CHAPTER VII

Artistic And creative

literacy
 Artistic Literacy
• is defined as the knowledg
e and understanding requir
ed to participate authentic
ally in the arts.(National Co
alition for Core Arts Standa
rds: A Conceptual Framewo
rk for Arts Learning )(2014)
•Researches have recogn
ized that there are signi
ficant benefits of arts le
arning and engagement
in schooling (Eisner, 20
02; MENC, 1996; Perso,
Nutton, Fraser, Silburn,
& Tait, 2011).
•The arts have been sho
wn to create environm
ents and condition that
result in improved acad
emic, social, and behav
ioral outcomes for stud
ents, from early childh
ood through the early
and later years of scho
oling.
• However, due to the range
of art forms and the diversi
ty and complexity of progr
ams and research that hav
e been implemented it is di
fficult to generalize finding
s concerning the strength o
f the relationships between
the arts and learning and t
he casual mechanisms und
erpinning these association
.
The flexibility of the forms comprising th
e arts positions students to embody a ra
nge of literate practices to:
•●use their minds in verbal and nonverbal ways;
•●communicate complex ideas in a variety of for
ms;
•●understand words, sounds, or images;
•●imagine new possibilities; and
•● persevere to reach goals and make them hap
pen.
•Engaging in quality arts educ
ation experiences provides st
udents with an outlet for po
werful creative expression, c
ommunication, aesthetically r
ich understanding, and conne
ction to the world around the
m.
•Being able to critically rea
d, write, and speak about
arts should not be the sol
e constituting factors for
what counts as literacy in
the Arts (Shienfield, 2015)
.
The cultivation of imaginati
on and creativity and the fo
rmation of deeper theory s
urrounding multimodality a
nd multi-literacies in the Ar
ts are paramount.
Elliot Eisner posi
ted valuable lesso
ns or benefits tha
t education can le
arn from arts and
he summarized thes
e into eight as fo
llows:
• 1. Form and content be separated.
How something is said or done sha
pes the content of experience. In
education, how something is taugh
t, how curricula are organized, and
how schools are designed impact u
pon what students will learn. Thes
e" side effects” may be the real m
ain effects of practice know more
than we can tell.
• 2. Everything interacts; there
is no content without form
and no form without conte
nt. When the content of a for
m is changed, so too, is th
e form altered. Form and co
ntent are like two sides of a
coin.
• 3. Nuance matters. To the extent to which t
eaching is an art, attention to nuance is criti
cal. It can also be said that the aesthetic li
ves in the details that the maker can shape
in the course of creation. How a word is
spoken, how a gesture is made, how a line i
s written, and how a melody is played, all a
ffect the character of the whole. All depend
upon the modulation of the nuances the c
onstitute the act.
• Surprise is not to be seen as an intruder
in the process of inquiry, but as a part
of the rewards one reaps when working
artistically . No surprise , no discovery,
no progress. Educators should not resist
surprise, but create the conditions to ma
ke it happen. It is one of the most power
ful sources of intrinsic satisfaction.
• 5.Slowing down perception is the most promising way t
o see what is actually there. It is true that we have a cer
tain words to designate high level of intelligence. We de
scribe somebody as being swift, or bright, or sharp,
or fast in the pickup. Speed in its swift state is a des
criptor for those we call smart. Yet, one of the qualities
we ought to be promoting in our schools is a slowin
g down of perception: the ability to take one’s time, to
smell the flowers, to really perceive in the Deweyan sen
se, and not merely to recognize what one looks at.
• 8.The limits of language are not the limits of cognitio
n. We know more than, we can tell. In common term
s, literacy refers essentially to the ability to read and to
written. But literacy can be re-conceptualized as the c
reation and use of a form of representation that
will enable one to create meaning － meaning that
will not take the impress of language in its conventio
nal form. In addition, literacy is associated with hig
h-level forms of cognition. We tend to think in orde
r to know, one has to be able to say. However, as Pola
nyi (1969) remind us, we know more than we can tell.
• 7.Somatic experience is one of the
most important indicators that so
meone has gotten it right. Related
to the multiple ways in which we r
epresent the world through our mul
tiple forms of literacy is the way i
n which we come to know the world
through the entailments of our body
. Sometimes one knows a process
or an event through one’s skin.
• 8.Open-ended tasks permit the exercise of imagination
, and an exercise of the imagination is one of the m
ost important of human aptitudes. It is imagination,
not necessity, that is the mother invention. Imagination is t
he source of new possibilities. In the arts, Imagination is a
primary virtue. So, it should be in the teaching of mathematic
s, in all of the sciences, in history, and indeed, in virtually all
that humans create. This achievement would require
for its realization a culture of schooling in which the i
maginative aspects of the human condition were made poss
ible.
Characterizi
ng Artistica
lly Literate
Individuals
• How would you chara
cterize an artistically li
terate students? Liter
ature on art educatio
n and art standard in
education cited the fo
llowing as common tr
aits of artistically indi
viduals :
•use a variety of artistic
media, symbols, and me
taphors to communicate
their own ideas and res
pond to the artistic com
munication of others;
• develop creative personal r
ealization in at least one ar
t form in which they contin
ue active involvement as a
n adult;
• cultivate culture, history, a
nd other connections throu
gh diverse forms and genre
s of artwork;
• find joy, inspiration, pea
ce, intellectual stimulati
on, and meaning when t
hey participate in the ar
ts; and
• seek artistic experiences
and support the arts in t
heir communities
Issues in teaching creativi
ty • In his famous TED talks on creativity
and innovation, Sir Ken Robinson (Do
school kill creativity ? 2006; How to e
scape education’s death valley?, 201
3 ) stressed paradigms in the educati
on system that hamper the develop
ment of creative capacity among lear
ners. He emphasize that schools stig
matize mistakes. This primarily preve
nts students from trying and coming
up with original ideas.
• He also reiterated the hierarchy of systems. Fi
rstly, most useful subjects such as Mathematic
s and languages for work are at the top while a
rts are at the bottom. Secondly, academic abili
ty has come to dominate our view intelligence.
Curriculum competencies, classroom experien
ces, and assessment are geared toward the de
velopment of academic ability. Students are sc
hooled in order to pass entrance exams in coll
eges and universities later on. Because of this
painful truth , Robinson challenged educators t
o:
• educate the well-being of learners and shift from th
e conventional leanings toward academic ability al
one;
• give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, and t
o physical education;
• facilitate learni
ng and works f
orward stimula
ting curiosity a
mong learners;
•awaken and d
evelop powers
of creativity a
mong learners;
and
• view intelligence as diverse, dyna
mic, and distinct, contrary to com
mon belief that it should be acade
mic ability-geared.
• In “First Literacies: Art, Creativity, Play, Co
nstructive Meaning-Making,” McArdle and
Wright asserted that educators should mak
e deliberate connections with children ‘s fir
st literacies of art and play. A recommende
d new approach to early childhood pedago
gy would emphasize children’s embodied e
xperience through drawing. This would incl
ude a focus on children’s creation, manipul
ation, and changing of meaning through en
gaged interaction with art material (Douris
h, 2001), through physical, emotional, and
social immersion (Anderson, 2003).
• The authors proposed for essen
tial components to developing or
designing curriculum that cultiva
tes students’ artistic and creative
literacy. Such approaches activel
y encourage the creative, constr
uctive thinking involved in meani
ng making which are fundament
al to the development of the syst
ems reading, writing, and numbe
ring.
• 1. Imagination and pretense, fantasy me
taphor A creative curriculu
m will not simply allow, but will actively
support, play and playfulness. The tea
cher will plan for learning and teaching
opportunities for children to be, at once
, who they are and who they are not, tr
ansforming reality, building narratives,
and mastering and manipulating signs a
nd symbol systems.
•
• 2. Active menu to meaning makin
g
• In a classroom where children can
choose to draw, write, paint, or pl
ay in the way that suits their purp
ose and/or mood, literacy learning
and arts learning will inform and s
upport each other.
• 3. Intentional holistic teaching
• A creative curriculum requires a creative teacher
, who understand the creative processes, and purpo
sefully supports learners in their experiences. Inten
tional teaching does not mean drill and rote learnin
g and, indeed, endless rote learning exercises might
indicate the very opposite of intentional teaching.
What makes for intentional teaching is thoughtfu
lness and purpose, and this could occur in such acti
vities as reading a story, adding a prop, drawing chil
dren’s attention to a spider’s web, and playing with
rhythm and rhyme. Even the thoughtful and intenti
onal imposing of constraints can lead to creativity.
• 4. Co-player, co-artist

• Educators must be reminded of the i

mportance of understanding children as
current citizens, with capacities and cap
abilities in the here and now. It is vital fo
r teachers to know and appreciate childr
en and what they know by being mindfu
l of the present and making time for c
onversation, interacting with the childre
n as they draw. Teachers must try to av
oid letting the busy management work o
f their days take precedence and distra
ct them from ‘being.’