feedback between business and the arts-make a business case of the value and practical application of the arts.
- Most problems are not rocket science –they are solvable
- Opportunities for kids-Exposure to everything-allow them to engage with real world problem.
- More opportunities to reach beyond the walls of the school –connection to the real world beyond the school world
BIG IDEA: Collaborate within and without to break down silos and open up connections and possibilities.
Where do we start? (Action)
- Provide evidence to parents-_Youtube
- Talk, share, network
- Showcase event →work backwards to weekly (?) level
- Make your own tutorial
- Bring in an expert to critique
- Use global audience network
- Mobility – Teach in a different setting
- Flash mob demos
- Leverage MPS Year of the Arts
- Field trips
- Find ways to teach being comfortable with being uncomfortable
- Cultivating patronage for the arts in schools
- Funding is essential
- Redefine patronage to extend support beyond current forms
- Develop relationships with contributors at all levels-its up to us to determine where.
- Use Informances to develop interest and curiosity
