Okay, it’s my very first blog, on the first and only blog on
artsjournal.com devoted to arts education.
Dewey21C. I had intended to post a first blog directly
associated with John Dewey. That will have to wait a bit as I have something else I
want to share with you. However, before leaving John Dewey for future entries, I want to say that his writing about arts and
education remains to me the bedrock, the real foundation as to what arts
education is all about. While many who take issue with “progressive education”
lay the blame at the feet of John Dewey, I would point out that much has been done in the name of progressive education based on a distorted view of Dewey and his philosophy. His work and inspiration remains timeless.
I promise more about that in future blogs.
Up Against,” I want to share excerpted sections of an email from a colleague who has
recently begun training work with a program that develops public school teachers through an alternative to standard teacher certification. There are over 15 of these programs around the country and you can read a bit about them on the New Teacher Project website. It’s not all that different from
the gargantuan Teach for
America, though a big difference is certainly that “fellows” from these programs seek to become permanent teachers, whereas TFA is a sort of Peace Corps for people who want to spend
two years teaching in the high poverty urban and rural schools.
This email, which shall remain purely anonymous, has had sections deleted to ensure that this fellow could not be identified. While I do think the point being made is fairly obvious, well, you never know. There’s a lot that I would like
to comment on here. I will save much of those comments for a later date, allowing
the email to stand on its own and to then report back a bit on the thoughts of readers.
training of classroom and subject area teachers (non-arts specialists) has
always been a big issue for the arts ed field. Report after report, plan after
plan, hand-wringing after hand-wringing have discussed the critical importance
of developing appropriate skills for classroom and subject area teachers to
teach the arts. This is particularly important where the arts are integrated
with other subject areas. Second, this “Fellow” does indeed have an arts
education background, and is clearly peering through a lens colored by this
background and interest.
training. She gave permission to share this email with you. Suffice it to say,
it was not written in a formal style–it’s just an email to some colleagues and
friends. Let me know what you think…
Just thought I’d say hello and send you a few reflections on
my first week 🙂
I spent the week in class at a local
I take a class from 9-12 and 1-4 (same class). Then I have seminar
for the fellows program from 4:15-6:15. The grad class is basically
an intro to elementary ed teaching through social studies. The professor
is great, worked as a teacher and principal at two different high schools. His only downside is that he really only sees art
education as using a painting to teach about revolution or music to teach about
attitudes about
(he understands there is more to it, but that principals don’t have the
money or time when trying to meet state standards). When I asked him
about the district art curricula or whether or not the arts were part of curriculum he said the
curriculum principals follow is passing the test. This brief discussion was followed by our seminar with a 3rd
grade teacher (a former fellow) who taught us about different forms of
assessment and then showed us the standardized tests 3rd graders had to
take. She said her job is teaching the test from Sept until they are over
in March. She showed us a Math state test for 3rd graders. It
consisted of 5 large reading sections, followed by 25 multiple choice
questions, all of which had to be completed in 45 minutes…and this is
MATH. One of her students who was great in math, but not good in reading,
got so nervous about all the reading in the math test, that she simply filled
out C for every answer and passed the test (I’m sure you’ve heard this before).
that. To sum up, though, having a great time, depressed about the state
of arts education…
6 responses to “What We’re Up Against”
yes, I’ve always placed him at the fore of the unholy trinity: dewey, montessori, steiner. Of course poor old john thought he was ‘doing good^tm’. Lots of bad comes from people doing good. Matthew Arnold? Armstrong? Berkeley? They all thought they were doing good. Dewey’s words sound good too. Call me anti-Fordist, but I still feel that Dewey has allowed American education to become what it has become. Not intentionally, of course, but as one of the people who laid the foundation for the institutionalization of learning, he’s also complicit in the corporatization of lived experience. A bit bombastic, I’ll admit… but still, why do we have to burn a candle to Dewey? Can’t we just place him in the pantheon and move forward?
Hmm…yes, you would think that Cultural Diversity would be amongst the topics discussed in a well rounded Social Studies class. Unfortunately it sounds like it’s not a formal part of the curriculum. At a minimum it sounds like the professor is making a connection to art as a political and/or emotional statement of the times.
Maybe this is an opportunity where the student teaches the master and includes a stronger connection to arts/culture and social studies within their assignments. Get creative!
Congratulations on the new blog, I’m so glad Arts Journal is including Arts in Ed. I have created short curriculums for the weeks pre and post performance of Green Golly and Her Golden Flute in Elementary schools. We have yet to be asked to send the curriculum – which is designed for classroom teachers to prepare for the experience of live performance, story and classical music. The curriculum is simple, just a few minutes of listening and movement and a little history. Instead we usually just come for a big fun performance- I’m always left with a feeling of sadness that I’ve perhaps had only a small impact and we could have done more.
As a music educator in Kansas my lament is that the rigid certification programs for licensure in any field (except math and science) turn away the very most talented people from the field of education. I know so many talented singers who majored in performance who relate well to children, work at camps, know how to manage behavior and are working retail because going back to school full time for another 3 years doesn’t appeal. We need to make it easier for performance majors to enter the field with a little mentorship and night on-line coursework. School districts in Kansas ARE getting rid of music in the classroom because there is a shortage and they can’t fill the need. I don’t know why the standards can’t bend a little. The children suffer in the end.
I’m not an educator, I’m not even in the “system”. I have no knowledge of Dewey or any of the others mentioned. That said, while concentrating on internal systemic problems and educational attitudes might you be missing a big issue in “what you’re up against”. That is, “Education” (big E) isn’t competitive in teaching our children. From the moment they get up to the moment they go to bed, more effectively taught ideas (right or wrong) are implanted through marketing, music, television programming, peer pressure etc, etc, than is implanted by big E all year. Yes, teaching to the test sucks, bipolar teachers and self agendized hacks turn kids off, and “good” teachers are frustrated. But strangely, the same kids who go blank-stared through class zone IN outside of school, become embedded in video game action, know the lyrics to all the songs and can hack your mother’s computer faster than you can say New Yorker Magazine.
There’s a lot more you’re up against than what’s within the school building. But then, I’m not an educator, as it were. There are no easy solutions, I know, but understanding the playing field and what you’re up against is the first step. I guess.
Congrats on the new blog. Are you familiar with NY’s Common Ground Convention? I blogged about it and here is a link to the post. http://entrepreneurthearts.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/common-ground-conference/ I think they might be a great resource for you.
Also are you familiar with Gary Beckman’s website? It is specifically geared towards arts education and entrepreneurial development. You can find it here. http://www.ae2n.net/
Would love to stay in touch.
Lisa Canning
http://www.EntrepreneurTheArts.com
http://www.Bite-SizeArtsEnsemble.org