Adolescent Psychology and the Arts Curriculum:
The Necessity of Arts Education for Teen Thriving
By John Nordell - 12/19/2011
(Artist, educator and photojournalist John Nordell is pursuing a Masters of Education in Arts Education at Fitchburg State University, in Fitchburg, MA. Contact: john@johnnordell.com)
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the eloquent, talented and committed arts educators who allowed me into their classrooms and generously shared their ideas. Many thanks as well to Professor Cheryl Goldman for her deft suggestions that focused my research and for her encouragement to write like a scientist. I am grateful for my advisor, Dr. Harry Semerjian. This paper would not exist without his guidance and steadfast support. I am also grateful for my wife who helped conceptualize this project. She is a proponent of Positive Psychology. Without her input, I would have asked arts educators how the arts can help teens to “cope” during adolescence rather than asking how the arts can help teens “thrive” during adolescence.
1. Introduction
Art was first. It preceded the wheel, metal tools, philosophy, steam engines, capitalism, automobiles, computers and cyberspace. Not only was art first, but the theory of “species-centrism” postulates that humans across the globe and throughout time have shared a common interest in art (Dissanayake, 1992). Art is important.
Over time the creative process shifted from away from making objects solely for religious, decorative or functional use. Also, as societies developed beyond subsistence to a place of surplus, vocational differentiation emerged. And finally, once humans no longer created at the behest of kings and popes, the role of artist became that of gifted individuals expressing original ideas (Staniszewski, 1995). Responding to societal and economic changes, this role has shifted, morphed and diversified.
Arts education has paralleled some of these changes. Concurrent with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, art became a part of structured education. Young people in England were trained as “industrial artisans” turning designers’ ideas into products (Meeson, 1974). The Drawing Act of 1870 in Massachusetts injected art education into schools to serve the creative needs of the burgeoning industrial economy (Levi & Smith, 1991).
Compulsory education, orderly, with desks in rows, prepared young people to work in linear manufacturing settings. Today, as manufacturing leaves industrial lands, this old system of education is flawed for preparing students in post-industrial societies where ideas and creativity form the currency of employability (Robinson, 2011). No longer does a college degree or Master’s degree or Ph.D. guarantee a job. Thinking creatively, developing vision and ideas, the basis of art, can.
Many river straddling New England mill towns that formed the heart of the water-powered industrial revolution languish. Boarded up testaments-to-the-past brick mill buildings line some of their main streets. Urban renewal in the 1960s did not help one such town, North Adams, MA. However, converting a sprawling vacant industrial building into one of the nation’s largest contemporary art museums, MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), anchored the town’s economic revitalization. This metamorphosis was the result of a “creative economy.” Former millworker housing was converted into a hotel for museum visitors. Restaurants and galleries sprouted. Artists’ studios fill formerly empty mill buildings. Long gone are the “industrial artisans” that used to make hats or shoes in these buildings. Their successors now toil in places like Bangladesh and China.
So, where are we in 2011, with a sagging international economy, as far as arts education? Like Einstein saying we cannot solve the problems with the same thinking that created them, Robinson (2011) writes: “We will not succeed in navigating through the complex environment of the future by peering relentlessly into a rear view mirror (p.xiii).”
This is the age of accountability. This is this era in which standardized test prep eats up classroom hours, even recess. According to Greg Snedeker (see below), this is a time when colleges make demands for high school students to complete four years of math and four years of science. Where does arts education fit in this post-industrial age? Especially for this paper, what is the role of arts education as it relates to adolescents?
This report aims to make the case that arts education is a key force for helping adolescents thrive as they navigate their teen years. I have found many journal articles that contain studies that support this idea. I interviewed arts educators in diverse educational settings, public and private, small and large, who passionately defend the importance of arts education.
I found few critics. Saarnivaaraa & Varto (2005) dismiss claims that arts education is the panacea for all that ails students. They rebut claims that arts education only fails when it is underfunded. However, when I searched in scholarly journal databases for “arts” and “psychology” and “adolescents” and “failure” or “problem”, I came up with articles that instead detailed how arts programs reduce stress for failing urban school children and allow them to make academic gains (Creedon, 2011). In conversation with Sally Mixsell, the head of school at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, she suggested my difficulty with finding contrary articles is because research validates the importance of arts education. However, an online query for “school boards vote to cut arts funding” returned scores of hits.
What will the ultimate cost be for cutting the arts and other shrinking of curriculum content areas in favor of a teaching-for-the-test English and math focus? This narrowing of curriculum by schools complying with No Child Left Behind mandates has resulted in little test score improvement and increasingly demoralized students and teachers (Robinson, 2011). Hurley (2004) found that a district that cut arts education experienced higher rates of vandalism along with lower morale and attendance. The cost for more disciplinarians exceeded the salaries of the fired arts educators. In contrast, Baker (2011) studied the effect of music and arts instruction on the state test performance of 8th graders in Louisiana and concluded that students excluded from arts instruction to focus on math and English did not increase their scores. However, scores for students that attended music class were significantly improved.
Along with researching scholarly journals, I went into the field to observe and interview arts educators. My school visits took place in October and November 2011.
April Estabrooks is in her 11th year of teaching. She teaches at Caldwell Alternative Middle School/High School in Fitchburg, MA. For students that have not had success in traditional public schools, Caldwell is an alternative public school where these students can succeed socially and academically. The school population is exclusively special education students with Individualized Education Programs. Estabrooks teaches visual arts. Describing the socioeconomic status of her students, she says that many come from pretty poor families, though not all are poor. Some come from programs where they are not living at home, such as group homes or foster homes.
Cynthia Fulton is in her 43rd year of teaching. She has taught in many settings both public and private. I observed a private class she taught to adolescents at her Bernardston, MA art studio. She teaches visual arts.
Karen Gaudette is in her 14th year of teaching. She teaches at the Greenfield Middle School in Greenfield, MA. It is a public school. She teaches visual arts. As for the socioeconomic status of her students, she heard that 70 percent live in poverty.
Michele Prunier is in her 3rd year of teaching. She teaches at Auburn Middle School in Auburn, MA. It is a public school. She teaches visual arts, with an emphasis on cross-curricular lessons. She describes the socioeconomic status of her students as middle class, not “low-low” class, with some higher class students.
Ann Sorvino is in her 28th year of teaching. She teaches at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, a private preparatory school for girls, boarding and day, grades 7-12, located in Greenfield, MA. Sorvino teaches dance and movement arts. She says that the socioeconomic status of her students ranges widely, from students whose parents pay the full tuition to students from very tough situations that receive full financial assistance. Girls from around the world attend the school. The school offers an International Baccalaureate (IB) degree. It is a rigorous, global, interdisciplinary program designed to foster intercultural understanding and critical thinking.
Greg Snedeker is in his 16th year of teaching. He also teaches at Stoneleigh-Burnham. He teaches performance classes, such as jazz combo, big band and chamber music. He also teaches all the instrumental classes, as well as a world music class and an IB music class.
Linda Mahoney (drawing, painting and digital photo) and Sara Gibbons (ceramics, clay and fiber arts) also teach at Stoneleigh-Burnham. Time constraints led to brief interviews with these instructors.
Lindsey Victoria is in her second year of teaching. She teaches at Greenfield High School in Greenfield, MA. It is a public high school that includes an 8th grade academy. She primarily teaches digital arts, including graphic design and photography. She also teaches painting, print making and art history. Regarding the socioeconomic status of the students, she says that the majority are in the lower economic class, with over half the students on free or reduced lunch programs.
Students arrive at Linda Mahoney’s Drawing 1 class to find an elaborate still life set up for them to draw. She starts the class by asking what elements do the students want to change about her set up. On the first day of Cynthia Fulton’s Advanced Open Studio class, she explains that there will be all-class exercises and activities, but each student will have complete choice for their main projects and what they want to learn; whether how to do shading with drawing implements or how to make a five minute movie. Blank art studio walls await student work.
As these examples demonstrate, the offer of choice, the granting of freedom of direction, the allowing of a sense of control over their learning, is what motivates adolescents. In one form or another, the arts educators I spoke to made this point. Greg Snedeker creates the environment where students can choose which songs to arrange and perform. Peter Zierlein allows student freedom to create art relating to their interests, such as popular culture figures. 7th grade students each year decorate the structural column in Karen Gaudette’s art classroom. This year they chose to make it look like a huge Skittles bag. Students chose the light pink wall color of Ann Sorvino’s dance studio. Michele Prunier makes an effort with every project to allow students to infuse themselves into the work, whether drawing their initials as the basis of learning about perspective or portraying the view out their window for doing cut out art in the style of Henri Matisse. Greg Snedeker avoids a top down approach, for example, whereby students are simply players in the orchestra. They instead become motivated co-collaborators.
While adolescents are not necessarily more emotional than non-teens, they can have more extreme emotional reactions to life events (Steinberg, 2011). Fulton cites the importance of gauging day-to-day student emotional states. Based on their emotional condition, she sometimes shifts class content to better engage students. “You have to be really open to what is happening in their lives and their day to day world. They did not score the goal they wanted to score that day, or they made a new friend that they really like. But you think that they are not interested (in what you are teaching). It takes acute patience and listening very carefully.” She started a class by querying each student about both exasperating and fun moments from the previous week.
Greg Snedeker teaches orchestras and combos with mixed age ranges. He also finds asymmetrical talent in his performance classes. The instruments he teaches are very different with different playing techniques. Given this range, his teaching approach leans toward understanding student learning styles, rather than focusing on student developmental levels. This method is based on Howard Gardener theory of multiple intelligences (Steinberg, 2011). On Snedeker’s quizzes, students encounter a mix of assessment methods. He might have some multiple-choice questions for international students with limited English verbalization skills. Appealing to the strengths of auditory learners, another component might be listening to, and then identifying, musical selections.
Like a definition of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal development (Steinberg, 2011), Peter Zierlein motivates students by tailoring projects that optimally challenge the capabilities of each student. For example, higher level projects for higher-level students. He further explains that keeping all students busy all the time is a vital motivating principle.
I observed a high level of student absorption when creating art, whether weaving intricate patterns, cutting shapes of colored paper, drawing owls with pencils or improvising a saxophone solo. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) describes that this state of “flow” occurs when humans engage in activities that stretch their skills, have clear goals and provide in-the-moment relevant feedback. When engaged in flow activities, the process itself is the reward, time slows and life is worth living. Flow states foster intrinsic motivation.
Larson (2000) found that 11th graders found more positive developmental experiences compared with school classes while participating in extracurricular activities like sports, the arts and service. Compared with regular school classes, students displayed intrinsic motivation and concentration. He found that students participating in arts classes developed higher levels of initiative, a capacity rarely taught in high school and sorely need for adult success in the 21st century. Along with developing intrinsic motivation, fostering the growth of initiative is vital for success in this post-industrial idea age (Robinson, 2011).
Of course, the range of adolescent developmental levels from 6 to 12th grade is huge. Art educators explained how this granting of choice becomes progressively greater as the students can cognitively and behaviorally handle it. Lindsey Victoria teaches both digital media in a Mac Lab and painting in a traditional art studio. She feels she can give more freedom in the art studio. To engage students she gives them as much choice as possible until they start abusing the freedom. Her combined 9th and 10th grade painting class shared the art studio with an upper classman 3-D class. She had to quiet down a giggly 9th grade girl and boy. Later, during clean up, the pair splashes each other, playing by the sink while cleaning up. All the while, two students who appear to be seniors, with the look and affect of young men, work on their projects with focused grace. Linda Mahoney strives to create the situation for her older high school students to work more independently and to internalize the process of art making that leads to mastery: practice, fail, figure it out, redo, figure out what went wrong, practice and repeat.
More powerful than any adolescent psychology textbook description of the physical, social and cognitive changes adolescents undergo, was the consecutive parade of grades into Michele Prunier’s art classroom, from 6th to 7th to 8th. Physical and behavioral changes were stark. Many 7th graders, especially girls, showed signs of growth spurts and pubertal development. Maintaining classroom order took more work with the older grades. This period-by-period grade change kept Prunier on her toes. She explains that 6th graders are willing to do any project. She has to work a little harder to engage the 7th graders and has to ensure the content for 8th graders is geared towards their lives and interests. For effective teaching, Prunier notes the importance of a well-organized classroom and clear lesson plans. She pulled off the board the 6th grade agenda sheet as the 7th graders filed in. Karen Gaudette concurs. She cites the need to have clear, specific and written scaffolding of lessons for 6th and 7th graders. Reflecting on the behavior difficulties she had with a 7th grade class that I observed, Gaudette realized that ending a project and starting another during the same class period stretched the limits of her students' attention.
In one of her classes, Gaudette went over the color wheel with students in preparation for a complementary color collage project. As students called out color pairs, such as red and green or yellow and purple, several students starting murmuring the refrain from Wiz Khalifa’s rap “Black and Yellow”. A student in Lindsay Victoria’s class plugs in her ear buds to listen to music as she works on a graphic design project. Other students repeatedly disrupt the class with loud singing. In Linda Mahoney’s classroom an International Baccalaureate student looks through a microscope while drawing the small details of a feather as she grooves to her iPod. To honor a student’s birthday, Michele Prunier plays the 8th grader girl’s choice of song at the end of class. The girl and her friends head off to lunch singing Sponge Bob’s The Campfire Song. Music and adolescence go together.
Surveying the literature relating to the effects of making music in adolescents’ lives, Prendergast, Gouzouasis, Leggo & Irwin (2009) documented that students find the activity deeply emotionally engaging, fun, rewarding and demanding. The researchers chose an artistic method to assess teen interest in music making, disputing the notion that data from a questionnaire can fully portray an artistic subject. They studied teens in a rhythm and blues band that used the artistic medium of poetry to express their views on being involved in music making. The students wrote haikus in answer to questions such as:
What does music mean to you?
Everything
it makes me happy
(pretty much depend on it)
reason why i live
Push
when making music
i become original
individual
(What is) the role of music in your life?
I don’t know
music flows through you
lets me look at things, my life
helps to compose me
If music is the pulse of adolescent life, digital media is the heart. Cellphones, iPods, computers and video games are staples of teen life. What about using digital media to engage and motivate adolescents? Lindsey Victoria, who teaches digital photography and computer graphic design replies, “I think so, because it is doing something that they are interested in and familiar with. They grew up with it and they have never known not having it. It is the media they feel most comfortable being creative with.” 43 year teaching veteran Cynthia Fulton acknowledges her lack of fluency with digital technology compared with the young digital natives, though she learned a lot from recently teaching a stop motion animation class. Michele Prunier’s 8th graders love using digital media. She likes to give this age group room to carry out projects in a creative and independent way. She feels that the immediacy of the medium and the ease for students to use technology to translate their mental visions into reality makes digital media a great outlet for adolescents.
Dance instructor Ann Sorvino, who describes herself as the least savvy computer person at her school, says digital technology will become a bridge when she can no longer demonstrate the movements. She mentions a computer program used by her mentor Merce Cunningham, to show dancers their roles when he became physically unable to. She does note that YouTube videos allow her to easily show aspects of dance from around the globe.
Across the gymnasium from her dance studio, Greg Snedeker concludes a world music class. “YouTube has revolutionized the study of world musics,” he says, as easily accessible videos make music from around the globe come alive. He warns, however, that while using Garage Band (a digital music making program with pre-made instrument loops) can “be really exciting for students to use to get from point A to point B quickly,” it is vital that students know that while they may be “learning to think and create like a composer”, they are not doing the hard work of actually making the musical tracks on instruments.
A recently installed Smart Board allows Karen Gaudette to properly present imagery to her classes. “I am a bit of a Luddite,” she says and feels that she should embrace digital technology more. However, she does not want her students drawing on the computer. She is however, trying to find a computer based drawing program to facilitate art creation for a student with cerebral palsy. Peter Zierlein uses electronic media in his classes and considers Photoshop just another tool. He does not believe that the technology connects him more deeply to students. April Estabrooks considers technology a point of connection with teens. However, the lone computer in her classroom sharply limits digital pedagogy and related student learning.
Looking from a broader perspective, organizations across the United States based on using digital technology to empower adolescents have emerged. The mission statement on the website of a Chicago outfit includes this definition of Youth Media: Street-Level Youth Media educates Chicago's urban youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communication, and social change. Street-Level's programs build critical thinking skills for young people who have been historically neglected by public policy makers and mass media. Using video and audio production, computer art and the Internet, Street-Level's youth address community issues, access advanced communication technology and gain inclusion in our information-based society.
Gaines & Villarroel (2010) teach at the Real to Reel Filmschool (R2R), which is affiliated with Raw Art Works, an organization that provides art classes to underserved youth in Lynn, MA. Like the teens at Street-Level Youth Media, some of their students face poverty, gangs, drugs and violence. Gaines et al. (2010) are passionate about the potential of Youth Media for adolescents to reflect on their lives, investigate their stories and develop connections with adult mentors. This process requires both rigorous adherence to artistic excellence and compassionate adult guidance. One student, pseudonymously named Melanie, made a film based on her experiences in order to help other youth heal. The film addressed how she began cutting herself. She saw this practice of cutting as a way of replacing her drug use, which had been her coping mechanism prior to the onset of her cutting. “Imagine the hypothetical scenario where the aesthetics of the film are discussed alongside the content: ‘When you show your scars, or when you show how you would take apart a disposable razor to cut yourself with, is it better to show that in a wide shot, or a close up? What’s the sound design that we’re hearing while this part of your story unfolds?’ (Gaines et al., p.28).”
Vasudevan (2006) explored the possibilities of using digital arts technology to connect with adolescents. Her research examined the use of visual texts (photographs and video) by African-American male adolescents to tell their own stories. She notes how African-American male adolescents can be viewed by educational institutions with the following expectations, “as low-literacy, potential behavior problems, in need of placement in special education, and as impending troublemakers”(p. 207). The teens she worked with engaged in video and photography projects, creating self-authored selves that upend these stereotypes. She refers to this process as counterstorytelling. Both the process and the products contain value. Vasudevan (2006) observed that, “Romeo, who had an otherwise reticent personality, blossomed behind the video camera and exhibited an air of authority as his familiarity with the camera grew (p. 210).” She sees potential in the multimodal storytelling that digital technologies offer to develop a new conception of reading and writing, a new conception of literacy.
What about the role of tactile art making experiences in this digital age? The art educators I spoke with, even those that teach digital media, were unanimous, passionate and in some cases vehement about the importance of tactile art making experiences. Regarding the psychology of creating on the computer for her students, Lindsey Victoria says, “It is very engaging to have the screen in front of them and to create many things.” The latest iPad commercial even depicts an artist standing in a field blissfully painting by lovingly stroking the touch screen of her hand held tablet. Why and how to pull adolescents away from these screens?
In her research on the teenage brain, Smith (2011) finds that a digitally dense, multitasking lifestyle marked by relentless stimulation leaves little reflective time necessary for deep thinking and use of the imagination. Caranfa (2006) in Voices of Silence in Pedagogy: Art, Writing and Self-Encounter makes the case “that art teaches us how to listen and how to encounter ourselves totally and completely (p.85).” Cynthia Fulton cites the importance of this interior, cognitive world. She explains that “a great deal happens in an adolescent’s brain when they are doing something with their hands, sensing how their fingers encounter specific materials and changing their minds in the process.” Ann Sorvino concurs about the importance of being completely in the moment. The intense concentration required during a dance performance can make it hard to imagine that 15 minutes has passed. “That feeling of ‘nothing else exists’ is good for your brain,” she says.
“I have a theory about drawing,” says Peter Zierlien. “I think drawing more than writing is closer to the brain. Babies with crayons can express that they are happy. It is a direct link from the hand with a pen to the brain and (this process) records immediately a thought in the form of a line that you can share with other people. Even if you are a caveman, you can express yourself to others.”
Sara Gibbons describes weaving as a heavily math-based analytical process rather than an emotional one like painting. Greg Snedeker explains that the power of a musical performance is how each musician interprets a piece. The way performers insert their own expression or even mistakes, leads to success. A computer can play with exact pitch and time, he says, but the performance is flat, devoid of human imperfection. I not only hear the sounds, but also feel in my body the music created by Snedeker’s rehearsing jazz combo students.
Michele Prunier knows that her students have other classes that are based around technology so she focuses on tactile experiences for her students. They work with wide range of materials, including rulers, pencils and scissors. Though she has to trundle out a bulky cart with a computer and digital projector to show art images, she favors this presentation format to provide background for her lessons. For her, this presentation method is a serious upgrade from showing the old art history books that reproduce color paintings in black and white.
Linda Mahoney says that digital photographic portraiture contains psychological issues for her students, as they define portraiture, decide how to see their subjects and then choose how to convey this vision. Distant from these cerebral contemplations, April Estabrooks finds that some of her students, especially those wearing pricy sneakers, avoid messy projects in favor of more controlled drawing.
Aside from her tactilely defensive students whose fingers recoil from clay, Karen Gaudette’s students love the tactile quality of the medium and the fact that they can make a cup and drink from it. Sara Gibbons echoes this thought, as her students take finishing steps to turn creations into functional items. For example, weaving cloth and then sewing the material to make a handbag. Michele Prunier says her students also really like to manipulate and hold clay. Whereas drawing can be a struggle, the ease of working with clay builds student confidence. Clay is such a draw for students that Prunier sometimes manages classroom behavior by establishing that the consequence for misbehavior is losing the privilege to use clay.
“We as people want to touch stuff, so I think that the ability to use your hands and coordinate with your eyes is essential for learning,” says April Estabrooks. Karen Gaudette finds that some students lack basic skills such as folding and pinching. “I think we have to stay tactile,” says Peter Zierlien. “I think we have to not neglect looking for yourself, having a craft you can do yourself. With human societies in the past, how well they formed their clay pots showed their level of sophistication. Do not relent your abilities/skills to your computer. I think to be an upright citizen you have to be able to make things yourself... What if you are out of power? You cannot be an artist if you are not plugged in?”
Art therapy makes it way into arts classes often subtly, but in overt ways as well. Greg Snedeker is so focused on pedagogy and arranging the music for all the bands and ensembles he teaches that art therapy is not in the forefront of his consciousness. However, he feels that there is a therapeutic benefit for students in his classes who come to see themselves as artists or performers. Michele Prunier notes that students who flounder in other classes gain confidence by having creative artistic success. She believes that creating and sharing visions is an important outlet for adolescents. The visions in some cases bring respite from dysfunctional home life. Peter Zierlein says for students, especially those that struggle with physics or math, there is therapeutic value in developing self-confidence in a non-graded environment where they find success. April Estabrooks relates the story of a student coming to class angry. He just took out a glue gun and starting gluing Popsicle sticks. Knowing the student, she feels that had she forced him to do the scheduled class work he might have exploded. In this case art therapy superseded the curriculum and allowed the student to manage his anger appropriately.
Froeschle & Riney (2008) make the case that Adlerian Art Therapy can reduce social aggression (non-physical bullying) in middle schools. They believe that art therapy, which helps both victims and perpetrators develop competent social skills, can be effectively integrated into school counseling programs. They state that incorporating art into counseling sessions takes minimal supplies and skill, leads to active engagement in the sessions and allows student to remain unique while their mindsets shift from competition to contribution. The Adlerian Art Therapy Program they outline is implemented over 7 weeks and culminates in a community project. Reduced social aggression, improved academic performance and a lowered potential for violence are the expected results.
Lindsey Victoria finds that is a treat for special needs students to be in art class. The hands on activities that lead to a feeling of accomplishment provide therapeutic relief. The encouragement and positive feedback received in art class are a reward for these students who excitedly bring their creations home.
Not a trained dance therapist, Ann Sorvino has occasionally made referrals to an actual dance therapy program. Her teaching goal is to “leave issues at the door,” as talk of feelings could fill the whole class period. However, if she senses that something is going on, she has a discussion to clear the air. She notes that learning to dance does not bring instant gratification. However, the discipline and hard work students show leads to competence and confidence. “Self esteem is so important for a young woman to not grow up to be a victim,” she says.
Cythnia Fulton observes that around age 12 or 13, strong, imaginative, sports playing girls shut down and start playing it safe. She does not fully understand this phenomenon. Is it boys? Hormones? Without a coping tool like art, she has seen girls head towards depression, eating disorders, pregnancy and cutting. Fulton’s mother died when Fulton, already practicing art, was in early adolescence. “I worked out a lot of grief (in the studio) and if I did not have that studio to go to...”
When Melanie first approached an instructor (Gaines et al., 2010) about making a film about her cutting, the subject was still raw. He suggested she wait. It was later, after her life turned around, that she was ready. (Gaines et al., 2010) report than given the student population and the issues they face, the Real to Reel Filmschool and Raw Artworks, are committed to and staffed for art therapy. They find that while personal storytelling by at-risk adolescents is empowering, it can also unearth trauma and conflict. Educators must have proper support from counselors or social workers in these situations.
A trend emerged when I asked arts educators about diversity in their classrooms and how this factor affected their teaching. Public school practitioners started off talking about special needs students. Their private school counterparts viewed diversity through the lens of ethnicity. Michele Prunier says her classroom diversity is special education students mixed in with regular students. She also encounters socioeconomic diversity, with some students very low on the income scale. She differentiates her instruction for special education students, sometimes simplifying projects or pointing a project in the direction of a student’s strengths.
Peter Zierlein believes that the greater the student diversity in terms of age, ethnicity and religion, the greater the opportunity for learning about each other and reducing ignorance. He takes the same teaching approach regardless of class composition. Lindsey Victoria needs to differentiate instruction for special needs students and advanced learners. Students who are not interested in art and feel that they cannot do as well as others and thus do not try, can become a behavioral challenge. Students with an affinity for art fly through their projects. Her goal is to keep all these students together in class. It does not always work out.
A large contingent of international students brings different cultures and traditions to Greg Snedeker’s school. This diversity necessitates sensitivity in choosing what musical selections to perform. One student brought a 21 string guzheng from China. A guzheng is a zither like instrument. She joined in playing with a Western classical ensemble. He believes that this scenario is invaluable. Not only do students have first hand exposure to an instrument from another culture, but also interactively create music. In this the process, students determine how the guzheng does, or does not, fit in.
Karen Gaudette has some students with extreme challenges, under the constant care of aides, who are only with their classmates during her art classes. She grades with their challenges in mind and takes into account the impact of their abilities on doing the project. While other students cut out shapes with scissors for a project on color theory, a special needs student used a hole punch. She also has ethnic diversity, including a recent influx of Moldavians. Addressing all students’ needs becomes difficult when student ability is so greatly varied. “I go home and ruminate a lot on how could I do more,” she says.
It is the focus of her school that all of April Estabrooks’s students are classified as special education students. Their challenges include ADHD, PTSD, Asperger’s Syndrome, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She feels that her school is good with diagnosing this diversity of special learners. She and her primarily Caucasian colleagues initially struggled with the newness of an influx of Spanish speaking students, but feel they are getting better with such ethnic diversity.
Ann Sorvino lists the languages spoken by her international students: Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean and Spanish. With so many non-native English speakers, she makes sure all students comprehend her explanation of complex ideas. Teaching dance has cross-cultural advantages: “As movement is the universal language,” she says, “I demonstrate a lot by moving.”
The equation elements are neither numbers nor words but images, described here with words: Scissors + Glue Stick + Colored Paper = The Sadness of the King Michele Prunier reviews this equation as students begin to cut paper (to draw with scissors), making cut out art in the style of Henri Matisse. Matisse cut paper to create The Sadness of the King. She finds math everywhere in art, especially with equations and shapes. (You can find Ann Sorvino’s students dancing math equations.) Prunier always talks to teachers in other disciplines, so that if a social studies teacher covers Egypt, she steers her arts projects toward that part of the world. Tied to the 8th grade class visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and in reference to the victims’ shoes on display there, her students will undertake ambitious cross-curricular projects. The projects entail creating sculptural wire shoes, writing poems from the perspective of one of the victim’s shoes, and creating Power Point presentations with images and songs of hope. Students will look at their lives today in the context of the historical event. She wants students to know “(That) every part of your education is worthy and connected to all parts of your life.”
In keeping the premise of the International Baccalaureate program, Ann Sorvino’s IB Dance class is cross-curricular. Participating students use a dance textbook. Along with formal papers, students write journals concerning the meaning of dance in their lives and the world at large. Students also write about why one should even write about dance. Sorvino is excited that the IB cross-curricular approach encompasses all kinds of learning styles. The auditory learners love discussion, she says. The strong writers are quieter. Kinesthetic learners might wind up writing analytic essays about their choreography. Students dance math pieces.
At Karen Gaudette’s previous school, 75% of her curriculum aligned with the curriculum of other content areas. As an art teacher, she received many science grants to do combined art and science projects. Her current school is larger with less of a commitment to arts integration. Like Michele Prunier, she proactively talks with teachers from other disciplines to align her projects with their content. She had 7th graders who studied Greek culture design their own Greek columns.
During his seminar titled Creativity is a Decision, Sternberg (2010) listed qualities of creative thinking – create, design, invent, imagine, suppose – and gave examples of how these key artistic ideas relate to learning across the curriculum. For example, challenging students to “Invent a new means of transportation”(slide 35) or “Imagine how bees communicate with each other”(slide 36).
For students at the Fitchburg Arts Academy in Fitchburg, MA, integrated arts are the norm. Lisa DeTora’s 6th English Language Arts class read Kathyrn Lasky’s novel, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a work of fantasy about the lives of owls. During certain classes, art teacher Jessica Clarke came into the room. Students put down their books and begin working on their drawings of owls. “How do artists and writers incorporate non-fictional elements into their work,” was the essential question the unit addressed. Lisa DeTora says that this integrated approach requires extra time for planning. During one class period, students were split into two groups. Some read while others worked on their owl drawings. Class time was wasted, as the initial set up proved unwieldy, necessitating students picking up their materials and shifting locations. Thus, such arts integration can be logistically tricky. However, it was quite a moment when author Kathryn Lasky visited the classroom. After delightedly noting the precision and realism of the student owl drawings, Lasky fielded questions from students about how she writes her books.
However, Winner (2007) performed 10 meta-analyses of studies to determine the impact of arts education on improving student achievement in other academic disciplines and found scant scientific evidence. She found that studies showed a positive correlation between students who take arts classes and achieve higher test scores, but she questions whether one should infer that art classes make for higher achievement, or do higher achievers take more art classes? What about the level of parent involvement that can lead to taking more art and higher achievement? Winner (2007) also found that the studies she analyzed did get specific about what skills students learn in art classes that could transfer to other disciplines to spur higher achievement. She studied arts education and determined key Studio Habits of Mind: Craft (Technique), Observe, Envision, Reflect, Question and Explain, Evaluate, Express, Stretch and Explore, Engage and Persist, and Understand (the) Art World. She explains that many of these skills are not unique to practicing the arts. Many of them overlap with other disciplines, especially scientific inquiry. But she finds no direct evidence that proves the “transfer hypothesis”, that art students bring these habits of mind to their other classes. Yet her Studio Habits of Mind clarify what is learned in art classes and therefore future studies can assess to what degree these skills are transferred. She notes that the conceptual framework of her investigations stems from interactions with her mentor Rudolph Arnheim, author of Visual Thinking.
April Estabrooks says she might only touch briefly on history when introducing an artist, as her students are not fond of lengthy lectures. She does not get together and plan with teachers from other disciplines. She does make some cross-curricular connections, for example, likening the sketch that precedes a final artwork to a rough draft when writing. Greg Snedeker strives to show how all subjects are intertwined, that music is interconnected with math, science, humanities and even athletics. Music is very math heavy, he says. Also, physics is involved with understanding how harmonics are developed. He sees value in learning how to play an instrument, as this repetitive, kinesthetic process, trains muscles how to do new things.
Lindsey Victoria sees math in the measuring and understanding of perspective with painting. She incorporated English Language Arts in one 9th grade art project as students wrote and edited descriptive paragraphs to accompany their artwork. Peter Zierlein does not specifically teach across the curriculum, but finds many points of connection with math, philosophy and brain science. Rather than painting, or sculpture, or drawing, the primary media Zierlein teaches “(is) the brain. It is not about whatever paper you use. It is the brain, not the material. That is the most important thing I teach. I am a big believer in concept. It does not matter what you express with, it is what you express that is important. Give different people the same material…”
Cynthia Fulton believes that art plays an “absolutely essential” role for making a healthy transition from childhood to adulthood. “Art is not drawing and painting. Art is the connection to the visual world, the connection of the outside visual and tactile world to your inner memories and experiences and how you perceive things. It puts you in contact with the world, you become woven in and enmeshed with the world so you do not feel alone and separate... It is an essential awareness of being human, of noticing things and seeing how they affect you.” She believes that one benefit for adolescents who learn to look at the world as artists lies in developing the ability to know and express their feelings. Example: “I got kicked off the team, but I feel sad. I know it is the best decision, but it makes me sad.”
Of additional importance, Fulton believes that for some older adolescents, becoming an artist can aid in the vital process of identity formation. When students can declare, “I’m the athlete or I’m the nerd or I’m the artist”, she maintains that finding this niche helps teens navigate adolescence. While some students know that they excel in math or science, for others, artistic excellence grounds positive identity development.
Ann Sorvino echoes Fulton’s beliefs, similarly noting the importance of an identity focus. “Anytime a child can say ‘I am this: a writer, a painter, an anything,’ (it creates) focus as (they) go into the churning waters of adolescence.” She herself danced every afternoon after high school. She believes it is “monumental” for adolescents to have a place to express themselves and excel. Mindful of body issues for young girls, she stresses that anyone can be a dancer and be strong in their body. As dancers are “not removed from their instrument,” developing the ability in a supportive environment to get up and perform in front of people “serves you in all of life,” says Sorvino. Noting that giving a public speech strikes fear into most humans, her colleague Greg Snedeker explains that when students perform on stage, the arts become a “visceral and immediate” way of working through these fears. He feels that this process likely - and mostly unconsciously - helps students in other arenas of life.
Since astronaut Cady Coleman is both a flute player and a scientist, Greg Snedeker invited her to speak at his school. The MIT graduate has played flute since she was a girl. Coleman recently returned from 6 months living in the international space station where she sometimes played her flute. “Even in space, you have bad days,” Coleman told the students. To combat theses blues, she would get out her flute and play, orbiting the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour.
Goldstein (2011) found that arts education helps adolescents develop their social cognitive skills, but that shifts occur in varying levels, depending on the type of art being studied. She conducted research to determine whether adolescents participating in acting classes compared with fine arts classes had greater development of social cognitive skills. She tested high school freshman at the start of the year and at the close of the year, measuring levels of theory of mind (the ability to understand others’ thinking and feelings), empathy (the ability to identify with others’ feelings) and emotional regulation (the ability to regulate one’s emotions). She found that while all arts students had gains in their social cognitive skills, the acting students had relatively greater gains in developing theory of mind and empathy. The researcher believes these additional gains stem from the craft of acting, which necessitates deeply thinking and feeling like another person. Goldstein (2011) notes that bullies often have strong theory of mind, so they understand what their victims are thinking and feeling, yet possess minimal empathy. Thus bullies continue their tormenting, as they are unable to identify with their victims’ feelings.
Deifell (2008) started a program called Seeing Beyond Sight to teach photography at Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. When he first called to propose the idea, school officials thought he was a crank. However, the program was ultimately successful. The blind adolescent photographers found a powerful avenue for both self-expression and empowerment. Community volunteers came to the school and described to the students what they saw in the photographs. The first picture that a student named Leuwynda took was of a sidewalk crack at the school. Deifell, her sighted instructor, thought it was a mistake. Leuwynda sent the image with a letter to the school superintendent, explaining that her white cane got stuck in the crack, and requesting that the sidewalk be repaired. It was.
Michele Prunier says her art classroom is a respite from a world of comparison through grades, from a textbook world with one right answer at the back of the book. Even a student that lacks high level drawing skills can create a pleasing work, she says. She maintains that this physicality, this working with their hands, is an important outlet for students. All of her projects have graded goals, but while some students go in a straight line from start to finish, others take more circuitous routes. In either case, students take their path into their own hands. During the transition to adulthood, adolescents likewise create their own, varying paths. Prunier believes that this growing up process mirrors the process of creating of art. This natural, organic process runs counter to textbook culture that dictates one right answer, one correct way.
I received the following email after spending the day with Michele Prunier: “I was thinking on my way home about some of your questions and the only thing I wanted to say, (amongst all my other ramblings!!!:), is that I believe art teaches to the human experience. At such a critical time in the developmental cycle while students are beginning their "quest" of discovering/creating themselves, the element of assimilation, acceptance and understanding of one another's stories through visual arts is something I don't know students get from any other subject. I often have the students stand and share their pieces of work at the end of the project. The practice of "show and tell", as simple as it is, is quite beautiful. It teaches more about who we are, and sometimes allows students foresight into who they want to be.”
“Manifesting the world around you as an image, or expressing yourself in an image, matures you,” says Peter Zierlein. One of his students, named Mimi, stands and displays her just completed stencil art. She beams. “I’m all done. I’m so proud. I shall be famous.” Noting Mimi’s pride, Zierlien says, “I am sure it satisfies a need to accomplish something, to make a product. From conception, to an idea, to a product on the drying rack.”
Arts related adolescent thriving has many different psychological levels, from students like Mimi developing self-esteem to poor, minority youth developing resilience. I recently heard a radio public service announcement for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. A young woman glows about her job as a graphic designer. She learned about art from her Big Sister. “I got into art,” she says, “while the other kids in my neighborhood got into trouble.”
One in five violent crimes committed by juveniles occur during the after school time from 2-6 pm, according to Gasman & Anderson-Thompkins (2003), who cite this FBI statistic in their research concerning an after school arts program for inner city youth. The researchers conducted qualitative interviews over a two-year period with adolescent students participating in the Artists in Making (AIM) program, housed in a community center in San Antonio, TX. The primarily minority neighborhood suffers from high crime, gang activity and most families live at or below the poverty line. Gasman et al. (2003) found that AIM program participants engaged in self-discovery, learned problem-solving skills, had opportunities for positive risk taking and developed mastery of artistic skills. The AIM students exhibited resilience, helping them handle the challenges of their violent neighborhoods.
Listen to a Mexican American AIM participant named Jesse: “I like everyone at school except a gang named the Midnight Colors or the MC’s. They don’t like me because they don’t like my best friend and because I have self-respect. I don’t like gangs because my sister had a boyfriend who was in a gang—when she broke up with him he tried to stalk her. Most kids probably think I’m conceited but I like who I am and I don’t do what other people want me to do. I don’t let people boss me around. I can think for myself (Gasman et al., 2003, p.439).”
For low income and minority students like Jesse, the challenges of healthy adolescent development are compounded. Steinberg (2011) cites the multitude of factors faced by these teenagers: the complexity of developing identity in a majority culture, encountering discrimination, reduced access to healthcare, the stress of living in poverty and living in neighborhoods where peers are likely to be engaged in deviant behavior. He relates that the leading cause of death for African American adolescents is homicide. Jesse, again, on her future: “I will be a good person. I want to live in a big apartment with a backyard to plant flowers. I will go to college, have my own art studio, and I will be happy knowing I made it”(Gasman et al., 2003,p.440).
Ersing (2009) explains that Positive Youth Development (PYD) refutes labeling young people as “problems to be solved” in favor seeing them as a “new generation of problem solvers” (p.27). Rather than trying to stop youth from engaging in problem behaviors, the PYD paradigm aims to equip youth with skills to thrive in the face of developmental obstacles. Ersing (2009) studied the efficacy of the Prodigy After School Arts program (which takes a PYD approach) in the low-income community of Hillsborough County, FL. Local youth, as well as first-time juvenile offenders participated. Her research thus far indicates gains in growth of artistic skills and essential developmental resources such as self-esteem, positive identity and empathy. For the first-time offenders that completed the program, their non-recidivism rate was 91 percent (Ersing, 2009, p.37). Ersing (2009) heralds the success of such an afterschool program, especially as she found arts programs in public schools being cut, with the deepest cuts occurring in cash-strapped, high minority schools.
Back in a public school that still teaches art, April Estabrooks sees value for developing adolescents, as art can be an emotional release. Watching students form their identities fascinates her as when 16-year-old boys delight in making necklaces that match their shoes. Or when girls, countering the prissy stereotype, enjoy doing the messier projects. Lindsey Victoria also notes how art class relates to identity formation, “I think it give them a chance to be individuals. I think adolescents have a tendency to not be individuals and to not stand out, but art gives them a safe way to stand out from the crowd.” Greg Snedeker adds to this discussion of identity formation: “The arts by nature are what tells us who we are. That’s what teenagers are so desperately looking for: Who am I?”
Though the number of art educators interviewed was small, the range of settings was vast: public schools, a private school, an alternative public school and out of school classes. One class was peaceful as meditation center. Another bubbled with barely contained 7th grade energy. One crackled with potential violence until an aide escorted out a disruptive student. One class had 5 students. Another had 29. Some students were in the class by choice. Others were not. Thus when I asked, “What big picture concepts serve as the underpinning of your art classes?" the responses reflected the varied settings.
Greg Snedeker: “For me, I really do try to get the students to understand that this is academic discipline like anything else, to not perceive it like dessert after the meat and potatoes. Reeducating them that the arts as academic subjects are as important as any other subject. And if they are being told otherwise, question why they are being told that.”
Karen Gaudette: “I think that I want the kids to be creative, tenacious problem solvers. I want them to find original solutions to problems, but also learn that it takes time and care to solve those problems.”
April Estabrooks: “For here, it’s just how to function in a classroom. How do you handle being with other people? How do you do a good job at what you are doing? Even if you are not in love with your art, how do you still do it and do it well? How do you function in life, learn certain language you cannot use on the job, learn social graces? How do you talk to adults and not annoy them?”
Lindsey Victoria: “I think that the elements and principles of design are something that I focus on. I try to work in all the elements and principles to make sure they understand them all. Like color, line and value."
Throughout this range of settings, the arts educators spoke passionately about the importance of arts education for adolescent thriving. However, partway through my research I realized that I was primarily speaking to educators with a vested interest in arts education. To paint a fuller picture, I should have also interviewed budget cutting administrators, adolescent students and university admissions personnel. These additional interviews were beyond the scope of my project.
Numerous articles cited in this report, do however, indicate that arts education can have a positive impact for young people making the transition from childhood to adulthood. The impact can be far greater than mastering artistic skills, whether creating positive identities to counter negative stereotypes (Vasudevan, 2006), reforming bullies (Froeschle et al., 2008), expanding the ability to listen (Caranfa, 2006) or developing initiative (Larson, 2000), resilience (Gasman et al., 2003) and empathy (Goldstein, 2011).
My introduction noted the powerful economic forces currently at play. I relayed suggestions that an educational paradigm shift is necessary to prepare students for success in post-industrial economies. I believe that this report makes the case that an emphasis on arts education is a good place to start preparing adolescents to thrive in the 21st century.
Teacher Profile:
Name:
Number of years teaching:
Degree(s) earned:
Grade(s) taught:
Subjects taught:
How would you describe your school?
What is the socioeconomic status of the students?
Questions:
What makes for a successful art class that engages adolescents?
What are key methods for motivating adolescents in an art class?
What role does art play in making for a healthy transition from childhood to adulthood?
Which teaching methods are most effective for the developmental level of your students?
What is the primary art media that you teach?
What are the psychological aspects of the media itself?
Does art therapy play a role in your teaching environment?
What is your favorite lesson to teach?
How can artistic expression help youth thrive during the critical biological, cognitive and social transitions of adolescence?
Can you talk about student diversity in your classroom and how this factor affects your art teaching?
Do your classes ever crossover into other content areas, such as math, history or social sciences?
Is teaching digital media a generational bridge when working with adolescents?
In the digital age, what is the role of tactile art making experiences?
What big picture concepts serve as the underpinning of your art classes?
Do you feel that adolescence is a quest? Why or why not?
Baker, R. r. (2011, May 1). The Relationship between Music and Visual Arts Formal Study and Academic Achievement on the Eighth-Grade Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Test. Online Submission, Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University. 212 pp.
Bohlin, C., Durwin, C.C. & Reese-Weber, M. (2009). Ed Psych Modules. New York: MacGraw-Hill
Caranfa, A. (2006). Voices of Silence in Pedagogy: Art, Writing and Self-Encounter. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40(1), 85-103.
Creedon, D. W. (2011). Fight the Stress of Urban Education with the Arts. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(6), 34-36.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books
Deifell, T. (2008). Seeing Beyond Sight: Photographs by Blind Teenagers. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Dissanayake, E. (1992). “Species-centrism” and Cultural Diversity in the Arts. Seminar Proceedings: Discipline-based Art Education and Cultural Diversity, Santa Monica: The J. Paul Getty Trust.
Ersing, R. L. (2009). Building the Capacity of Youths through Community Cultural Arts: A Positive Youth Development Perspective. Best Practice In Mental Health, 5(1), 26- 43.
Froeschle, J. G., & Riney, M. (2008). Using Adlerian Art Therapy to Prevent Social Aggression among Middle School Students. Journal Of Individual Psychology, 64(4), 416-431.
Gaines, C., & Villarroel, P. (2010). Art Therapy: A Critical Youth Media Approach. Youth Media Reporter, 427-30.
Gasman, M., & Anderson-Thompkins, S. (2003). A Renaissance on the Eastside: Motivating Inner-City Youth through Art. Journal Of Education For Students Placed At Risk (JESPAR), 8(4), 429-50.
Goldstein, T. (2011). Correlations Between Social-Cognitive Skills in Adolescents Involved in Acting or Arts Classes. Mind, Brain and Education, 5(2), p. 97-103.
Hurley, R. (2004). Cuts in Arts Programs Leave Sour Note in Schools. Wisconsin Education Association Council Website, News and Publications.
Larson, R. W. (2000). Differing profiles of developmental experiences across types of organized youth activities. American Psychologist, 55(1), 170-183.
Levi, A.W., & Smith, R.A. (1991). Art Education: A Critical Necessity. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
McMurrer, J., (2007). Choices, Changes, Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. A Report in the Series From the Capitol to the Classroom: Year 5 of the No Child Left Behind Act. Center On Education Policy.
Meeson, P. (1974). Art or Nature: A Problem of Art in Education and Teacher Training. British Journal Of Educational Studies, 22(3), 292-302.
Prendergast, M., Gouzouasis, P., Leggo, C., & Irwin, R. L. (2009). A haiku suite: the importance of music making in the lives of secondary school students. Music Education Research, 11(3), 303-317. doi:10.1080/14613800903144262
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. Chichester: Capstone.
Saarnivaara, M., & Varto, J. (2005). Art Education as a Trap. Scandinavian Journal Of Educational Research, 49(5), 487-501. doi:10.1080/0031383050026795
Smith, C.A. (2011). Still Developing: Teenagers, Brains and the Arts. Religious Education, 106(3), p.262-265.
Staniszewski, M. (1995). Believing is Seeing, Creating the Culture of Art. New York: Penguin.
Steinberg, L., (2011). Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill Sternberg, R. (2010). Creativity is a Choice, Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/UTDslides/sternberg-creativity-is-a-decision-3415440
Vasudevan,l. (2006). Making Known Differently: Engaging Visual Modalities as Spaces to Author New Selves. E-Learning, 3(2), 207-216. doi: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.207
Winner, E. (2007). Visual Thinking in Arts Education: Homage to Rudolf Arnheim. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1(1), 25–31.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Arts Educator Profiles
3. Motivation and Engagement
4. Digital Media
5. The Psychology of Art Making Media
6. Art Therapy
7. Diversity in the Arts Classroom
8. Arts Across the Curriculum
9. Arts Education and Adolescent Thriving
10. Conclusion
11. Questionnaire
12. References
1. Introduction
Art was first. It preceded the wheel, metal tools, philosophy, steam engines, capitalism, automobiles, computers and cyberspace. Not only was art first, but the theory of “species-centrism” postulates that humans across the globe and throughout time have shared a common interest in art (Dissanayake, 1992). Art is important.
Over time the creative process shifted from away from making objects solely for religious, decorative or functional use. Also, as societies developed beyond subsistence to a place of surplus, vocational differentiation emerged. And finally, once humans no longer created at the behest of kings and popes, the role of artist became that of gifted individuals expressing original ideas (Staniszewski, 1995). Responding to societal and economic changes, this role has shifted, morphed and diversified.
Arts education has paralleled some of these changes. Concurrent with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, art became a part of structured education. Young people in England were trained as “industrial artisans” turning designers’ ideas into products (Meeson, 1974). The Drawing Act of 1870 in Massachusetts injected art education into schools to serve the creative needs of the burgeoning industrial economy (Levi & Smith, 1991).
Compulsory education, orderly, with desks in rows, prepared young people to work in linear manufacturing settings. Today, as manufacturing leaves industrial lands, this old system of education is flawed for preparing students in post-industrial societies where ideas and creativity form the currency of employability (Robinson, 2011). No longer does a college degree or Master’s degree or Ph.D. guarantee a job. Thinking creatively, developing vision and ideas, the basis of art, can.
Many river straddling New England mill towns that formed the heart of the water-powered industrial revolution languish. Boarded up testaments-to-the-past brick mill buildings line some of their main streets. Urban renewal in the 1960s did not help one such town, North Adams, MA. However, converting a sprawling vacant industrial building into one of the nation’s largest contemporary art museums, MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), anchored the town’s economic revitalization. This metamorphosis was the result of a “creative economy.” Former millworker housing was converted into a hotel for museum visitors. Restaurants and galleries sprouted. Artists’ studios fill formerly empty mill buildings. Long gone are the “industrial artisans” that used to make hats or shoes in these buildings. Their successors now toil in places like Bangladesh and China.
So, where are we in 2011, with a sagging international economy, as far as arts education? Like Einstein saying we cannot solve the problems with the same thinking that created them, Robinson (2011) writes: “We will not succeed in navigating through the complex environment of the future by peering relentlessly into a rear view mirror (p.xiii).”
This is the age of accountability. This is this era in which standardized test prep eats up classroom hours, even recess. According to Greg Snedeker (see below), this is a time when colleges make demands for high school students to complete four years of math and four years of science. Where does arts education fit in this post-industrial age? Especially for this paper, what is the role of arts education as it relates to adolescents?
This report aims to make the case that arts education is a key force for helping adolescents thrive as they navigate their teen years. I have found many journal articles that contain studies that support this idea. I interviewed arts educators in diverse educational settings, public and private, small and large, who passionately defend the importance of arts education.
I found few critics. Saarnivaaraa & Varto (2005) dismiss claims that arts education is the panacea for all that ails students. They rebut claims that arts education only fails when it is underfunded. However, when I searched in scholarly journal databases for “arts” and “psychology” and “adolescents” and “failure” or “problem”, I came up with articles that instead detailed how arts programs reduce stress for failing urban school children and allow them to make academic gains (Creedon, 2011). In conversation with Sally Mixsell, the head of school at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, she suggested my difficulty with finding contrary articles is because research validates the importance of arts education. However, an online query for “school boards vote to cut arts funding” returned scores of hits.
What will the ultimate cost be for cutting the arts and other shrinking of curriculum content areas in favor of a teaching-for-the-test English and math focus? This narrowing of curriculum by schools complying with No Child Left Behind mandates has resulted in little test score improvement and increasingly demoralized students and teachers (Robinson, 2011). Hurley (2004) found that a district that cut arts education experienced higher rates of vandalism along with lower morale and attendance. The cost for more disciplinarians exceeded the salaries of the fired arts educators. In contrast, Baker (2011) studied the effect of music and arts instruction on the state test performance of 8th graders in Louisiana and concluded that students excluded from arts instruction to focus on math and English did not increase their scores. However, scores for students that attended music class were significantly improved.
Along with researching scholarly journals, I went into the field to observe and interview arts educators. My school visits took place in October and November 2011.
2. Arts Educator Profiles
April Estabrooks is in her 11th year of teaching. She teaches at Caldwell Alternative Middle School/High School in Fitchburg, MA. For students that have not had success in traditional public schools, Caldwell is an alternative public school where these students can succeed socially and academically. The school population is exclusively special education students with Individualized Education Programs. Estabrooks teaches visual arts. Describing the socioeconomic status of her students, she says that many come from pretty poor families, though not all are poor. Some come from programs where they are not living at home, such as group homes or foster homes.
Cynthia Fulton is in her 43rd year of teaching. She has taught in many settings both public and private. I observed a private class she taught to adolescents at her Bernardston, MA art studio. She teaches visual arts.
Karen Gaudette is in her 14th year of teaching. She teaches at the Greenfield Middle School in Greenfield, MA. It is a public school. She teaches visual arts. As for the socioeconomic status of her students, she heard that 70 percent live in poverty.
Michele Prunier is in her 3rd year of teaching. She teaches at Auburn Middle School in Auburn, MA. It is a public school. She teaches visual arts, with an emphasis on cross-curricular lessons. She describes the socioeconomic status of her students as middle class, not “low-low” class, with some higher class students.
Ann Sorvino is in her 28th year of teaching. She teaches at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, a private preparatory school for girls, boarding and day, grades 7-12, located in Greenfield, MA. Sorvino teaches dance and movement arts. She says that the socioeconomic status of her students ranges widely, from students whose parents pay the full tuition to students from very tough situations that receive full financial assistance. Girls from around the world attend the school. The school offers an International Baccalaureate (IB) degree. It is a rigorous, global, interdisciplinary program designed to foster intercultural understanding and critical thinking.
Greg Snedeker is in his 16th year of teaching. He also teaches at Stoneleigh-Burnham. He teaches performance classes, such as jazz combo, big band and chamber music. He also teaches all the instrumental classes, as well as a world music class and an IB music class.
Linda Mahoney (drawing, painting and digital photo) and Sara Gibbons (ceramics, clay and fiber arts) also teach at Stoneleigh-Burnham. Time constraints led to brief interviews with these instructors.
Lindsey Victoria is in her second year of teaching. She teaches at Greenfield High School in Greenfield, MA. It is a public high school that includes an 8th grade academy. She primarily teaches digital arts, including graphic design and photography. She also teaches painting, print making and art history. Regarding the socioeconomic status of the students, she says that the majority are in the lower economic class, with over half the students on free or reduced lunch programs.
3. Motivation and Engagement
Students arrive at Linda Mahoney’s Drawing 1 class to find an elaborate still life set up for them to draw. She starts the class by asking what elements do the students want to change about her set up. On the first day of Cynthia Fulton’s Advanced Open Studio class, she explains that there will be all-class exercises and activities, but each student will have complete choice for their main projects and what they want to learn; whether how to do shading with drawing implements or how to make a five minute movie. Blank art studio walls await student work.
As these examples demonstrate, the offer of choice, the granting of freedom of direction, the allowing of a sense of control over their learning, is what motivates adolescents. In one form or another, the arts educators I spoke to made this point. Greg Snedeker creates the environment where students can choose which songs to arrange and perform. Peter Zierlein allows student freedom to create art relating to their interests, such as popular culture figures. 7th grade students each year decorate the structural column in Karen Gaudette’s art classroom. This year they chose to make it look like a huge Skittles bag. Students chose the light pink wall color of Ann Sorvino’s dance studio. Michele Prunier makes an effort with every project to allow students to infuse themselves into the work, whether drawing their initials as the basis of learning about perspective or portraying the view out their window for doing cut out art in the style of Henri Matisse. Greg Snedeker avoids a top down approach, for example, whereby students are simply players in the orchestra. They instead become motivated co-collaborators.
While adolescents are not necessarily more emotional than non-teens, they can have more extreme emotional reactions to life events (Steinberg, 2011). Fulton cites the importance of gauging day-to-day student emotional states. Based on their emotional condition, she sometimes shifts class content to better engage students. “You have to be really open to what is happening in their lives and their day to day world. They did not score the goal they wanted to score that day, or they made a new friend that they really like. But you think that they are not interested (in what you are teaching). It takes acute patience and listening very carefully.” She started a class by querying each student about both exasperating and fun moments from the previous week.
Greg Snedeker teaches orchestras and combos with mixed age ranges. He also finds asymmetrical talent in his performance classes. The instruments he teaches are very different with different playing techniques. Given this range, his teaching approach leans toward understanding student learning styles, rather than focusing on student developmental levels. This method is based on Howard Gardener theory of multiple intelligences (Steinberg, 2011). On Snedeker’s quizzes, students encounter a mix of assessment methods. He might have some multiple-choice questions for international students with limited English verbalization skills. Appealing to the strengths of auditory learners, another component might be listening to, and then identifying, musical selections.
Like a definition of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal development (Steinberg, 2011), Peter Zierlein motivates students by tailoring projects that optimally challenge the capabilities of each student. For example, higher level projects for higher-level students. He further explains that keeping all students busy all the time is a vital motivating principle.
I observed a high level of student absorption when creating art, whether weaving intricate patterns, cutting shapes of colored paper, drawing owls with pencils or improvising a saxophone solo. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) describes that this state of “flow” occurs when humans engage in activities that stretch their skills, have clear goals and provide in-the-moment relevant feedback. When engaged in flow activities, the process itself is the reward, time slows and life is worth living. Flow states foster intrinsic motivation.
Larson (2000) found that 11th graders found more positive developmental experiences compared with school classes while participating in extracurricular activities like sports, the arts and service. Compared with regular school classes, students displayed intrinsic motivation and concentration. He found that students participating in arts classes developed higher levels of initiative, a capacity rarely taught in high school and sorely need for adult success in the 21st century. Along with developing intrinsic motivation, fostering the growth of initiative is vital for success in this post-industrial idea age (Robinson, 2011).
Of course, the range of adolescent developmental levels from 6 to 12th grade is huge. Art educators explained how this granting of choice becomes progressively greater as the students can cognitively and behaviorally handle it. Lindsey Victoria teaches both digital media in a Mac Lab and painting in a traditional art studio. She feels she can give more freedom in the art studio. To engage students she gives them as much choice as possible until they start abusing the freedom. Her combined 9th and 10th grade painting class shared the art studio with an upper classman 3-D class. She had to quiet down a giggly 9th grade girl and boy. Later, during clean up, the pair splashes each other, playing by the sink while cleaning up. All the while, two students who appear to be seniors, with the look and affect of young men, work on their projects with focused grace. Linda Mahoney strives to create the situation for her older high school students to work more independently and to internalize the process of art making that leads to mastery: practice, fail, figure it out, redo, figure out what went wrong, practice and repeat.
More powerful than any adolescent psychology textbook description of the physical, social and cognitive changes adolescents undergo, was the consecutive parade of grades into Michele Prunier’s art classroom, from 6th to 7th to 8th. Physical and behavioral changes were stark. Many 7th graders, especially girls, showed signs of growth spurts and pubertal development. Maintaining classroom order took more work with the older grades. This period-by-period grade change kept Prunier on her toes. She explains that 6th graders are willing to do any project. She has to work a little harder to engage the 7th graders and has to ensure the content for 8th graders is geared towards their lives and interests. For effective teaching, Prunier notes the importance of a well-organized classroom and clear lesson plans. She pulled off the board the 6th grade agenda sheet as the 7th graders filed in. Karen Gaudette concurs. She cites the need to have clear, specific and written scaffolding of lessons for 6th and 7th graders. Reflecting on the behavior difficulties she had with a 7th grade class that I observed, Gaudette realized that ending a project and starting another during the same class period stretched the limits of her students' attention.
In one of her classes, Gaudette went over the color wheel with students in preparation for a complementary color collage project. As students called out color pairs, such as red and green or yellow and purple, several students starting murmuring the refrain from Wiz Khalifa’s rap “Black and Yellow”. A student in Lindsay Victoria’s class plugs in her ear buds to listen to music as she works on a graphic design project. Other students repeatedly disrupt the class with loud singing. In Linda Mahoney’s classroom an International Baccalaureate student looks through a microscope while drawing the small details of a feather as she grooves to her iPod. To honor a student’s birthday, Michele Prunier plays the 8th grader girl’s choice of song at the end of class. The girl and her friends head off to lunch singing Sponge Bob’s The Campfire Song. Music and adolescence go together.
Surveying the literature relating to the effects of making music in adolescents’ lives, Prendergast, Gouzouasis, Leggo & Irwin (2009) documented that students find the activity deeply emotionally engaging, fun, rewarding and demanding. The researchers chose an artistic method to assess teen interest in music making, disputing the notion that data from a questionnaire can fully portray an artistic subject. They studied teens in a rhythm and blues band that used the artistic medium of poetry to express their views on being involved in music making. The students wrote haikus in answer to questions such as:
What does music mean to you?
Everything
it makes me happy
(pretty much depend on it)
reason why i live
Push
when making music
i become original
individual
(What is) the role of music in your life?
I don’t know
music flows through you
lets me look at things, my life
helps to compose me
4. Digital Media
If music is the pulse of adolescent life, digital media is the heart. Cellphones, iPods, computers and video games are staples of teen life. What about using digital media to engage and motivate adolescents? Lindsey Victoria, who teaches digital photography and computer graphic design replies, “I think so, because it is doing something that they are interested in and familiar with. They grew up with it and they have never known not having it. It is the media they feel most comfortable being creative with.” 43 year teaching veteran Cynthia Fulton acknowledges her lack of fluency with digital technology compared with the young digital natives, though she learned a lot from recently teaching a stop motion animation class. Michele Prunier’s 8th graders love using digital media. She likes to give this age group room to carry out projects in a creative and independent way. She feels that the immediacy of the medium and the ease for students to use technology to translate their mental visions into reality makes digital media a great outlet for adolescents.
Dance instructor Ann Sorvino, who describes herself as the least savvy computer person at her school, says digital technology will become a bridge when she can no longer demonstrate the movements. She mentions a computer program used by her mentor Merce Cunningham, to show dancers their roles when he became physically unable to. She does note that YouTube videos allow her to easily show aspects of dance from around the globe.
Across the gymnasium from her dance studio, Greg Snedeker concludes a world music class. “YouTube has revolutionized the study of world musics,” he says, as easily accessible videos make music from around the globe come alive. He warns, however, that while using Garage Band (a digital music making program with pre-made instrument loops) can “be really exciting for students to use to get from point A to point B quickly,” it is vital that students know that while they may be “learning to think and create like a composer”, they are not doing the hard work of actually making the musical tracks on instruments.
A recently installed Smart Board allows Karen Gaudette to properly present imagery to her classes. “I am a bit of a Luddite,” she says and feels that she should embrace digital technology more. However, she does not want her students drawing on the computer. She is however, trying to find a computer based drawing program to facilitate art creation for a student with cerebral palsy. Peter Zierlein uses electronic media in his classes and considers Photoshop just another tool. He does not believe that the technology connects him more deeply to students. April Estabrooks considers technology a point of connection with teens. However, the lone computer in her classroom sharply limits digital pedagogy and related student learning.
Looking from a broader perspective, organizations across the United States based on using digital technology to empower adolescents have emerged. The mission statement on the website of a Chicago outfit includes this definition of Youth Media: Street-Level Youth Media educates Chicago's urban youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communication, and social change. Street-Level's programs build critical thinking skills for young people who have been historically neglected by public policy makers and mass media. Using video and audio production, computer art and the Internet, Street-Level's youth address community issues, access advanced communication technology and gain inclusion in our information-based society.
Gaines & Villarroel (2010) teach at the Real to Reel Filmschool (R2R), which is affiliated with Raw Art Works, an organization that provides art classes to underserved youth in Lynn, MA. Like the teens at Street-Level Youth Media, some of their students face poverty, gangs, drugs and violence. Gaines et al. (2010) are passionate about the potential of Youth Media for adolescents to reflect on their lives, investigate their stories and develop connections with adult mentors. This process requires both rigorous adherence to artistic excellence and compassionate adult guidance. One student, pseudonymously named Melanie, made a film based on her experiences in order to help other youth heal. The film addressed how she began cutting herself. She saw this practice of cutting as a way of replacing her drug use, which had been her coping mechanism prior to the onset of her cutting. “Imagine the hypothetical scenario where the aesthetics of the film are discussed alongside the content: ‘When you show your scars, or when you show how you would take apart a disposable razor to cut yourself with, is it better to show that in a wide shot, or a close up? What’s the sound design that we’re hearing while this part of your story unfolds?’ (Gaines et al., p.28).”
Vasudevan (2006) explored the possibilities of using digital arts technology to connect with adolescents. Her research examined the use of visual texts (photographs and video) by African-American male adolescents to tell their own stories. She notes how African-American male adolescents can be viewed by educational institutions with the following expectations, “as low-literacy, potential behavior problems, in need of placement in special education, and as impending troublemakers”(p. 207). The teens she worked with engaged in video and photography projects, creating self-authored selves that upend these stereotypes. She refers to this process as counterstorytelling. Both the process and the products contain value. Vasudevan (2006) observed that, “Romeo, who had an otherwise reticent personality, blossomed behind the video camera and exhibited an air of authority as his familiarity with the camera grew (p. 210).” She sees potential in the multimodal storytelling that digital technologies offer to develop a new conception of reading and writing, a new conception of literacy.
5. The Psychology of Art Making Media
What about the role of tactile art making experiences in this digital age? The art educators I spoke with, even those that teach digital media, were unanimous, passionate and in some cases vehement about the importance of tactile art making experiences. Regarding the psychology of creating on the computer for her students, Lindsey Victoria says, “It is very engaging to have the screen in front of them and to create many things.” The latest iPad commercial even depicts an artist standing in a field blissfully painting by lovingly stroking the touch screen of her hand held tablet. Why and how to pull adolescents away from these screens?
In her research on the teenage brain, Smith (2011) finds that a digitally dense, multitasking lifestyle marked by relentless stimulation leaves little reflective time necessary for deep thinking and use of the imagination. Caranfa (2006) in Voices of Silence in Pedagogy: Art, Writing and Self-Encounter makes the case “that art teaches us how to listen and how to encounter ourselves totally and completely (p.85).” Cynthia Fulton cites the importance of this interior, cognitive world. She explains that “a great deal happens in an adolescent’s brain when they are doing something with their hands, sensing how their fingers encounter specific materials and changing their minds in the process.” Ann Sorvino concurs about the importance of being completely in the moment. The intense concentration required during a dance performance can make it hard to imagine that 15 minutes has passed. “That feeling of ‘nothing else exists’ is good for your brain,” she says.
“I have a theory about drawing,” says Peter Zierlien. “I think drawing more than writing is closer to the brain. Babies with crayons can express that they are happy. It is a direct link from the hand with a pen to the brain and (this process) records immediately a thought in the form of a line that you can share with other people. Even if you are a caveman, you can express yourself to others.”
Sara Gibbons describes weaving as a heavily math-based analytical process rather than an emotional one like painting. Greg Snedeker explains that the power of a musical performance is how each musician interprets a piece. The way performers insert their own expression or even mistakes, leads to success. A computer can play with exact pitch and time, he says, but the performance is flat, devoid of human imperfection. I not only hear the sounds, but also feel in my body the music created by Snedeker’s rehearsing jazz combo students.
Michele Prunier knows that her students have other classes that are based around technology so she focuses on tactile experiences for her students. They work with wide range of materials, including rulers, pencils and scissors. Though she has to trundle out a bulky cart with a computer and digital projector to show art images, she favors this presentation format to provide background for her lessons. For her, this presentation method is a serious upgrade from showing the old art history books that reproduce color paintings in black and white.
Linda Mahoney says that digital photographic portraiture contains psychological issues for her students, as they define portraiture, decide how to see their subjects and then choose how to convey this vision. Distant from these cerebral contemplations, April Estabrooks finds that some of her students, especially those wearing pricy sneakers, avoid messy projects in favor of more controlled drawing.
Aside from her tactilely defensive students whose fingers recoil from clay, Karen Gaudette’s students love the tactile quality of the medium and the fact that they can make a cup and drink from it. Sara Gibbons echoes this thought, as her students take finishing steps to turn creations into functional items. For example, weaving cloth and then sewing the material to make a handbag. Michele Prunier says her students also really like to manipulate and hold clay. Whereas drawing can be a struggle, the ease of working with clay builds student confidence. Clay is such a draw for students that Prunier sometimes manages classroom behavior by establishing that the consequence for misbehavior is losing the privilege to use clay.
“We as people want to touch stuff, so I think that the ability to use your hands and coordinate with your eyes is essential for learning,” says April Estabrooks. Karen Gaudette finds that some students lack basic skills such as folding and pinching. “I think we have to stay tactile,” says Peter Zierlien. “I think we have to not neglect looking for yourself, having a craft you can do yourself. With human societies in the past, how well they formed their clay pots showed their level of sophistication. Do not relent your abilities/skills to your computer. I think to be an upright citizen you have to be able to make things yourself... What if you are out of power? You cannot be an artist if you are not plugged in?”
6. Art Therapy
Art therapy makes it way into arts classes often subtly, but in overt ways as well. Greg Snedeker is so focused on pedagogy and arranging the music for all the bands and ensembles he teaches that art therapy is not in the forefront of his consciousness. However, he feels that there is a therapeutic benefit for students in his classes who come to see themselves as artists or performers. Michele Prunier notes that students who flounder in other classes gain confidence by having creative artistic success. She believes that creating and sharing visions is an important outlet for adolescents. The visions in some cases bring respite from dysfunctional home life. Peter Zierlein says for students, especially those that struggle with physics or math, there is therapeutic value in developing self-confidence in a non-graded environment where they find success. April Estabrooks relates the story of a student coming to class angry. He just took out a glue gun and starting gluing Popsicle sticks. Knowing the student, she feels that had she forced him to do the scheduled class work he might have exploded. In this case art therapy superseded the curriculum and allowed the student to manage his anger appropriately.
Froeschle & Riney (2008) make the case that Adlerian Art Therapy can reduce social aggression (non-physical bullying) in middle schools. They believe that art therapy, which helps both victims and perpetrators develop competent social skills, can be effectively integrated into school counseling programs. They state that incorporating art into counseling sessions takes minimal supplies and skill, leads to active engagement in the sessions and allows student to remain unique while their mindsets shift from competition to contribution. The Adlerian Art Therapy Program they outline is implemented over 7 weeks and culminates in a community project. Reduced social aggression, improved academic performance and a lowered potential for violence are the expected results.
Lindsey Victoria finds that is a treat for special needs students to be in art class. The hands on activities that lead to a feeling of accomplishment provide therapeutic relief. The encouragement and positive feedback received in art class are a reward for these students who excitedly bring their creations home.
Not a trained dance therapist, Ann Sorvino has occasionally made referrals to an actual dance therapy program. Her teaching goal is to “leave issues at the door,” as talk of feelings could fill the whole class period. However, if she senses that something is going on, she has a discussion to clear the air. She notes that learning to dance does not bring instant gratification. However, the discipline and hard work students show leads to competence and confidence. “Self esteem is so important for a young woman to not grow up to be a victim,” she says.
Cythnia Fulton observes that around age 12 or 13, strong, imaginative, sports playing girls shut down and start playing it safe. She does not fully understand this phenomenon. Is it boys? Hormones? Without a coping tool like art, she has seen girls head towards depression, eating disorders, pregnancy and cutting. Fulton’s mother died when Fulton, already practicing art, was in early adolescence. “I worked out a lot of grief (in the studio) and if I did not have that studio to go to...”
When Melanie first approached an instructor (Gaines et al., 2010) about making a film about her cutting, the subject was still raw. He suggested she wait. It was later, after her life turned around, that she was ready. (Gaines et al., 2010) report than given the student population and the issues they face, the Real to Reel Filmschool and Raw Artworks, are committed to and staffed for art therapy. They find that while personal storytelling by at-risk adolescents is empowering, it can also unearth trauma and conflict. Educators must have proper support from counselors or social workers in these situations.
7. Diversity in the Arts Classroom
A trend emerged when I asked arts educators about diversity in their classrooms and how this factor affected their teaching. Public school practitioners started off talking about special needs students. Their private school counterparts viewed diversity through the lens of ethnicity. Michele Prunier says her classroom diversity is special education students mixed in with regular students. She also encounters socioeconomic diversity, with some students very low on the income scale. She differentiates her instruction for special education students, sometimes simplifying projects or pointing a project in the direction of a student’s strengths.
Peter Zierlein believes that the greater the student diversity in terms of age, ethnicity and religion, the greater the opportunity for learning about each other and reducing ignorance. He takes the same teaching approach regardless of class composition. Lindsey Victoria needs to differentiate instruction for special needs students and advanced learners. Students who are not interested in art and feel that they cannot do as well as others and thus do not try, can become a behavioral challenge. Students with an affinity for art fly through their projects. Her goal is to keep all these students together in class. It does not always work out.
A large contingent of international students brings different cultures and traditions to Greg Snedeker’s school. This diversity necessitates sensitivity in choosing what musical selections to perform. One student brought a 21 string guzheng from China. A guzheng is a zither like instrument. She joined in playing with a Western classical ensemble. He believes that this scenario is invaluable. Not only do students have first hand exposure to an instrument from another culture, but also interactively create music. In this the process, students determine how the guzheng does, or does not, fit in.
Karen Gaudette has some students with extreme challenges, under the constant care of aides, who are only with their classmates during her art classes. She grades with their challenges in mind and takes into account the impact of their abilities on doing the project. While other students cut out shapes with scissors for a project on color theory, a special needs student used a hole punch. She also has ethnic diversity, including a recent influx of Moldavians. Addressing all students’ needs becomes difficult when student ability is so greatly varied. “I go home and ruminate a lot on how could I do more,” she says.
It is the focus of her school that all of April Estabrooks’s students are classified as special education students. Their challenges include ADHD, PTSD, Asperger’s Syndrome, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She feels that her school is good with diagnosing this diversity of special learners. She and her primarily Caucasian colleagues initially struggled with the newness of an influx of Spanish speaking students, but feel they are getting better with such ethnic diversity.
Ann Sorvino lists the languages spoken by her international students: Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean and Spanish. With so many non-native English speakers, she makes sure all students comprehend her explanation of complex ideas. Teaching dance has cross-cultural advantages: “As movement is the universal language,” she says, “I demonstrate a lot by moving.”
8. Arts Across the Curriculum
The equation elements are neither numbers nor words but images, described here with words: Scissors + Glue Stick + Colored Paper = The Sadness of the King Michele Prunier reviews this equation as students begin to cut paper (to draw with scissors), making cut out art in the style of Henri Matisse. Matisse cut paper to create The Sadness of the King. She finds math everywhere in art, especially with equations and shapes. (You can find Ann Sorvino’s students dancing math equations.) Prunier always talks to teachers in other disciplines, so that if a social studies teacher covers Egypt, she steers her arts projects toward that part of the world. Tied to the 8th grade class visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and in reference to the victims’ shoes on display there, her students will undertake ambitious cross-curricular projects. The projects entail creating sculptural wire shoes, writing poems from the perspective of one of the victim’s shoes, and creating Power Point presentations with images and songs of hope. Students will look at their lives today in the context of the historical event. She wants students to know “(That) every part of your education is worthy and connected to all parts of your life.”
In keeping the premise of the International Baccalaureate program, Ann Sorvino’s IB Dance class is cross-curricular. Participating students use a dance textbook. Along with formal papers, students write journals concerning the meaning of dance in their lives and the world at large. Students also write about why one should even write about dance. Sorvino is excited that the IB cross-curricular approach encompasses all kinds of learning styles. The auditory learners love discussion, she says. The strong writers are quieter. Kinesthetic learners might wind up writing analytic essays about their choreography. Students dance math pieces.
At Karen Gaudette’s previous school, 75% of her curriculum aligned with the curriculum of other content areas. As an art teacher, she received many science grants to do combined art and science projects. Her current school is larger with less of a commitment to arts integration. Like Michele Prunier, she proactively talks with teachers from other disciplines to align her projects with their content. She had 7th graders who studied Greek culture design their own Greek columns.
During his seminar titled Creativity is a Decision, Sternberg (2010) listed qualities of creative thinking – create, design, invent, imagine, suppose – and gave examples of how these key artistic ideas relate to learning across the curriculum. For example, challenging students to “Invent a new means of transportation”(slide 35) or “Imagine how bees communicate with each other”(slide 36).
For students at the Fitchburg Arts Academy in Fitchburg, MA, integrated arts are the norm. Lisa DeTora’s 6th English Language Arts class read Kathyrn Lasky’s novel, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a work of fantasy about the lives of owls. During certain classes, art teacher Jessica Clarke came into the room. Students put down their books and begin working on their drawings of owls. “How do artists and writers incorporate non-fictional elements into their work,” was the essential question the unit addressed. Lisa DeTora says that this integrated approach requires extra time for planning. During one class period, students were split into two groups. Some read while others worked on their owl drawings. Class time was wasted, as the initial set up proved unwieldy, necessitating students picking up their materials and shifting locations. Thus, such arts integration can be logistically tricky. However, it was quite a moment when author Kathryn Lasky visited the classroom. After delightedly noting the precision and realism of the student owl drawings, Lasky fielded questions from students about how she writes her books.
However, Winner (2007) performed 10 meta-analyses of studies to determine the impact of arts education on improving student achievement in other academic disciplines and found scant scientific evidence. She found that studies showed a positive correlation between students who take arts classes and achieve higher test scores, but she questions whether one should infer that art classes make for higher achievement, or do higher achievers take more art classes? What about the level of parent involvement that can lead to taking more art and higher achievement? Winner (2007) also found that the studies she analyzed did get specific about what skills students learn in art classes that could transfer to other disciplines to spur higher achievement. She studied arts education and determined key Studio Habits of Mind: Craft (Technique), Observe, Envision, Reflect, Question and Explain, Evaluate, Express, Stretch and Explore, Engage and Persist, and Understand (the) Art World. She explains that many of these skills are not unique to practicing the arts. Many of them overlap with other disciplines, especially scientific inquiry. But she finds no direct evidence that proves the “transfer hypothesis”, that art students bring these habits of mind to their other classes. Yet her Studio Habits of Mind clarify what is learned in art classes and therefore future studies can assess to what degree these skills are transferred. She notes that the conceptual framework of her investigations stems from interactions with her mentor Rudolph Arnheim, author of Visual Thinking.
April Estabrooks says she might only touch briefly on history when introducing an artist, as her students are not fond of lengthy lectures. She does not get together and plan with teachers from other disciplines. She does make some cross-curricular connections, for example, likening the sketch that precedes a final artwork to a rough draft when writing. Greg Snedeker strives to show how all subjects are intertwined, that music is interconnected with math, science, humanities and even athletics. Music is very math heavy, he says. Also, physics is involved with understanding how harmonics are developed. He sees value in learning how to play an instrument, as this repetitive, kinesthetic process, trains muscles how to do new things.
Lindsey Victoria sees math in the measuring and understanding of perspective with painting. She incorporated English Language Arts in one 9th grade art project as students wrote and edited descriptive paragraphs to accompany their artwork. Peter Zierlein does not specifically teach across the curriculum, but finds many points of connection with math, philosophy and brain science. Rather than painting, or sculpture, or drawing, the primary media Zierlein teaches “(is) the brain. It is not about whatever paper you use. It is the brain, not the material. That is the most important thing I teach. I am a big believer in concept. It does not matter what you express with, it is what you express that is important. Give different people the same material…”
9. Arts Education and Adolescent Thriving
Cynthia Fulton believes that art plays an “absolutely essential” role for making a healthy transition from childhood to adulthood. “Art is not drawing and painting. Art is the connection to the visual world, the connection of the outside visual and tactile world to your inner memories and experiences and how you perceive things. It puts you in contact with the world, you become woven in and enmeshed with the world so you do not feel alone and separate... It is an essential awareness of being human, of noticing things and seeing how they affect you.” She believes that one benefit for adolescents who learn to look at the world as artists lies in developing the ability to know and express their feelings. Example: “I got kicked off the team, but I feel sad. I know it is the best decision, but it makes me sad.”
Of additional importance, Fulton believes that for some older adolescents, becoming an artist can aid in the vital process of identity formation. When students can declare, “I’m the athlete or I’m the nerd or I’m the artist”, she maintains that finding this niche helps teens navigate adolescence. While some students know that they excel in math or science, for others, artistic excellence grounds positive identity development.
Ann Sorvino echoes Fulton’s beliefs, similarly noting the importance of an identity focus. “Anytime a child can say ‘I am this: a writer, a painter, an anything,’ (it creates) focus as (they) go into the churning waters of adolescence.” She herself danced every afternoon after high school. She believes it is “monumental” for adolescents to have a place to express themselves and excel. Mindful of body issues for young girls, she stresses that anyone can be a dancer and be strong in their body. As dancers are “not removed from their instrument,” developing the ability in a supportive environment to get up and perform in front of people “serves you in all of life,” says Sorvino. Noting that giving a public speech strikes fear into most humans, her colleague Greg Snedeker explains that when students perform on stage, the arts become a “visceral and immediate” way of working through these fears. He feels that this process likely - and mostly unconsciously - helps students in other arenas of life.
Since astronaut Cady Coleman is both a flute player and a scientist, Greg Snedeker invited her to speak at his school. The MIT graduate has played flute since she was a girl. Coleman recently returned from 6 months living in the international space station where she sometimes played her flute. “Even in space, you have bad days,” Coleman told the students. To combat theses blues, she would get out her flute and play, orbiting the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour.
Goldstein (2011) found that arts education helps adolescents develop their social cognitive skills, but that shifts occur in varying levels, depending on the type of art being studied. She conducted research to determine whether adolescents participating in acting classes compared with fine arts classes had greater development of social cognitive skills. She tested high school freshman at the start of the year and at the close of the year, measuring levels of theory of mind (the ability to understand others’ thinking and feelings), empathy (the ability to identify with others’ feelings) and emotional regulation (the ability to regulate one’s emotions). She found that while all arts students had gains in their social cognitive skills, the acting students had relatively greater gains in developing theory of mind and empathy. The researcher believes these additional gains stem from the craft of acting, which necessitates deeply thinking and feeling like another person. Goldstein (2011) notes that bullies often have strong theory of mind, so they understand what their victims are thinking and feeling, yet possess minimal empathy. Thus bullies continue their tormenting, as they are unable to identify with their victims’ feelings.
Deifell (2008) started a program called Seeing Beyond Sight to teach photography at Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. When he first called to propose the idea, school officials thought he was a crank. However, the program was ultimately successful. The blind adolescent photographers found a powerful avenue for both self-expression and empowerment. Community volunteers came to the school and described to the students what they saw in the photographs. The first picture that a student named Leuwynda took was of a sidewalk crack at the school. Deifell, her sighted instructor, thought it was a mistake. Leuwynda sent the image with a letter to the school superintendent, explaining that her white cane got stuck in the crack, and requesting that the sidewalk be repaired. It was.
Michele Prunier says her art classroom is a respite from a world of comparison through grades, from a textbook world with one right answer at the back of the book. Even a student that lacks high level drawing skills can create a pleasing work, she says. She maintains that this physicality, this working with their hands, is an important outlet for students. All of her projects have graded goals, but while some students go in a straight line from start to finish, others take more circuitous routes. In either case, students take their path into their own hands. During the transition to adulthood, adolescents likewise create their own, varying paths. Prunier believes that this growing up process mirrors the process of creating of art. This natural, organic process runs counter to textbook culture that dictates one right answer, one correct way.
I received the following email after spending the day with Michele Prunier: “I was thinking on my way home about some of your questions and the only thing I wanted to say, (amongst all my other ramblings!!!:), is that I believe art teaches to the human experience. At such a critical time in the developmental cycle while students are beginning their "quest" of discovering/creating themselves, the element of assimilation, acceptance and understanding of one another's stories through visual arts is something I don't know students get from any other subject. I often have the students stand and share their pieces of work at the end of the project. The practice of "show and tell", as simple as it is, is quite beautiful. It teaches more about who we are, and sometimes allows students foresight into who they want to be.”
“Manifesting the world around you as an image, or expressing yourself in an image, matures you,” says Peter Zierlein. One of his students, named Mimi, stands and displays her just completed stencil art. She beams. “I’m all done. I’m so proud. I shall be famous.” Noting Mimi’s pride, Zierlien says, “I am sure it satisfies a need to accomplish something, to make a product. From conception, to an idea, to a product on the drying rack.”
Arts related adolescent thriving has many different psychological levels, from students like Mimi developing self-esteem to poor, minority youth developing resilience. I recently heard a radio public service announcement for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. A young woman glows about her job as a graphic designer. She learned about art from her Big Sister. “I got into art,” she says, “while the other kids in my neighborhood got into trouble.”
One in five violent crimes committed by juveniles occur during the after school time from 2-6 pm, according to Gasman & Anderson-Thompkins (2003), who cite this FBI statistic in their research concerning an after school arts program for inner city youth. The researchers conducted qualitative interviews over a two-year period with adolescent students participating in the Artists in Making (AIM) program, housed in a community center in San Antonio, TX. The primarily minority neighborhood suffers from high crime, gang activity and most families live at or below the poverty line. Gasman et al. (2003) found that AIM program participants engaged in self-discovery, learned problem-solving skills, had opportunities for positive risk taking and developed mastery of artistic skills. The AIM students exhibited resilience, helping them handle the challenges of their violent neighborhoods.
Listen to a Mexican American AIM participant named Jesse: “I like everyone at school except a gang named the Midnight Colors or the MC’s. They don’t like me because they don’t like my best friend and because I have self-respect. I don’t like gangs because my sister had a boyfriend who was in a gang—when she broke up with him he tried to stalk her. Most kids probably think I’m conceited but I like who I am and I don’t do what other people want me to do. I don’t let people boss me around. I can think for myself (Gasman et al., 2003, p.439).”
For low income and minority students like Jesse, the challenges of healthy adolescent development are compounded. Steinberg (2011) cites the multitude of factors faced by these teenagers: the complexity of developing identity in a majority culture, encountering discrimination, reduced access to healthcare, the stress of living in poverty and living in neighborhoods where peers are likely to be engaged in deviant behavior. He relates that the leading cause of death for African American adolescents is homicide. Jesse, again, on her future: “I will be a good person. I want to live in a big apartment with a backyard to plant flowers. I will go to college, have my own art studio, and I will be happy knowing I made it”(Gasman et al., 2003,p.440).
Ersing (2009) explains that Positive Youth Development (PYD) refutes labeling young people as “problems to be solved” in favor seeing them as a “new generation of problem solvers” (p.27). Rather than trying to stop youth from engaging in problem behaviors, the PYD paradigm aims to equip youth with skills to thrive in the face of developmental obstacles. Ersing (2009) studied the efficacy of the Prodigy After School Arts program (which takes a PYD approach) in the low-income community of Hillsborough County, FL. Local youth, as well as first-time juvenile offenders participated. Her research thus far indicates gains in growth of artistic skills and essential developmental resources such as self-esteem, positive identity and empathy. For the first-time offenders that completed the program, their non-recidivism rate was 91 percent (Ersing, 2009, p.37). Ersing (2009) heralds the success of such an afterschool program, especially as she found arts programs in public schools being cut, with the deepest cuts occurring in cash-strapped, high minority schools.
Back in a public school that still teaches art, April Estabrooks sees value for developing adolescents, as art can be an emotional release. Watching students form their identities fascinates her as when 16-year-old boys delight in making necklaces that match their shoes. Or when girls, countering the prissy stereotype, enjoy doing the messier projects. Lindsey Victoria also notes how art class relates to identity formation, “I think it give them a chance to be individuals. I think adolescents have a tendency to not be individuals and to not stand out, but art gives them a safe way to stand out from the crowd.” Greg Snedeker adds to this discussion of identity formation: “The arts by nature are what tells us who we are. That’s what teenagers are so desperately looking for: Who am I?”
10. Conclusion
Though the number of art educators interviewed was small, the range of settings was vast: public schools, a private school, an alternative public school and out of school classes. One class was peaceful as meditation center. Another bubbled with barely contained 7th grade energy. One crackled with potential violence until an aide escorted out a disruptive student. One class had 5 students. Another had 29. Some students were in the class by choice. Others were not. Thus when I asked, “What big picture concepts serve as the underpinning of your art classes?" the responses reflected the varied settings.
Greg Snedeker: “For me, I really do try to get the students to understand that this is academic discipline like anything else, to not perceive it like dessert after the meat and potatoes. Reeducating them that the arts as academic subjects are as important as any other subject. And if they are being told otherwise, question why they are being told that.”
Karen Gaudette: “I think that I want the kids to be creative, tenacious problem solvers. I want them to find original solutions to problems, but also learn that it takes time and care to solve those problems.”
April Estabrooks: “For here, it’s just how to function in a classroom. How do you handle being with other people? How do you do a good job at what you are doing? Even if you are not in love with your art, how do you still do it and do it well? How do you function in life, learn certain language you cannot use on the job, learn social graces? How do you talk to adults and not annoy them?”
Lindsey Victoria: “I think that the elements and principles of design are something that I focus on. I try to work in all the elements and principles to make sure they understand them all. Like color, line and value."
Throughout this range of settings, the arts educators spoke passionately about the importance of arts education for adolescent thriving. However, partway through my research I realized that I was primarily speaking to educators with a vested interest in arts education. To paint a fuller picture, I should have also interviewed budget cutting administrators, adolescent students and university admissions personnel. These additional interviews were beyond the scope of my project.
Numerous articles cited in this report, do however, indicate that arts education can have a positive impact for young people making the transition from childhood to adulthood. The impact can be far greater than mastering artistic skills, whether creating positive identities to counter negative stereotypes (Vasudevan, 2006), reforming bullies (Froeschle et al., 2008), expanding the ability to listen (Caranfa, 2006) or developing initiative (Larson, 2000), resilience (Gasman et al., 2003) and empathy (Goldstein, 2011).
My introduction noted the powerful economic forces currently at play. I relayed suggestions that an educational paradigm shift is necessary to prepare students for success in post-industrial economies. I believe that this report makes the case that an emphasis on arts education is a good place to start preparing adolescents to thrive in the 21st century.
11. Questionnaire
Teacher Profile:
Name:
Number of years teaching:
Degree(s) earned:
Grade(s) taught:
Subjects taught:
How would you describe your school?
What is the socioeconomic status of the students?
Questions:
What makes for a successful art class that engages adolescents?
What are key methods for motivating adolescents in an art class?
What role does art play in making for a healthy transition from childhood to adulthood?
Which teaching methods are most effective for the developmental level of your students?
What is the primary art media that you teach?
What are the psychological aspects of the media itself?
Does art therapy play a role in your teaching environment?
What is your favorite lesson to teach?
How can artistic expression help youth thrive during the critical biological, cognitive and social transitions of adolescence?
Can you talk about student diversity in your classroom and how this factor affects your art teaching?
Do your classes ever crossover into other content areas, such as math, history or social sciences?
Is teaching digital media a generational bridge when working with adolescents?
In the digital age, what is the role of tactile art making experiences?
What big picture concepts serve as the underpinning of your art classes?
Do you feel that adolescence is a quest? Why or why not?
12. References
Baker, R. r. (2011, May 1). The Relationship between Music and Visual Arts Formal Study and Academic Achievement on the Eighth-Grade Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Test. Online Submission, Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University. 212 pp.
Bohlin, C., Durwin, C.C. & Reese-Weber, M. (2009). Ed Psych Modules. New York: MacGraw-Hill
Caranfa, A. (2006). Voices of Silence in Pedagogy: Art, Writing and Self-Encounter. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40(1), 85-103.
Creedon, D. W. (2011). Fight the Stress of Urban Education with the Arts. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(6), 34-36.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books
Deifell, T. (2008). Seeing Beyond Sight: Photographs by Blind Teenagers. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Dissanayake, E. (1992). “Species-centrism” and Cultural Diversity in the Arts. Seminar Proceedings: Discipline-based Art Education and Cultural Diversity, Santa Monica: The J. Paul Getty Trust.
Ersing, R. L. (2009). Building the Capacity of Youths through Community Cultural Arts: A Positive Youth Development Perspective. Best Practice In Mental Health, 5(1), 26- 43.
Froeschle, J. G., & Riney, M. (2008). Using Adlerian Art Therapy to Prevent Social Aggression among Middle School Students. Journal Of Individual Psychology, 64(4), 416-431.
Gaines, C., & Villarroel, P. (2010). Art Therapy: A Critical Youth Media Approach. Youth Media Reporter, 427-30.
Gasman, M., & Anderson-Thompkins, S. (2003). A Renaissance on the Eastside: Motivating Inner-City Youth through Art. Journal Of Education For Students Placed At Risk (JESPAR), 8(4), 429-50.
Goldstein, T. (2011). Correlations Between Social-Cognitive Skills in Adolescents Involved in Acting or Arts Classes. Mind, Brain and Education, 5(2), p. 97-103.
Hurley, R. (2004). Cuts in Arts Programs Leave Sour Note in Schools. Wisconsin Education Association Council Website, News and Publications.
Larson, R. W. (2000). Differing profiles of developmental experiences across types of organized youth activities. American Psychologist, 55(1), 170-183.
Levi, A.W., & Smith, R.A. (1991). Art Education: A Critical Necessity. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
McMurrer, J., (2007). Choices, Changes, Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. A Report in the Series From the Capitol to the Classroom: Year 5 of the No Child Left Behind Act. Center On Education Policy.
Meeson, P. (1974). Art or Nature: A Problem of Art in Education and Teacher Training. British Journal Of Educational Studies, 22(3), 292-302.
Prendergast, M., Gouzouasis, P., Leggo, C., & Irwin, R. L. (2009). A haiku suite: the importance of music making in the lives of secondary school students. Music Education Research, 11(3), 303-317. doi:10.1080/14613800903144262
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. Chichester: Capstone.
Saarnivaara, M., & Varto, J. (2005). Art Education as a Trap. Scandinavian Journal Of Educational Research, 49(5), 487-501. doi:10.1080/0031383050026795
Smith, C.A. (2011). Still Developing: Teenagers, Brains and the Arts. Religious Education, 106(3), p.262-265.
Staniszewski, M. (1995). Believing is Seeing, Creating the Culture of Art. New York: Penguin.
Steinberg, L., (2011). Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill Sternberg, R. (2010). Creativity is a Choice, Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/UTDslides/sternberg-creativity-is-a-decision-3415440
Vasudevan,l. (2006). Making Known Differently: Engaging Visual Modalities as Spaces to Author New Selves. E-Learning, 3(2), 207-216. doi: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.207
Winner, E. (2007). Visual Thinking in Arts Education: Homage to Rudolf Arnheim. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1(1), 25–31.
0 comments:
Post a Comment