Unit 3: 21st Century Literacies

Lesson 16. Arts and Creativity Literacy

Every child is unique in their own ways. In a classroom, diversity is evident through
numerous interests, skills, and capabilities of our learners.
Creativity is one of the skills that are honed in school. A school is an important place
where skills and talents of learners are honed. In school, learners are given the freedom to
express themselves using different medium or ways. Creativity is a skill that they learn in the
process of exposure to various activities that cater skills and interest of a diverse class. Creativity
of learners, when discovered and developed, may lead to a learner’s success in the future.
This module will discuss artistic literacy and verbal literacy including verbal literacy
aesthetics. Here, you’ll learn that being artistic helps in developing one’s critical thinking and
may aid in the improvement of other existing skills.

Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit, you are expected to:
1. Create understanding of artistic literacy and creativity;
2. Discuss the value of arts to education and practical life;
3. Demonstrate ways on how to develop artistic and creativity;
4. Write a sample lesson plan integrating artistic literacy;

Artistic Literacy

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the module, you will be able to:
1. Define artistic literacy;
2. Characterize an artistically literate person;
3. Discuss the value of Arts to education and practical life;

Presentation of Content
Artistic literacy is defined in the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards: A
Conceptual Framework for Arts Learning (2014) as the knowledge and understanding required to
participate authentically in the arts. While individuals can learn about dance, media, music,
theatre, and visual arts through reading print texts, artistic literacy requires that they engage in
artistic creation processes directly through the use of materials like charcoal or paint or clay,
musical instruments or scores, and in specific spaces like concert halls, stages, dance rehearsal
spaces, arts studios, and computer labs.

Researches have recognized that there are significant benefits of arts learning and
engagement in schooling (Eisner, 2002; MENC 1996; Perso, Nutton, Fraser, Silburn, and Tait,
2011). The arts have been shown to create environments and conditions that result in improved
academic, social and behavioural outcomes for students, from early childhood and through the
early and later years of schooling. However, due to the range of art forms and the diversity and
complexity of programs and research that has been implemented, it is difficult to generalize
findings concerning the strength of the relationships between arts and learning and the causal
mechanisms underpinning these associations.

Characterizing Artistically Literate Individuals

How would you characterize an artistically literate student? Literature on art education
and art standards in education cited the following as common traits of artistically literate
individuals:

 Use a variety of artistic media, symbols, and metaphors to communicate their own ideas and
respond to the artistic communications of others;
 Develop creative personal realization in at least one art form in which they continue active
involvement as an adult;
 Cultivate culture, history, and other connections through diverse forms and genres of
artwork;
 Find joy, inspiration, peace, intellectual stimulation, and meaning when they participate in
the arts; and
 Seek artistic experiences and support the arts in their communities.

Value of Arts to Education

Engaging in quality arts education experiences provides students with an outlet for
powerful creative expression, communication, aesthetically rich understanding, and connection
to the world around them. Being able to critically read, write, and speak about art should not be
the sole constituting factors for what counts as literacy in the Arts (Shenfield, 2015).

Elliot Eisner posited valuable lessons or benefits that education can learn from arts and he
summarized these into eight as follows:

1. Form and content cannot be separated- how something is said or done shapes the
content of experience. In education, how something is taught, how curricula are
 organized, and how schools are designed impact upon what students will learn. These
“side effects” may be the real main effects of practice.
2. Everything interacts- there is no content without form and no form without content.
When the content of a form is changed, so too, is the form altered. Form and content
are like two sides of a coin.
3. Nuance matters- to the extent to which teaching is an art, attention to nuance is critical.
It can also be said that the aesthetic lives in the details that the maker can shape in the
course of creation. How a word is spoken, how a gesture is made, how a line is
written, and how a melody is played, all affect the character of the whole. All depend
upon the modulation of the nuances that constitute the act.
4. Surprise is not to be seen as an intruder in the process of inquiry, but as a part of the
rewards one reaps when working artistically- no surprise, no discovery; no discovery,
no progress. Educators should not resist surprise, but create the conditions to make it
happen. It is one of the most powerful sources of intrinsic satisfaction.
5. Slowing down perception is the most promising way to see who is actually there- it is
true that we have certain words to designate high levels of intelligence. We describe
somebody as being swift, or bright, or sharp, or fast on the pickup. Speed in its swift
state is a descriptor for those we call smart. Yet, one of the qualities we ought to be
promoting in our schools is a slowing down of perception: the ability to take one’s
time, to smell the flowers, to really perceive in the Deweyan sense, and not merely to
recognize what one looks at.
6. The limits of language are not the limits of cognition. We know more than we can tell-
in common terms, literacy refers essentially to the ability to read and to write. But
literacy can be re-conceptualized as the creation and use of a form of representation
that will enable one to create meaning-meaning that will not take the impress of
language in its conventional form. In addition, literacy is associated with high-level
forms of cognition. We tend to think that in order to know, one has to be able to say.
However, as Polanyi (1969) reminds us, we know more than we can tell.
7. Somatic experience is one of the most important indicators that someone has gotten it
right- related to the multiple ways in which we represent the world through our
multiple forms of literacy is the way in which we come to know the world through the
entailments of our body. Sometimes, one knows a process or an event through one’s
skin.
8. Open-ended tasks permit the exercise of imagination, and an exercise of the
imagination- one of the most important of human aptitudes. It is imagination, not
necessity, which is the mother of invention. Imagination is the source of new
possibilities. In the arts, imagination is a primary virtue. So, it should be in the
teaching of Mathematics, in all the Sciences, in History, and indeed in virtually all that
humans create. This achievement would require for its realization a culture of
schooling in which the imaginative aspects of the human condition were made
possible.
9.
Artistic Creativity

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the module, you will be able to:
1. Define creativity;
2. Determine various challenges in teaching creativity;
3. Determine various approaches in teaching artistic literacy;

Presentation of Content
Creativity is the foundation of human culture. All inventions and innovations in history
rely upon us to break with the traditional thinking and create something novel. Creativity is
generally defined as the capability of generating original and useful products (Runco and Jaeger,
2012).
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the author of the book “Creativity: The Psychology of
Discovery and Invention,” also gives a definition of the word. He said, “Creativity is a central
source of meaning in our lives. Most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are
the results of creativity and when we are involved in it; we feel that we are living more fully than
during the rest of life.”

Issues in Teaching Creativity

In his famous TED talks on creativity and innovation, Sir Ken Robinson (Do schools kill
creativity?, 2006; How to escape education’s death valley”, 2013) stressed paradigms in the
education system that hamper the development of creative capacity among learners. He
emphasized that schools stigmatize mistakes. This primarily prevents students from trying and
coming up with original ideas. He also reiterated the hierarchy of systems. Firstly, most useful
subjects such as Mathematics and languages for work are at the top while arts are at the bottom.
Secondly, academic ability has come to dominate out view of intelligence. Curriculum
competencies, classroom experiences and assessment are geared toward the development of
academic ability. Students are schooled in order to pass entrance exams in colleges and
universities later on. Because of this painful truth, Robinson challenged educator to:

 Educate the well-being of learners and shift from the conventional learnings toward
academic ability alone;
 Give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, and to physical education;
 Facilitate learning and work toward stimulating curiosity among learners;
 Awaken and develop powers of creativity among learners; and
 View intelligence as diverse, dynamic, and distinct, contrary to common belief that it should
be academic ability-geared.

Approaches to encourage creativity and constructive thinking to learners

In “First Literacies: Art, Creativity, Play, Constructive Meaning-Making,” McArdie and

Wright asserted that educators should make deliberate connections with children’s first literacies
of art and play. A recommended new approach to early childhood pedagogy would emphasize
children’s embodied experience through drawing. This would include a focus on children’s
creation, manipulation, and changing of meaning through engaged interaction with art materials
(Dourish, 2001), through physical, emotional, and social immersion (Anderson, 2003). The
authors proposed four essential components to developing or designing curriculum that cultivates
student’ artistic and creative literacy. Such approaches actively encourage the creative,
constructive thinking involved in meaning making which are fundamental to the development of
the systems of reading, writing and numbering.

1. Imagination and pre-tense, fantasy and metaphor

A creative curriculum will not simply allow, but will actively support, play and
playfulness. The teacher will plan for learning and teaching opportunities for children to
be, at once, who they are and who they are not, transforming reality, building narratives,
and mastering and manipulating signs and symbol systems.

2. Active menu to meaning making

In a classroom where children can choose to draw, write, paint, or play in the way that
suits their purpose and/or mood, literacy learning and arts learning will inform and
support each other.

3. Intentional, holistic teaching

A creative curriculum requires a creative teacher who understands the creative processes,
and purposefully supports learners in their experiences. Intentional teaching does not
mean drill and rote learning and indeed endless rote learning exercises might indicate the
very opposite of intentional teaching. What makes for intentional teaching is
thoughtfulness and purpose, and this could occur in such activities as reading a story,
adding a prop, drawing children’s attention to a spider’s web, and playing with rhythm
and rhyme. Even the thoughtful and intentional imposing of constraints can lead to
creativity.
4. Co-player, co-artist
Educators must be reminded of the importance of understanding children as current
citizens, with capacities and capabilities in the here and now. It is vital for teachers to
know and appreciate children and what they know by being mindful of the present and
making time for conversation, interacting with the children as they draw. Teachers must
 try to avoid letting the busy management work of their days take precedence and distract
them from the ‘being.’

How to teach Artistic and Creative Literacy

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the module, you will be able to:
1. Determine various strategies in teaching eco-literacy;
2. Discuss how these strategies are used in teaching eco-literacy;
3. Provide examples of activities to be used in executing the strategies;

Presentation of Content
The quest for students to acquire literacy, or educational knowledge and competency, is a
ubiquitous goal across all curricular disciplines. The fundamental skills and knowledge needed
for basic literacy provide the foundation for more complex learning to occur. Acquisition of
literacy in the arts is similarly developed when students can demonstrate and communicate their
understanding of the basic concepts and principles of the art form. Artistic literacy is defined in
the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards: A Conceptual Framework for Arts Learning
(2014).

Best Practices for Active/Student-Centered Instruction

Arts classes by their nature are places where students are involved in active learning.
Students perform music, create art, present a play, dance to music, or invent new media.
Teachers often model or use direct instruction so that students receive explicit guidance in
executing their art. Any arts educator will agree that their exemplar is critical to the students’
learning processes.

Teaching for Artistic Literacy

Content
and Skill Artful
Factual Developmen Thinking
knowledg t
e

Focused-learning Collaboration Independence

TEACHER-LED STUDENT DRIVEN

INSTRUCTION
1. Student-Centered Learning
In active learning- or student-centered arts classrooms students not only engage in
making the art, they are given time to make connections with their own cultural background,
assess their technique and understanding, interact with peers, and participate in evaluating their
own progress. The process is cyclical as learning progresses. Teacher-led instruction is
sometimes as necessary for advanced learners as it is for novice learners. Collaborative and
independent learning opportunities often occur fluidly within a single lesson. The chart below
provides some examples of active, student-centered learning in arts classrooms.
In a Student-Centered Arts Classroom, Students….
Set personal goals
Plan and create their own work
Self and peer evaluate
Conduct student led rehearsals
Write art or performance critiques
Lead student-researched program or production notes
Collaborate in developing artistic products, programs, plots,
movement
Collaborate in design/problem solving/analysis
Actively engage in error detection & revising
Assist in determining presentations, concerts, or shows
And more….

2. The Role of Inquiry and Feedback

To accomplish these types of learner-centered activities in the arts classroom the
teacher’s role moves to that of facilitator of the learning rather than the distributor of knowledge.
“When placed on a continuum of active student involvement, one end of the continuum
represents little or some student involvement versus the opposing end that represents mostly
student-driven learning. In other words, if the beliefs, theories, or perspectives of the instructor
or governing bodies perceive that the student is at the center of the learning experience then
those factors will serve as the center of how the curriculum is developed.”
If students have had little or no experiences in guiding their own learning, they must be
given direction for learning to do so. Even young children may be asked to rate their own work
indicated by marking symbols on a colorful check list or rubric, or raising hands. The ability to
tactfully and respectfully peer evaluate or work in collaboration is a critical life skill that should
begin early in their school lives and remain a standard throughout the school years. A few ideas
for establishing meaningful collaboration and communication in arts classrooms include:
• Establishing classroom guidelines (developed with student input) and posted for reference;
• Creating key words or symbols as non-verbal reminders for students to maintain respectful
behavior;
• Scaffolding and blending direct instruction, modeling, and student-led work;
• Providing teacher–led and ultimately student-led questions that inspire students to think about,
reflect, and articulate their perspectives on artistic work.

Productive and scaffolded questioning skills are keys to an active learning classroom.
Well formulated questions, cues, or prompts promote active learning, encourage diverse types of
thinking including problem-solving and reasoning, foster collaboration and social skills, and help
students think and reflect for themselves. The goal is for students to become self-regulated
learners both at school and in life. Many types of questioning techniques exist in education:

• Bloom’s Taxonomy, the original published in 1956, and its revision in 2001, have traditionally
provided a basis for evaluating levels of cognition. In the revision, the taxonomy ordered
cognition levels and added different types of thinking.
• The Depths of Knowledge (DOK) model categorizes four levels of activities and question
starters: Recall, Skills/Concepts, Strategic Thinking, and Extended Thinking.
• Socratic Questions challenge students in six areas: Conceptual clarification questions to help
students probe their own thinking for deeper levels; Probing assumptions helps students think
about their presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs; Probing rational, reasons and evidence
challenges students to provide rationales and reasoning for their beliefs; Questioning viewpoints
and perspectives asks students to consider other equally valid viewpoints than their own; Probing
implication and consequences challenges students to consider the outcomes of their thinking or
decisions; and, Questioning the questions requires students to consider what about their
questions were important in the first place.
• Question-Answer-Response questions begin with Right There questions-fundamental, easy to
identify through seeing or hearing (e.g. colors, lines, positions, tempos, symbols).
*Think and Search questions ask students to look through the music, script, artwork, or
movement to find and describe arts elements and principles; Author and Me questions require
some prerequisite knowledge. The questions deal with perceived emotional responses,
interpretations, ideas that arise from the work itself; and, On My Own questions that ask students
to “think outside of the box” by predicting, providing rationales, challenging reasons and
evidence.

For arts educators, all of these techniques are usable in arts classrooms and studios,
rehearsals, and productions. However, most of these techniques place more significance on
cognitive rather than creative and affective thinking. David Krathwohl, co-author of Taxonomy
of Educational Objectives,
The Affective Domain described the affective taxonomy as “…objectives which
emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion, or a degree of acceptance or rejection. Affective objectives
vary from simple attention to selected phenomena to complex but internally consistent qualities
of character and conscience.

3. Using Formative and Summative Assessments in the Arts Classroom

Properly created questions, prompts and cues are also significant elements for developing
assessments. Arts educators have become increasingly adept at creating summative assessment,
in particular rubrics and check lists. Summative assessment is important for determining how
well a student has mastered targeted skills and knowledge goals as well as helping teachers
determine student growth.

Formative assessment in the arts is most often the predominant measurement of student
learning, however. The term “formative assessment” originated in the late 1960s and was later
clarified by Benjamin Bloom and associates in 1971.
Popham defined formative assessment as “a planned process in which assessment-elicited
evidence of students’ status is used by teachers to adjust their on-going instructional procedures
or by students to adjust their current learning tactics.”

Cizek summarized numerous definitions of formative assessments through these

characteristics:

Students will:
1. Be responsible for their own learning..
2. Use frequent peer and student self-assessments
3. Self-monitor progress toward agreed upon learning goals..
4. Revise and improve work related to their learning goals

Teachers will:
1. Identify and relay clearly stated learning goals to students.
2. Design learning goals that focus on specific classroom goals as well as goals beyond the
classroom.
3. Identify and recognize in lessons students’ current and prior knowledge.
4. Assist students in planning, self-monitoring, and self-assessing learning goals.
5. Provide frequent, non-evaluative, and timely feedback.
6. Embed assessments with instruction.

These definitions and descriptions embody the spirit of a student-centered classroom.

And, in relationship to arts education, they provide the framework for fostering artistic literacy.
A truly masterful teacher using strong formative assessment approaches moves effortlessly from
direct instruction and modelling with the goal of growing independent, self-regulated learners.
Formative assessment and student-centered learning techniques are embedded in the instructional
strategies.
Some techniques, found in Making Thinking Visible represent innovative ideas for
checking student cognitive, creative, and affective understanding and include:

 Plickers: A free app for phones that quickly assesses T-F or Multi-Choice questions
 Think-Pair-Share: Generate and share criteria for quality or ponder a question
 Exit Tickets: Quick survey of students’ understanding: Can be done with an app.
 One Minute Writes: Quick reflections; written on note cards or electronic devices
 Think Out Loud Modeling: Teacher talks through and models same procedures and
thinking as the students will do
 Chalk Talk: The teacher generates a prompt with a statement or question about artistic
processes or products and writes it in the center of a piece of chart paper. The class reads
the prompt and responds in writing with pen or marker on the chart without talking. After
 writing their own comments, students can comment on other student’s remarks but only
the “chalk” talks. This procedure can be done on a Smart Board or other electronic
device; and,
 Glass, Bugs, Mud: Students use these metaphors to relay their understanding of a skill,
concept, or technique. Mud indicates confusion, Bugs indicates that they are unclear, and
Glass indicates they understand.

Strong arts programs characteristically are led by strong teachers, communities and
administrators that support the arts, excellent communication, resources, and a well-designed
sequential curriculum. The arts are a profoundly human means of expression dating back to the
beginnings of our existence and are a significant way in which we demonstrate our humanness.
The arts as a curricular subject area are recognized as a core subject and are required in most
states across the country. Still, advocacy for arts programs remains as relevant now as ever
before.