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Lesson Plans


Re: drawing as a skill

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Karlawald
Sun, 18 Jul 1999 15:47:09 EDT

What bothers me most about my teacher cohorts saying "I can't draw and I
could never learn to draw" is that I began noticing it was a source of pride
for them. For many people, the act of being creative has the added
connotation of being useless and absentminded, while being
"concrete-sequential" means you get things done and are in control. I have
been told it results from our relatively recent pioneer history, valuing
usefulness and hard work above all else.

At a school where I taught, a speaker was brought in to talk about the
different styles of learning, and how all kinds are represented in our
classrooms. To illustrate this, and to show how we need to teach with a
variety of different approaches, we all took a "test" to see what type of
learner we were. After comparing the results, I noticed that the
left-brainers and right-brainers and in-betweens were looking for those just
like them so they could share their pride in being the best group of all.
Kind of missed the point altogether.

Right after that, I happened to mention that it's a shame schools don't
always teach to the "whole" child. I assumed it was a given, but a teacher
came back with "Well, I learned that way myself, and I think I turned out
just fine, thank you very much!"

My district doesn't have art educators in the elementary grades--only in
middle school and up. Kind of backwards if you ask me, but I have hope it
will change someday. Right now, our administration seems to miss the point.
Most of them grew up here, without art in the elementary schools. I guess
they're thinking "I turned out just fine, thank you very much!"

We really need to do a good job with these kids, because until the majority
of people get a good solid education in the arts, the majority of people will
not support the arts in education. They don't know what they're missing!

Karla