I randomly came across a great article in The Province online. The article is about an art project done in a Langley grade 11 art class. The class painted portraits of each Canadian soldier who had died
in Afghanistan since last Remembrance Day. Students in the article discuss the impact that the project had on them. The teacher for the class also discusses his initial hesitation about doing such a controversial project and how he chose to not get in to the political debate about Canadian troops in Afghanistan and instead focussed on the fallen soldier's lives. The article can be found here.
I found this article really tied in to many topics we have been discussing in class. This teacher used a potentially controversial topic to inspire his students. This project succeeded in large part to how he framed the project. He also made a connection between the art in the classroom and real world issues. From this article the responses seemed to be overwhelmingly positive. I think this is a really interesting example of a teacher taking a risk and really enriching the education and lives of his students.
Any thoughts on things that this article shows? Do you think this project is a good idea? How could this topic be addressed in other subjects?
I saw this story on the news actually. For anyone who hasn't read the article or didn't see it, it was at Langley Fine Arts school I believe. The news story interviewed a few of the students and each one of them said it really made them think. It evoked all kinds of emotions in the students but they also felt proud to be able to paint the portraits for the soldiers' families. I think it was also a good way of bringing up the topic of war, and possible even history in a class that is normally unrelated to these subjects (art). Each student researched the soldier they were painting, mainly online, and found out facts about their personal lives, such as their age, their family, if they had children they left behind etc. Many of the students expressed on the interview that they felt like they got to know the soldier through this research and that's why they were so honoured to be painting them. Many of the students were also shocked to learn that a number of soldiers were in their early twenties - not much older than the high school students. I think this is a good way to bring up the subject of war that can sometimes be a difficult one, and having the students see it in a different and more creative light.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cameron for bringing this article to my attention! I though this was a really good example of many of the things we have been discussing in our other classes, namely philosophy and psychology.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, a project like this fosters an emotional connection between the student and the implications of war/conflict, which statistics simply simply cannot express. Establishing an emotional connection to the subject matter (as we have learned) is extremely effective in terms of educating adolescents.
Secondly, the linking of subjects helps students retain their knowledge by creating more interconnections, which also helps with recalling/retrieving information. I think this is something we as teachers need to be aware of and try to implement as much as possible. The linking of subjects was also an idea Dewey had for educating students. The example in our text was all about milk and learning history, chemistry, arithmetic, economics, sociology, agriculture, and biology through the exploration of milk. Linking subject to tangibles, in this case current events, is a highly effective and way of teaching/learning.
I also love this concept as well - teaching cross-disciplines, and making connections with real world application. Things that aren't always discussed conciously...
ReplyDeleteIn my Socials Methods class we had a guest speaker - Mr French from Mt Doug. He spoke to us on Authentic Education, highlighting 3 components of powerful teaching and learning. They are: RIGOR (instruction that is provocative and emotionally challenging), RELATIONSHIP (making links between and within curriculum), and RELEVANCE (to the students lives, passions, and talents).
His example that brought this to life was his project, in collaboration with the English Teacher, on the book "Three Day Road". As the kids read the book in English, they came to class to study the history it encompassed (WWII and First Nations), and expressed what they had learned in their Unit Project through Art.
Each student was given a piece of foam board, that when put together, made the shape of the traditional First Nations' blanket design (Cree Star Blanket). Then, each were given a theme and a colour to decorate their piece with. At the end, when it was all re-assembled, quotes from the book that stood out to students were glued along the edges of the mosaic, emphasizing the star pattern.
This was such a great cross-discipline project to hear about, and Mr French encouraged each of us as teachers to take project risks and collaborate with other teachers/subjects to make things relevant and multi-leveled. It definitely can become controversial at times, and at the end of the project, the kids had a "chalk talk" to silently, but actively, respond to each other and to questions about war.
This has challenged me to think about how links and empathy can be fostered in a classroom environment, and I am looking forward to trying to build that into my lessons.
I didn't wear a poppy this year to the Rememberance day ceremony. It had fallen off somewhere between the cafe and parliament. I felt so honoured to watch the soldiers walk by. The poppy has a black centre to represent that Canada is at war right now. It's comforting to know that young adults and teachers are working together to continue to celebrate and morn our soldiers. I have to agree with Alysson that this assignment was cross-discipline. I'm always looking for ways to incorporate art into my teaching. I believe that Rememberance Day is the perfect opportunity.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to Victoria's Rememberance Day March:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbvkKinJhbs
Having recently finished my socials methods lesson plans, i must say that this post more than any other gave me so many ideas about how i can "disrupt" my classroom. Although it would be hard to do something this advanced without being in an art room, i came up with an idea for when i will hopefully eventually be teaching a WWII class. Similar to the art project i thought of a way students could following a military unit using online resources, culminating in a presentation using PowerPoint. I cannot wait to try it, and i doubt i would have come up with the idea had it not been for this post. So thank you Cameron.
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