I felt as if I kept shaking my head in agreement as I read through the article by Duncum. Even before the age of the internet, images, text, music ... aspects of culture have been connected in some way. In high school, my favorite - and by far my most difficult class was Humanities. I loved learning about music.. art.. history... literature and the connections between the different facets of a time period... how time periods were connected, etc. Flash forward to present time - I still love humanities studies and reading historical novels. (although my memory of dates and facts is terrible). Duncum explains that the internet is a "vast network of connections". Everything is connected and with hypertext, we simply click on a link to find a related piece of information to the text or image. Intertextuality is multimodal. Haven't educators, for many years, been trying to integrate the arts and academics so that our students can make connections and build on their learning? Often this requires making connections with dates and categories as well as with personal interest. What if we could get students to search for connections and make meaning of images without attaching guidelines such as categorical or historical significance? Duncum suggests that this is a way to connect students interests and knowledge. By exploring relationships and making connections to images, students can brainstorm and expand on their creative ideas. Understanding that words and music affects the meaning of a piece or evokes an emotion is also essential to creating multifaceted art. I wonder what my favorite high school humanities class from 1991 would be like today? Ooooohhh there would be so many possibilities!
Duncum, P.. (2010). Seven Principles for Visual Culture Education. Art Education, 63(1), 6-10.
I just gave you all an excerpt from this article - it sounds like you should really read the whole thing (it is accessible through MU's summon service at Ellis library).
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of your thoughtful comments. Speaking of humanities connections, I am currently working on developing a section of a pre-exsisting "Pop Culture" course at RBHS to be art and english based (instead of the English/Social Studies partnership which exists currently). I feel that learning in and through the arts in particular can be the "glue" for connecting these ideas across time and cultures. It is weird to me that we can even have a "Pop Culture" class WITHOUT an art teacher.
I am lucky that I work in a school which is enthusiastic about integrated coursework (as this is especially difficult in the mini-ivory towers of high schools). Have you had many opportunities to integrate at the elementary level?
I agree- how do you have a pop culture class without the art aspect? sounds like a worthwhile venture.
ReplyDeleteI have had limited opportunities to integrate at the elementary level. Some elementary teachers do more but I think it is easier in the arrangement of their schedules. (i.e. west blvd and lee)
I tend to integrate a lot with kindergarten and I also work with the fifth grade teachers during the Native American units. I used to take care of the butterfly garden at Fairview so I taught the students about native mo plants and butterfly life cycles. I like to work things into class that they may study in other classes (i.e. MO history) but it is not always at the same time during the school year.
It really takes collaboration and pre-planning. Some teachers are good at collaboration, but many classroom teachers are often overextended ....