Katie Sorto

Reading hw 1

CHAPTER 1:

It is in the childs nature to want to explore and engage in art but the childs experience
with arts depends on the adults responsible for guiding the course of students artistic
development. The adult has to ensure for a learning experience in the arts
Theories on the practice and use of art in school have changed during the years but
showed some consistency of the importance of art in subtle transitions of form and
meaning the mark of the earliest stages of artistic development
Its hard for adults to appreciate childrens art work
Art teachers/educators must be aware of the childs thoughts and actions involved in their
work and not just the end product. That is more important in developing artistic skills.
Some teachers lack an understanding of the profound conception of what art might be
able to do for students because they view as play. In todays education system play is
negative and waste of time. Teachers feel pressure to do science, math, and ELA lessons
without the incorporation of art because of the negative perception that its a waste of
time
There is a new appreciation for visual expression in childrens efforts to make sense of
their experiences is gaining currency and credibility
NAEYC author suggest all learning begins with awareness of phenomena and continues
through a process of personal exploration to more structured inquiry, moving finally
towards utilization of skills and knowledge thus acquired (education system as a whole)
Dispute between theorists of more independent or direct form of teaching. One side
arguing children need more direct teaching because they are inexperienced and the other
side arguing children are capable of doing much on their own and just need guidance.

CHAPTER 2

Barbara Hardy suggested that narrative imagination is a common human possession

Ruth Weir says children start self narrating during early stages of life. A conclusion she
came to after recording her 2 and a half year old talking to himself in his crib as he lied
down
Children vocalize inner speech at very early stages of life for social purposes
This shows that at even young ages children can reflect in their actions
Adults, who observe students working on art, often notice how children use narratives
when completing activities. Children narrate their every move, action and decision,
explaining the entire process
This shows how children are capable of thinking about their thinking (metacognitive)
 Art can help students develop verbal skills and skills such as reasoning and analyzing
even at lower level grades
Repetition is important to rudimentary stories by preschoolers
Children often repeat a line or shape in their drawings
Boundedness and repetition shows adults that children apprehend in the forms of pictures
and stories
Young children are aware of their actions and intentions
When young children make and talk about their art they manifest the narrative quality of
human consciousness

CHAPTER 3 and 4

Piagets stages of learning has been the topic of debate for many theorist that believe art
cannot be understood at certain stages of learning and ages. Gardner suggests that
children at 7 year olds have no concrete meaning or are able to manipulate concepts
required to fully participate in art
In Piagets theory children cannot create art until they reach preoperational and early
concrete operational stages. Before the nineteenth century there was no
acknowledgement of unique stage in artistic development
Children were seen as untrained and unskilled mini-adults
The child centered approach became one of the first philosophies of art education
The belief that inside every child is a natural creative impulse that needs to be brought
out
Following the child centered approach was the belief that adult intervention may not only
be useful but essential to childrens artistic development
Vygotsky disagreed with Piaget claims of stages of learning. His argument was that
learning was not influenced by a specific pattern of development.
He suggested it was rather influenced by zone of proximal development
His theory was that children learned through internalization of developmental process
that occurred by interacting with peers
Once these processes are internalized they become part of the childs independent
developmental achievement
Today most theories support the idea that art is not a natural process. The main belief is
that adult foster aesthetic growth.
Some argue that children need to be stimulated in order to initiate a creative process
Some argue children need to be exposed to more challenging structure of art
Burton discusses the importance of the adult role in the beginning of artistic language.
His theory is that children need that exchange of verbal communication with the adult to
enrich and expand artistic learning
 Wilson and Wilson theorize children sketch images primarily from images derivative
from popular culture
It is also important teacher evaluate students progress and growth in art (often a process
skipped by adults/educators)
Often adults cannot analyze or interpret childrens art because they view it in terms of art
in the past and not to the values and concept relative to the period in which its created
Adults lack the interpretive sensibilities and feelings to understand artistic legacy
according to Richmond which suggest that adults may never accurately understand or
appreciate childrens artistic efforts

CHAPTER 5

School art programs are very structured

School art is guided by educator
Art is often incorporated in play time or free time
These routines can be seen as means of transmitting cultural values and providing
structures
Meaning is created through interaction with others (sociologist)
Art in itself is routinized, children complete their art work and ask teacher for
commentary such as its beautiful or lovely
Children seek teachers validation or acceptance not realizing the intent of art (to
create something that makes them happy or satisfied)
Art becomes very impersonal experience
Mead an Blummer emphasize that this transmission of meaning is not simply a
stimulus-response interaction in which the teacher reinforces a particular behavior
rather it requires interpretation
In some situations teachers comments serve as motivation or reinforcement of a
specific behavior
Students need for validation shows cultural values of our education system
Concept of mess vs non-messy art
Children are directly instructed to avoid messy art and to end with a certain product
Children understand the world through interaction (Piaget)
Therefore children believe that art is supposed to be a certain way (needing approval)
There is this belief that art for children must include messy material such as glue or
goo etc
But children are given rules on how to not be messy (very contradicting)
Children also are aware of color symbolism ex black and death

CHAPTER 6

Often teachers pair art with holidays

 Creating rules on what children should color
Art progressing from Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, and valentines day etc (each
related to symbols such as pumpkins, turkeys, Christmas trees and hearts)
when teachers were asked why they choose certain art projects many responded that it
was for artistic expression and individualism as well as coordination skills
Little was talked about concepts of art
There was little guidance or encouragement to explore and experiment with materials
Open ended art lessons: kids are given materials and told what to do and that is it
There is no artistic reflection and conduces to lower level skills
Open ended lessons provided little opportunity to learn a set of skills and knowledge
specific to art
teachers fail to see integration of art into academics and its value
Teachers feel pressure to focus on other subjects and not art because of their limited or
skewed perception of art as leisure or playtime
Education system devalues art and its importance in childrens development