October 11, 2013
Marilyn Stewart & Sydney Walker
“Teaching Meaning In Artmaking: Big Ideas And Artmaking"
Overview
Walker described a big idea as “broad, important human issues—are characterized by complexity, ambiguity, contradiction, and multiplicity. Whether stated as single terms, phrases, or complete sentences, big ideas do not completely explicit an idea, but represent a host of concepts that form the idea” (Walker 1). She explained that big ideas are generally the focus for several lessons, as students become familiarized with the subject and are able to study it in depth, gaining a basic, adequate knowledge base. Walker also explained that big ideas drive an artists artmaking over time and differentiated theme from big idea.
An artist’s theme may or may not be the same thing as his or her big idea. “If a theme persists throughout an artist’s body of work, then it is the same as the artist’s big idea” (Walker 2). Subject matter, Walker described, is an artist’s topic, not necessarily their concepts. Although she notes that it is difficult to distinguish between subject matter and big idea. “The big idea provides the conceptual ground for artmaking; the subject matter serves as the context for examining the big idea” (Walker 3). As educators, we must be able to clearly understand these concepts. For example, “Van Gogh’s subject matter included landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. His big idea was the portrayal of human emotion” (Walker 3).
Walker then referred to a specific artist and exemplified how these concepts come in to play. She also went over how to generate essential questions, “large questions that build a reflection of conceptual priorities for instruction” (Walker 7). She noted that essential questions are specific art questions about the big idea, clarify how the big idea and the artworks are related, and relate to other academic areas. “Use of the big idea and essential questions to frame the art unit broadens the unit content so as to readily link to learning in other subject areas” (Walker 7). Walker then noted it is possible to stretch a single big idea throughout several artmaking activities, allowing students to investigate ideas in greater depth and create a better understanding of a concept.
Walker then went over the possible instructional consequences that could arise if an artist’s big idea were misread. She gave an example of a Goldsworthy lesson and concluded, “Lack of consistency—such as occurred in the Goldsworthy lesson, when students made personal containers and contradicted the notion of working collaboratively with nature—is counterproductive to learning… Copying an artist’s style reflects a superficial rather than a deep understanding because it is based upon physical forms rather than conceptual ideas” (Walker 16). Walker restated that big ideas are suppose to be broad enough for numerous interpretations and provide a conceptual focus that extends beyond the specifics, such as technique or subject matter.
An artist’s theme may or may not be the same thing as his or her big idea. “If a theme persists throughout an artist’s body of work, then it is the same as the artist’s big idea” (Walker 2). Subject matter, Walker described, is an artist’s topic, not necessarily their concepts. Although she notes that it is difficult to distinguish between subject matter and big idea. “The big idea provides the conceptual ground for artmaking; the subject matter serves as the context for examining the big idea” (Walker 3). As educators, we must be able to clearly understand these concepts. For example, “Van Gogh’s subject matter included landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. His big idea was the portrayal of human emotion” (Walker 3).
Walker then referred to a specific artist and exemplified how these concepts come in to play. She also went over how to generate essential questions, “large questions that build a reflection of conceptual priorities for instruction” (Walker 7). She noted that essential questions are specific art questions about the big idea, clarify how the big idea and the artworks are related, and relate to other academic areas. “Use of the big idea and essential questions to frame the art unit broadens the unit content so as to readily link to learning in other subject areas” (Walker 7). Walker then noted it is possible to stretch a single big idea throughout several artmaking activities, allowing students to investigate ideas in greater depth and create a better understanding of a concept.
Walker then went over the possible instructional consequences that could arise if an artist’s big idea were misread. She gave an example of a Goldsworthy lesson and concluded, “Lack of consistency—such as occurred in the Goldsworthy lesson, when students made personal containers and contradicted the notion of working collaboratively with nature—is counterproductive to learning… Copying an artist’s style reflects a superficial rather than a deep understanding because it is based upon physical forms rather than conceptual ideas” (Walker 16). Walker restated that big ideas are suppose to be broad enough for numerous interpretations and provide a conceptual focus that extends beyond the specifics, such as technique or subject matter.
Reflections
The definition of a big idea is really clarified in this reading. It was scary to see that an educator’s lesson can literally fall apart when a big idea is not properly thought out or if it is misread. I recently tested a lesson plan out on my niece and nephew, and I found that it was difficult to keep a lesson organized and on task, however I stuck to my big idea, imagination. Their end results actually incorporated many of the concepts I was introducing, yet they had an easier time following the lesson because I relied heavily on my big idea. Because my concepts related back to my big idea, I was able to explain the concept further in the context of imagination. Because they fairly understood that concept, it was easier for them to link information and understand it faster.
"Rethinking Curriculum In Art"
Chapter One & Two
Quotes
“The primary audience for this book is in-service, or practicing, teachers and pre-service teachers—individuals studying in teacher preparation programs. Because of its relevance to interdisciplinary teaching and learning, it will also be useful for non-art teachers interested in ways to include the visual arts in substantive interdisciplinary curricula” (Stewart & Walker 3).
“Skills in artmaking or art production are not viewed as the sole or primary result of a student’s experience in a school-based art program. With this approach, students are to learn how the artistic expression of humans throughout the world and over time has served a range of purposes within societies. Students are to be taught how to encounter and interpret the meanings and/or messages of images, artifacts, and performances, as well as to glean insight into their own lives and the lives of others. In addition, students are to be taught how to raise and address philosophical questions associated with images, artifacts, and performances and our experiences with them” (Stewart & Walker 8).
“Changes in the approach to art curriculum have taken place within the context of shifts from modernist to postmodernist assumptions about art and the human experience. Along with this shift came a focus on artworks as having meaning and significance beyond the way in which they were organized… In addition, the art education community has recognized that art and its significance to cultural purpose can shift from one time period to another, from one group to another” (Stewart & Walker 9).
“An expanded view of art content, along with an increased number of resources available to teachers for addressing a comprehensive art education program, has resulted in art lessons that include critical viewing of and response to art and visual culture” (Stewart & Walker 11).
“Educators have also come to realize that identification of what students should know and be able to do, as prescribed by standards, is not the same as identifying those things that we wish students to understand… with the assistance of knowledgeable adults, students need to be reflective learners, articulating what they know, what they want to know, and how they might engage in learning… As reflective learners, students are encouraged to gauge their own progress toward learning goals… educators have seen that assessment methods must also be relevant to the lives of students” (Stewart & Walker 12-13).
“The role of the teacher must shift from that of one who dictates information to one who is a fellow inquirer as students construct knowledge” (Stewart & Walker 15).
“To some extent, there is a truth to the idea that teachers tend to teach what and how they were taught… The challenge in revisiting the process of curriculum planning is to take advantage of educational reform principles, draw upon important new understandings about teaching and learning, ground curriculum in broader conceptions of art, and carefully select from past practice only those things that make sense in light of these new understandings” (Stewart & Walker 16).
“Enduring ideas comprise concepts that have drawn the attention of humans through the ages… life issues that extend beyond specific disciplines and that have lasting human importance… The enduring idea, key concepts, and questions provide the impetus and focus for the development of instruction throughout the unit and are reiterated within each of the unit’s lessons… by using enduring ideas and other foundational components, a teacher could avoid activities insignificant for lifelong learning” (Stewart & Walker 17-18).
“Once the enduring idea is established, the work of identifying key concepts, essential questions, instruction, and assessment occurs in a variety of ways, usually nonlinear, allowing for collaboration among curriculum planners and a certain degree of trial and error, and accommodating the intuitive nature of such an endeavor” (Stewart & Walker 19).
“Skills in artmaking or art production are not viewed as the sole or primary result of a student’s experience in a school-based art program. With this approach, students are to learn how the artistic expression of humans throughout the world and over time has served a range of purposes within societies. Students are to be taught how to encounter and interpret the meanings and/or messages of images, artifacts, and performances, as well as to glean insight into their own lives and the lives of others. In addition, students are to be taught how to raise and address philosophical questions associated with images, artifacts, and performances and our experiences with them” (Stewart & Walker 8).
“Changes in the approach to art curriculum have taken place within the context of shifts from modernist to postmodernist assumptions about art and the human experience. Along with this shift came a focus on artworks as having meaning and significance beyond the way in which they were organized… In addition, the art education community has recognized that art and its significance to cultural purpose can shift from one time period to another, from one group to another” (Stewart & Walker 9).
“An expanded view of art content, along with an increased number of resources available to teachers for addressing a comprehensive art education program, has resulted in art lessons that include critical viewing of and response to art and visual culture” (Stewart & Walker 11).
“Educators have also come to realize that identification of what students should know and be able to do, as prescribed by standards, is not the same as identifying those things that we wish students to understand… with the assistance of knowledgeable adults, students need to be reflective learners, articulating what they know, what they want to know, and how they might engage in learning… As reflective learners, students are encouraged to gauge their own progress toward learning goals… educators have seen that assessment methods must also be relevant to the lives of students” (Stewart & Walker 12-13).
“The role of the teacher must shift from that of one who dictates information to one who is a fellow inquirer as students construct knowledge” (Stewart & Walker 15).
“To some extent, there is a truth to the idea that teachers tend to teach what and how they were taught… The challenge in revisiting the process of curriculum planning is to take advantage of educational reform principles, draw upon important new understandings about teaching and learning, ground curriculum in broader conceptions of art, and carefully select from past practice only those things that make sense in light of these new understandings” (Stewart & Walker 16).
“Enduring ideas comprise concepts that have drawn the attention of humans through the ages… life issues that extend beyond specific disciplines and that have lasting human importance… The enduring idea, key concepts, and questions provide the impetus and focus for the development of instruction throughout the unit and are reiterated within each of the unit’s lessons… by using enduring ideas and other foundational components, a teacher could avoid activities insignificant for lifelong learning” (Stewart & Walker 17-18).
“Once the enduring idea is established, the work of identifying key concepts, essential questions, instruction, and assessment occurs in a variety of ways, usually nonlinear, allowing for collaboration among curriculum planners and a certain degree of trial and error, and accommodating the intuitive nature of such an endeavor” (Stewart & Walker 19).
Reflections
Chapter Three
Quotes
“In our approach, choosing enduring ideas as a foundation for curriculum represents a philosophical commitment to content that exceeds any one subject matter or discipline… Such ideas have educational import because the link academic subject matter with life-focused issues” (Stewart & Walker 25).
“…we found enduring ideas to be highly adaptable to diverse age levels, specific student populations, and a variety of educational contexts… success in teaching enduring ideas at the elementary level is a matter of conceptualizing enduring ideas in an accessible manner” (Stewart & Walker 26).
“…while curriculum reform in the 1960’s stressed disciplinary structures, it gave insufficient attention to the needs and interests of the learner… The marriage of visual arts subject matter with enduring ideas that have relevance and significance for the students’ present and future lives offer opportunities for achieving this equilibrium” (Stewart & Walker 31).
“…we found enduring ideas to be highly adaptable to diverse age levels, specific student populations, and a variety of educational contexts… success in teaching enduring ideas at the elementary level is a matter of conceptualizing enduring ideas in an accessible manner” (Stewart & Walker 26).
“…while curriculum reform in the 1960’s stressed disciplinary structures, it gave insufficient attention to the needs and interests of the learner… The marriage of visual arts subject matter with enduring ideas that have relevance and significance for the students’ present and future lives offer opportunities for achieving this equilibrium” (Stewart & Walker 31).
Reflections
It was interesting to read in depth the moral behind using big ideas. It made sense that a lesson should be planned around a central concept, however it was interesting to see how easy it is to plan a lesson when you have a big idea. The book even supplied a step-by-step guide in planning a lesson and even gave examples. This is helpful because they tackle the more difficult issues like deciding what concepts you should cut, which is where many people get stuck. They do not help you, they help you help yourself. The book is not only a great reference, it is literally a "how-to" in lesson planning.
Chapter Six
Quotes
“One of the main purposes of assessment is to evaluate and improve student learning. Obviously, if we discover that students fail to understand or to use their new knowledge or skills appropriately, we make decisions about what to do next, and reflect upon what we might have done better. Another purpose of assessment is to further improve our instructional practice” (Stewart & Walker 89).
“Teachers us a variety of strategies for gathering such information. They observe student behavior, ask questions listen to student responses, consider student works-in-progress, and so on. This kind of assessment is informal and formative—informal because it is quick and spontaneous; formative because it serves as a means of assessing student learning during the course of instruction within a unit of study and it is not tied to a specific means for reporting out information. The purpose is diagnostic; the teacher and student are able to discern what they have learned relative to the unit and lesson objectives and to make improvements midstream” (Stewart & Walker 90-91).
“Alignment of objectives, instruction, and assessment simply means that once we identify the enduring ideas, key concepts, and important skills we want students to learn in a unit of study, we then teach toward this learning, and we look for evidence of this learning through assessment. ” (Stewart & Walker 92-93).
“…as we shift our conceptions of learning, curriculum content, and appropriate, important classroom behaviors, we need to shift in our conception of what is to be assessed and the best means for assessing it” (Stewart & Walker 94).
“Criteria are important, first of all, for the purpose of clarity… By attending to the criteria, students tend to focus on what is important, and accordingly their learning is enhanced… Moreover, it is imperative that the criteria are the right criteria for the task—appropriate in terms of what the students are to do and what learning they are to demonstrate in their performance” (Stewart & Walker 95).
“In designing assessment, we have the opportunity to shift priorities, which often means that we should reconsider what we have long thought to be important for students to learn… Assessment must be multidimensional in order to provide a rich portrayal of student learning” (Stewart & Walker 97-98).
“…if we want to assess students’ ability to use the elements and principles of design to convey ideas in their own artworks, then we need to create a task that will allow them to do so… Similarly, if we want to assess students’ ability to construct plausible interpretations of artworks, we would not provide students with a task that requires them to recall something they have read or memorized. Instead, we would provide them with an opportunity to look carefully at the components of an artwork, noting symbols and other meaning-laden aspects of the work, and make connections with what they know and what they see” (Stewart & Walker 98).
“…small-group discussions about an artwork or an issue can be used to help students deepen their understanding… Observation would be used, perhaps with a checklist in which the teacher notes whether comments made or questions raised by individual students indicate understanding…Worksheets completed by students following a discussion can help students reflect on the issues as well as demonstrate their comprehension of the issues and factors involved… Group projects, individual journal or sketchbook entries, individual artworks, essays, worksheets—all part of the instruction—can also be used to assess student learning. These approaches are tied to the notion that assessment can serve as an instrument of learning… The same guidelines for designing instruction are used for designing assessment” (Stewart & Walker 98).
“In a classroom environment in which students are aware of the enduring idea and key concepts of the unit, recognize the importance of developing understanding of these ideas and concepts, and know that their ideas and questions are valued, working together toward understanding the goals of the unit becomes everyone’s responsibility… Ongoing assessment of progress toward these ends is not seen as the sole responsibility of the teacher” (Stewart & Walker 99).
“It takes time and sensitivity to create an environment of mutual respect in which peer assessment can easily take place” (Stewart & Walker 100).
“Teachers us a variety of strategies for gathering such information. They observe student behavior, ask questions listen to student responses, consider student works-in-progress, and so on. This kind of assessment is informal and formative—informal because it is quick and spontaneous; formative because it serves as a means of assessing student learning during the course of instruction within a unit of study and it is not tied to a specific means for reporting out information. The purpose is diagnostic; the teacher and student are able to discern what they have learned relative to the unit and lesson objectives and to make improvements midstream” (Stewart & Walker 90-91).
“Alignment of objectives, instruction, and assessment simply means that once we identify the enduring ideas, key concepts, and important skills we want students to learn in a unit of study, we then teach toward this learning, and we look for evidence of this learning through assessment. ” (Stewart & Walker 92-93).
“…as we shift our conceptions of learning, curriculum content, and appropriate, important classroom behaviors, we need to shift in our conception of what is to be assessed and the best means for assessing it” (Stewart & Walker 94).
“Criteria are important, first of all, for the purpose of clarity… By attending to the criteria, students tend to focus on what is important, and accordingly their learning is enhanced… Moreover, it is imperative that the criteria are the right criteria for the task—appropriate in terms of what the students are to do and what learning they are to demonstrate in their performance” (Stewart & Walker 95).
“In designing assessment, we have the opportunity to shift priorities, which often means that we should reconsider what we have long thought to be important for students to learn… Assessment must be multidimensional in order to provide a rich portrayal of student learning” (Stewart & Walker 97-98).
“…if we want to assess students’ ability to use the elements and principles of design to convey ideas in their own artworks, then we need to create a task that will allow them to do so… Similarly, if we want to assess students’ ability to construct plausible interpretations of artworks, we would not provide students with a task that requires them to recall something they have read or memorized. Instead, we would provide them with an opportunity to look carefully at the components of an artwork, noting symbols and other meaning-laden aspects of the work, and make connections with what they know and what they see” (Stewart & Walker 98).
“…small-group discussions about an artwork or an issue can be used to help students deepen their understanding… Observation would be used, perhaps with a checklist in which the teacher notes whether comments made or questions raised by individual students indicate understanding…Worksheets completed by students following a discussion can help students reflect on the issues as well as demonstrate their comprehension of the issues and factors involved… Group projects, individual journal or sketchbook entries, individual artworks, essays, worksheets—all part of the instruction—can also be used to assess student learning. These approaches are tied to the notion that assessment can serve as an instrument of learning… The same guidelines for designing instruction are used for designing assessment” (Stewart & Walker 98).
“In a classroom environment in which students are aware of the enduring idea and key concepts of the unit, recognize the importance of developing understanding of these ideas and concepts, and know that their ideas and questions are valued, working together toward understanding the goals of the unit becomes everyone’s responsibility… Ongoing assessment of progress toward these ends is not seen as the sole responsibility of the teacher” (Stewart & Walker 99).
“It takes time and sensitivity to create an environment of mutual respect in which peer assessment can easily take place” (Stewart & Walker 100).
Reflections
It was interesting to see how they approached assessment, in that they approached it the same as instruction. I found it essential to keep in mind that if you are assessing something, you must create an opportunity for students to understand it. Also, it did not occur to me how to create that opportunity. Having students rely on recall is a poor way for students to understand concepts. I realized how much stress Stewart and Walker put on the psychology of learning. The more I read, the more I think back to my educational psychology course. They have a deep understanding of how children learn, which is evident in the methods they suggest. Although they propose a multitude of concepts to keep in mind, each one is well thought out and strengthens the instruction and purpose of the lesson being created.
I also thought it was important to always think of assessment as a dual purpose. They brought up that we use assessment to reflect the development of the student, but also to reflect the quality and success, or failure, of the lesson. Upon assessing students, educators are able understand where they need improvements in their lesson. As a student, I have never really thought of this aspect, yet ironically, understanding this, or applying this knowledge to all classes, would make my the best student. What is even more ironic, is that many educators hand out assessment rubrics and most students ignore them, which I am guilty of. As an educator, I plan to supply my students with the assessments I create for them, however I will allot time to go through it and ask if they understand the concepts I am assessing, or if they feel that any of my concepts were out of place, etc. Not only will it clear up the students' confusion, I will get verbal feedback on how I should modify my lesson. I think it would be interesting to see what they would say about my lesson.
I also thought it was important to always think of assessment as a dual purpose. They brought up that we use assessment to reflect the development of the student, but also to reflect the quality and success, or failure, of the lesson. Upon assessing students, educators are able understand where they need improvements in their lesson. As a student, I have never really thought of this aspect, yet ironically, understanding this, or applying this knowledge to all classes, would make my the best student. What is even more ironic, is that many educators hand out assessment rubrics and most students ignore them, which I am guilty of. As an educator, I plan to supply my students with the assessments I create for them, however I will allot time to go through it and ask if they understand the concepts I am assessing, or if they feel that any of my concepts were out of place, etc. Not only will it clear up the students' confusion, I will get verbal feedback on how I should modify my lesson. I think it would be interesting to see what they would say about my lesson.