Pedagogies for Change
Teach Critical and Creative Thinking Skills by Playing an Instrument
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jane Fiske
Critical and creative thinking is a learning outcome promoted by the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative. Launched in 2005, LEAP is a national public advocacy and campus action initiative which champions the importance of a liberal education. This paper will address how critical and creative thinking skills may be developed by playing an instrument. Specific musical examples will be explored. Playing a musical instrument utilizes both brain hemispheres. The left side (cognitive) decodes musical patterns, structures, concepts, and makes logical connections. It teaches students to analyze, to make informed choices, and to problem-solve. The right side (affective) interprets and responds to music from an aesthetic perspective. It teaches students to generate new and free ideas and to develop into imaginative thinkers in a variety of ways. Both areas are active and inseparable when playing an instrument. The experiential, hands-on approach to playing an instrument promotes examination and practice, clear thinking and communicating, mindfulness and listening, and deepens a student’s overall understanding of themselves, their beliefs, knowledge and perception of the world. Critical and creative thinking skills are imperative for understanding and contributing to 21st century challenges. Playing an instrument teaches these skills and provides lifelong joy and enrichment.
Pre-Service Arts Teachers’ Perceptions of Inclusive Education Practice in Western Australian
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lisa Paris, Karen P. Nonis, John Bailey
The creation and maintenance of inclusive learning environments is a key responsibility of all teachers working in Australian schools. Most Australian Universities embed inclusion education training for pre-service teachers (PST) in coursework. There is an implicit assumption in these arrangements that the study of inclusion and of special needs education completed at University will translate into practice when PSTs are working in schools. This phenomenological mixed methods research utilised an existing (2016) University facilitated Artist in Residence program, in which secondary Arts PSTs worked in Western Australian primary schools on a significant art project, to examine how effectively inclusion training is translating into practice. The findings of the research are both surprising and concerning. There would appear to be little or no articulation between theory and practice – the PSTs in our study did little to facilitate inclusion outcomes. Equally as interesting, however, is the finding that something in the collaborative arts experience itself (i.e., unrelated to the actions of the teacher or the AiR) allowed an inclusive experience for the children involved, underscoring the value of The Arts in general education – and especially within inclusive education.
Teaching "The Dybbuk": A Multi-Arts Approach
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lois Rudnick
With themes of horror (demonic possession), love and betrayal, religious orthodoxy and greed, Ansky's "The Dybbuk," and its many variants--Yiddish film ("Der dibuk"), an avant-garde chamber work (Aaron Copland's "Vitebsk"), a ballet symphony (Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins), and, most recently, a feminist opera (Ofer Ben-Amots--has the makings of a compelling curriculum for students of drama, dance, and theatre history, as wells as for performing arts students. Russian writer S. Ansky is recognized as the first Jewish ethnographer. During World War I, he collected and preserved hundreds of folks tales and folk songs from Hassidic communities in Eastern Europe and the Russian Pale, including Kabbalist songs that he used in his play. There is an excellent recent translation of the play in English, and rich scholarly work on Ansky that provides in-depth context for his ethnographic work, the relationship of his work to Hassidic and world culture (he was a Russified Jew who wanted to create a new Yiddish theatre that would appeal to ordinary folk in a contemporary way), and the reasons his play resonates with contemporary audiences.
