23 Questions From Teachers that Artists Can Help Answer

This story appeared in High Performance #71, Spring 1996 as a sidebar to Artists and Teachers Partner for School Reform.

One of the most remarkable aspects of school reform is the amount of good writing emerging from the field. The Coalition of Essential Schools, for example, has, as a basic part of its methodology, almost constant writing by teachers and students—before, during and after any given project, course of study or reform effort.

One particularly interesting set of writings comes out of "Writing Within School Reform," a publication series of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform; the first four volumes in the series were funded by the Coalition. They present clear, specific and personal essays by teachers about their work. Completely devoid of academic jargon, these booklets provide a piercing insight into what it's like to be on the front lines in the effort to change America's schools. They are an excellent introduction for artists who wish to work in partnership with teachers.

Upon reading all four I discovered a number of interesting questions or problems that Coalition teachers need help with, and I could see where artists (and even arts administrators) might be excellent collaborators. I gleaned these questions from that reading and (though the Coalition does not emphasize the arts) I tried to apply to them the possibilities of artist residencies:

Teamwork

• Teaching in teams of two or more is fruitful, exciting and a useful model for students. Artists who work in theater and media consistently perform in teams. What can they share about team-creating an artwork or a project? Could a team project between and artist and a teacher be developed?
• Many teachers want to "relinquish center stage" and encourage students to drive the classroom agenda. Could a visiting artist propose a project or exercise that would address this idea?
• Collegiality is essential. Would artists with experience in a variety of teaching situations be willing to brainstorm with groups of teachers to share what they have learned about innovative teaching methods and assessment standards?
• Teachers need to share what they are learning. Could a touring artist link (perhaps electronically) the teachers s/he works with in various schools/cities/states/countries so they can discuss their common experience?
• Lessons learned in school must travel into the real world. Many artists are skilled at community collaboration. Could a project be developed that involves the class with the community outside school?

Personal communication

• Observation of the way kids really view the world can change everything for a teacher. How can an artist help find new ways of listening to and observing students?
• Trust is a basic issue among students and teachers. Are there nonverbal arts exercises that address, explore, test and exercise trust?
• Letting students know that they are heard helps them build on what they know. What kinds of arts projects help students draw on their own experience and learn to use it?
• Tough questions, the kind that lead to discomfort, lead to growth. Many artists have made this search their life's work. What can artists teach about confronting painful issues and seemingly insoluble dilemmas?
• Everyone has had at least one "shining moment" as a learner. What could an artist residency teach about the experience and meaning of these powerful learning events?
• Writing improvement through traditional teaching of grammar is not as useful as traditionally hoped. Shifting the emphasis to the students' lives and interests proves more fruitful. Could working writers bring in fresh ideas that would spur students to choose their own texts, share reading and write from their own life experiences?

Assessment of skills

• What does quality work look like? How do we know what is good enough? Artists constantly judge and improve their own work and keep going without giving up. Why? How?
• Peer critiques of work in progress teach skills that both teachers and students can use throughout life. How do artists who are "critical friends" critique each other? Is there a teachable model?
• A student-created publication provides multiple opportunities for "exhibitions" of student skills. Many artists who make books have the skills of conceptualization, production and publishing. How could such an artist or arts organization collaborate on a substantial project?

New teaching tools

• All genuine learning is active, not passive. It is a process of discovery in which the student is the main agent, not the teacher. Artists have particularly strong initiative. How can we use their techniques to create a classroom paradigm in which the student is actively seeking or discovering a subject, say history?
• Exercises or "mini-lessons" inside larger projects are very effective teaching tools. Could an artist bring a project including 5-10 minute exercises from their own work that could teach some really useful creative strategies?
• Physical exploration of intellectual exercises sparks new learning paths. How can dancers, mimes and acrobats help classes explore math, physics, communications?
• Teachers need to experiment, "play around" with their practice. Conceptual artists are adept at knocking down barriers to imagination. Could they help create a safe zone for teacher experimentation?
• Letting the unexpected happen in the classroom can bring breakthroughs, but it is hard to let go of control and accept ambiguity along the path. Artists find their inspiration in the unexpected. What can they teach about clearing that space?
• Observation of the world outside the classroom teaches lifelong learning skills. Artists are professional observers. What innovative field trips could an artist propose?

Agents of whole-school change

• Collaborative interdisciplinary projects are exciting engines for whole-school change—like a Shakespeare Festival involving social studies, English, music, art, physical education and food. Many artists are accustomed to creating such projects. Would they help design, organize, raise funds and produce? And teach those skills along the way?
• Abstraction can be useful. In order to change the culture of schools, we need to raise the concrete everyday experience to the theoretical level, where critical analysis and change can occur. Theater artists, painters and poets do this every day. What fresh approaches to abstraction might be tried?
• Rituals and celebrations can transform the fractured culture of a school into a unified, purposeful community. Sometimes a group experience is needed in response to a shared shock or tragedy. Are there artists who specialize in community ritual? How could the artist and school work sensitively together to create something appropriate?

"Writing Within School Reform" may be ordered ($7.50 each; all four for $24) from AISR Publication, Brown University, Box 1969, Providence, RI 20912. Thanks to the authors/teachers for their essays: Paula Milano, Grace Hall McEntee, Simon Hole, Randall Wisehart, Ted Graf, Chris Louth, Leah Rugen, Jon Appleby and Loretta Brady.

Go to Artists and Teachers Partner for School Reform

Linda Frye Burnham is an editori to High Performance magazine.

This story originally appeared in High Performance #71, Spring 1996

Original CAN/API publication: December 1999