I found Chapter 2 of the Freedman text to be historically informational. There are many educational movements relating to artistic/political movements in our US/World history that I was simply unaware of. All the name dropping of art critiques, artists, aestheticians, theorists, etc. I feel that I need a fat wallet and a long trip to Barnes and Noble for further reading into these topics. But for now, lets return back to Freedman.
I found the discussion of formalism around the core of elements and principles frustrating. After teaching Kindergarten and 8th grade I'm highly frustrated with the emphasis placed upon (particularly 8th grade) the formalist ideals. I openly admit that there were SEVERAL times we touched on these ideas but then charged forward into VTS, representations, and deep emotional meaning exploration in pieces.
The quote from Freedman, "For most students not training to be arts professionals, it is probably less important to understand art facts that it is for them to understand why the arts exist, the contributions of art to individualls' lives, and its social significance." Pg. 32 stood out to me.
1. I do not think it is probably less important to understand art facts if you are not becoming a professional artist, but it is less important to understand art facts and more important to understand the big ideas behind meaning making.
2. This is why elementary and middle school (these levels due to the lack of wiggle room in curriculum) classrooms need to be more customizable to student interests. Instead of teaching for a test on elements/principles, art teachers need to be teaching how to create meaningful works.
One of my favorite comics. IT'S SO TRUE! Now back to discussion...
The "...surprise should be valued." pg. 24 quote is another favorite because it rings the beautiful tune that mistakes/risk-taking should be celebrated. :-) Point being "...that common educational methods [DO] not take into account imagination and emotion." Pg. 40 Although, all of art educators understand as Dewey did and are going to change that. ;-)
I found the discussion of formalism around the core of elements and principles frustrating. After teaching Kindergarten and 8th grade I'm highly frustrated with the emphasis placed upon (particularly 8th grade) the formalist ideals. I openly admit that there were SEVERAL times we touched on these ideas but then charged forward into VTS, representations, and deep emotional meaning exploration in pieces.
The quote from Freedman, "For most students not training to be arts professionals, it is probably less important to understand art facts that it is for them to understand why the arts exist, the contributions of art to individualls' lives, and its social significance." Pg. 32 stood out to me.
1. I do not think it is probably less important to understand art facts if you are not becoming a professional artist, but it is less important to understand art facts and more important to understand the big ideas behind meaning making.
2. This is why elementary and middle school (these levels due to the lack of wiggle room in curriculum) classrooms need to be more customizable to student interests. Instead of teaching for a test on elements/principles, art teachers need to be teaching how to create meaningful works.
The "...surprise should be valued." pg. 24 quote is another favorite because it rings the beautiful tune that mistakes/risk-taking should be celebrated. :-) Point being "...that common educational methods [DO] not take into account imagination and emotion." Pg. 40 Although, all of art educators understand as Dewey did and are going to change that. ;-)
Ali, I also took note of the quote about surprise being valued. I so agree! Surprise is when we learn. If we already know what to expect and always see what we expect than we won't learn as much as we do when we are surprised. This is one of the reasons are education can be so powerful. We can create surprises all the time!
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