Parker Post for pages 55-63

Sorry for the confusion in posting my response this way. For some reason, it won't let me post my second response of the day.

So here's pages 33-63: Common Core's Basic Set of Concepts Adapted.

Parker- response to Common Core’s Basic Set of Concepts Arts Adapted

This chapter, which was written to give pragmatic examples of how to meld the arts in one’s curriculum, appeared to drift from the previous chapter’s idea of “common habits” through mind.  Perhaps this is a natural extension of the laying out the facts, a step by step guide must have rules and weights, much like a recipe. Having said that, there is, nevertheless, room for much creativity, a bit more pepper, I think.

Having a background in art history, I naturally include visuals wherever possible. As with ELA- and any discipline-the students must have a working vocabulary. By high school, they should have a functional knowledge of the lingua franca of literary elements and figurative language.  I cannot imagine a class where at some point these terms are not referenced, as part of a conversation. Character, plot, dialogue, theme, tone and setting are fundamental frameworks, never mind the figurative language   devices, ranging from metaphor to oxymoron, onomatopoeia to allusion and, of course the holistic sense experience of imagery.   Frameworks organize, construct and balance, as does the frame of a piece of art, and by that I do not necessarily mean a geometrical, physical construct, for light, shade, space, emotions and imagination may equally define a work of art. (Did I catch them all?)  Taylor organizes his suggestions under key ideas, virtually all of which are easily integrated into the ELA /social studies curriculum. I struggle with math and science. Your thoughts?  Getting back to vocabulary, he neglects to mention that whatever artistic discipline one is incorporating as a conduit in support of the standards needs to provide a foundational vocabulary, be it in the visual arts, theatre, music, film or dance. Granted there are numerous parallels among them, but in order to explain, compare and contrast, analyze and interact, the artistic language must be taught. How can one speak of connotations and symbolism without an understanding of the historicity of a work, as well as color, line, shape, texture, value and form?   What a student sees in the blocking of a play speaks louder that the read text.  Even though the common core emphasizes building vocabulary through contextual clues, the instructor must at the minimum provide the language dots, for the student to fill in the picture.

Back to Taylor’s samples. I dare say many of these we have employed in our classes. For those of us with Regents exams, one has to be mindful of the data driven outcome. What is wonderful about his suggestions is that they align so well with ways to differentiate instruction, offering a rich pathway though understanding to synthesizing the material for all students.  Our school, however, is challenged by limited access to technology, at least for ELA teachers. As well, I attest to great frustration with group projects, because of absenteeism, even for legal excuses.  That said, my English 111 culminated their Hamlet unit with an artistic product, as 50% of their grade. They were extremely successful, ranging from physical artifacts, to interpretive dance and letters of confession. I have photos to share of all of these.  I have used Ingres’ painting      with  the painting of the Duke of Ferrara as a way of exposing the nefarious character in Browning’s “MY Last Duchess”   

             

As an introduction to Romanticism, the students first reviewed 8 qualities associated with Romanticism, then we spent a class reviewing an assortment of Romantic paintings. Using a graphic organizer, they describe something they saw in the painting, then connect it to an aspect of Romanticism and then explain why they made the connection. This was in preparation for Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Marinier”, which we partnered with Gustave Dore’s drawings.

Final thoughts: What I would like to see is a required course as part of the undergrad or graduate curriculum. (I know I am dating myself, but back in the day, all future ELA teachers were required to have nine credit hours in the arts- and a grammar course, but we don’t need that any longer.) Ideally, the arts should be a natural part of our thinking, and most perfectly augments the common core standards.