Towards the end of the chapter, Wilhelm writes something that I found potentially more interesting than all of his experiments and findings throughout the chapter. "In an art class," he tells us, "divergent views are 'interesting' rather than incorrect," and "students are prodded to explore and express their visions and understanding, not to simply justify them." Wilhelm argues that the use of (visual) art in our reading classes can "open the doors to these same possibilities with literary response" (140).
I watched "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" yesterday, and there's a professor in Victor Frankenstein's first medical school lecture who begins by warning students--and I'm paraphrasing here--not to fool themselves that they might ever have a new or original thought, or that there is any hope or virtue in creativity or imagination. I'm sure no teacher in schools today tells students such a thing that explicitly, but to what extent are students being taught that same lesson? Why should art class be the only place where divergent views are encouraged? For that matter, why should it take the addition of visual arts to our classrooms to make students welcome to "explore and express their visions and understanding?"
Watching "Frankenstein" in 2008, it's easy to see what a fool that professor is, acting as though everything had been done and discovered and there was not a single advancement to be made in the field of medicine, but would we not be just as foolish to act as though we have all the answers to any text we might be reading with our classes? Easy as it is for us to see that we would, many of our students come to class expecting us to act just that way, and they don't know what to do when we don't. I of course love the way Wilhelm used drawing to draw reluctant readers in and will borrow his methods, but if the only time we are "prodding" out students to "explore and express" their "divergent views" is when they're doing it through visual arts, we're falling short.
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2 comments:
I am of the belief that this is NOT the only time we ask our students to maintain and represent difffering views. I remember that happeing all of the time in my language arts class, much more than in my art classes (and I took all of those they offered). I understand what you are saying about us falling short, but I think you know as well as I that it is up to the teacher to pull these ideas out of students. Art will not be the tool for all students to reveal their differances of views and opinions. Sometimes I think art can be a diversion for the students. Sometimes the teacher incorporates it for the fun factor and substitutes the fun for sustance and thought. More often than not sustance and thought comes from divergent ideas... coax these ideas out, in some classes I've seen and sat in, we are going to need all of the weapons in our arsenal to carry us through some of the battles.
Austin,
You're right, we need to challange our students to think and act differently at all times, not only during art or reading. We allow students to talk it out in social studies or political science. Why not talk it out in all subjects. Teaching our students to be thinkers and letting them know that we don't always have the answers is one way to actively engage them in their own learning.
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