Beyond the facts
Teaching through art: Conference looks at unconventional ways to boost learningin the classroom
The Houston Arts Partners Conference "Building a Community of Arts Partners"continued the dialogue between educators, artists and a conglomerate of visualand performing arts organizations seeking to find different ways to teach theTexas Essentials of Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) while enriching the classroomlearning environment.
"Teaching is an art itself," was a strong message of keynote speaker, author andformer college band director Tim Lautzenheiser.
Conference chairs Dean Muths, Clear Creek Independent School District directorof visual and performing Arts, and Victoria Ramirez, Museum of Fine Arts,Houston education director.
From left: Deborah Lugo, executive director of Mercury, which is part of HoustonArts Partners, Young Audiences of Houston board member Katherine Veletsos andKeelan Wackman, City ArtWorks executive director.
In a room tucked away on the third floor of the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston, a group of educators felt how students respond when they learn through dance mediums. Led by Houston Ballet outreach associate Jennifer Sommers, they parsed the elements of creative movement — body, space, force and time — and individually translated the four stages in the metamorphosis of butterflies in gestures.
Inhibitions thrown aside, these teachers posed, leaped, waved their arms, whirled, frolicked — and laughed while doing so.
Psophonia Dance Company's Sophia Torres pressed on with a lesson on the molecular structures of solids, liquids and gases. UH dance professor and Young Audiences of Houston teaching artist Becky Valls simplified the process and inspired participants to test arts integrated lessons plans, which are suitable for kindergarten through high school.
As assistant director of Rice University's Wiess School of Natural Science Amber Szymczyk reflected about Bruce Nauman's Violins Violence Silence, currently on view at the Menil Collection as part of curator Toby Kamps' Silence exhibition, she spotted an opportunity to bridge physics and chemistry with art composed of neon lights.
In a hands-on demonstration titled "The Art in Science for High Schools," Szymczyk illustrated how a lesson on waves, pigment and the electromagnetic spectrum could start by observing art with a hand-held spectroscope, and concluding how different elements produce different colored lights. Moreover, by understanding the differences between the additive color theory of light versus the subtractive color model for dyes, one could extrapolate deep meaning from Nauman's puzzling work.
Like a career in the arts requires a creator who's passionate, innovative and not afraid to take on a challenge, successful teachers exhibit those same personality traits.
These one-hour show-and-tells were some of many hosted at the second annual Houston Arts Partners 2012 Conference, a two-day symposium chaired by Dean Muths, Clear Creek Independent School District director of visual and performing Arts, and Victoria Ramirez, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston education director, and attended by nearly 500 teachers and administrators.
"Building a Community of Arts Partners" continued the dialogue between educators, artists and a conglomerate of visual and performing arts organizations seeking to find different ways to teach the Texas Essentials of Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) while enriching the classroom learning environment — because "teaching is an art itself," keynote speaker, author and former college band director Tim Lautzenheiser reminded the audience.
Houston Arts Partners: Arts 4 All, which operates under Young Audiences of Houston, was formed in 2010 to address the increasing needs of the educational community. The initiative simplified how teachers searched for available art resources for their campus. It began as an online portal that cataloged programs suitable for elementary, middle and high schools offered by cultural institutions like the Alley Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, DaCamera of Houston, Fotofest, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston Symphony, Mercury, Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA) and Writers in the Schools.
And from the onset, Houston Arts Partners expanded its services to host professional development opportunities for educators, who in turn earn continuing education credits as mandated by the Texas Education Agency. The increasing collaborative partnerships as the ultimate goal.
Teaching beyond the "what"
Like a career in the arts requires a creator who's passionate, innovative and not afraid to take on a challenge, successful teachers exhibit those same personality traits.
When Lautzenheiser asked educators (watch the keynote here) whether they would prefer a student who's highly intelligent but has a bad attitude or a student whose aptitudes aren't that evolved but is willing to work hard, most in the room agreed the latter. Lautzenheiser had a different perspective.
"In the 'why' is the inspiration that develops a strong spirit so students can do whatever it is they are going to do in life. Because knowledge alone cannot give rise to value."
"Real teachers want the more difficult student, because teachers know they can change people's lives," he explained.
The "what" — the facts — Lautzenheiser said, is not where learning happens. Students' ability to score high on tests isn't a measure of intelligence. Rather, it's an indication that they assess well on traditional examinations. When educators teach to the "how" and to the "why," students exercise critical thinking and problem solving skills, processes that are developed between learning mere facts.
"Why teach to the 'why'?" he continued. "In the 'why' is the inspiration that develops a strong spirit so students can do whatever it is they are going to do in life. Because knowledge alone cannot give rise to value."
An arts integrated curriculum extends toward the "why," yet such a model does demand both teachers and students to step out of their respective comfort zones, and that experimentation can only be successful in a safe, challenging and encouraging environment.
"Or else teachers — and students — retreat to their fort (comfort zone)," he explained. "If humans aren't challenged, we become lazy. Encouragement is beneficial, but lets not confuse encouragement with false praise."
In an arts integrated framework, students need to feel that educators can be trusted and that they care. The attention and focus becomes binary, from teacher to student and from student to teacher.
"Because if it isn't and you push, what you get is resistance," he said.
"It's not about the money, it's about trust. When you argue for your limitations, you get to own them."
There's no question that the logistics of an arts integrated curriculum can be taxing. There has to be buy-in from the parents and administrators; they have to understand that these learning modes aren't horseplay. More precisely, they are opportunities for students to experience real growth.
Communication can be frustrating. Funding can be hard to come by. Choosing the right art form and program can be overwhelming.
"As an Arts Partner, we have a social responsibility to bring these programs," Sandra Bernhard, director of Houston Grand Opera's HGOco, explained in a panel discussion on the topic of sharing resources to support academic and artistic in-school and after school programs. "But for them to be effective, they have to be community centric and involve students, parents, teachers — that's how we, together, can build communities."
With sustainability being the objective of the gathering, much of the day evinced that arts centered lesson modules could be implemented successfully if the classroom teacher was willing to try. After all, this approach isn't about making art, but teaching through artistic channels.
"It's not about the money, it's about trust," Lautzenheiser commented near the end of his keynote speech.
"When you argue for your limitations, you get to own them."
