Teaching for Social Justice: a Case Study of a Secondary Art Educator

TEACHING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: A CASE STUDY OF A SECONDARY ART EDUCATOR A thesis submitted to the College of Arts of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Richard Agbeze May 2020 Thesis written by Richard Agbeze B.A., University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, 2016 M.A., Kent State University, 2020 Approved by ___________________________________ Linda Hoeptner Poling, Ph.D., Advisor ___________________________________ Marie Bukowski, M.F.A., Director, School of Art ___________________________________ John R. Crawford-Spinelli, Ed.D., Dean, College of the Arts TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………….....iii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………….vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………….........vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………..........1 Rationale……………………………………………………………………...................2 Research Questions…………………………………………………………...................3 Definition of Terms………………………………………………………………...........3 II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE……………………………………………………….......5 Overview…………………………………………………………………………….......5 Social Justice Art Education……………………………………………..........................5 Critical Multicultural Education……………………………………................................9 Critical Race Theory……………………………………………………........................12 Role of Critical Theory……………………………………………………….................14 Social Justice Art Education and Art Teacher Preparation…………………...................16 Summary…………………………………………………………………........................17 III METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………...18 Introduction……………………………………………………………….......................18 iii Qualitative Research Design…………………………………………………………….18 Case-Study………………………………………………….............................................19 Bias…………………………………………………………............................................20 Transferability…………………………………………………………………...............20 Role of Researcher ………………………………………………………………...........20 Participant………………………………………………………………..........................21 Setting…………………………………………………………………………................21 Data collection ……………………………………………………………......................22 Observation………………………………………………………………........................22 Interview…………………………………………………………………........................23 Limitation of study…………………………………………………………….................23 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………….............23 Summary………………………………………………………………………................24 IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION…………………………………………......25 Introduction…………………………………………………............................................25 The Lesson- Illustrating Civil Rights…………………………………….........................26 Introducing the lesson…………………………………………........................................26 iv Instructional Methods and Strategies………………………….........................................29 Classroom Management……………………………………………................................32 Building and Maintaining Rapport……………………………………............................32 Creating a Safe Classroom Environment…………………………………......................34 Student attitude………………………………………………………..............................35 Artistic action to dismantle inequality……………………………………………...........36 Summary………………………………………………………………............................44 V IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE………………………………………..............................45 Overview………………………………………………………………………………....45 Teaching For Social Justice...............................................................................................47 Conscientiously Introducing the Lesson............................................................................47 Carefully Considering Instructional Methods and Strategies in Social Justice Art Education...........................................................................................................................49 Successfully Finding Balance: Formalist and Contextualist Concerns in Artmaking.......53 Meticulously Creating a Safe Classroom Environment and Classroom Management......55 Purposefully Building and Maintaining Rapport Within a Social Justice Art Lesson…..56 Justly Responding to and Interrupting Bias……………….…………..............................58 Challenges To and In Social Justice Art Education……………......................................60 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….............64 v APPENDIXES A. Interview Questions......................................................................................................65 B. Sample Informed Consent Form...................................................................................67 References………….…………………………………………………………………....70 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. “Empower Women”, photograph courtesy of student……………………….…………….43 2. “We All Are Equal”, photograph courtesy of student……………………………………..44 3. “I Am An American Too”, photograph courtesy of student ……………………………….45 4. “Color Means Nothing”, photograph courtesy of student ………………………………....46 5. “Social Activism”, photograph courtesy of student …………………………………….......47 6. “No Need For Labels”, photograph courtesy of student …………………………………...48 7.“Opportunity Ladder”, photograph courtesy of student……………………………………..49 8. “See the Able, not the Label”, photograph courtesy of Richard Agbeze……………………67 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would say thank you to the Almighty God for His grace and mercies towards me. I would like to express my sincerest heartfelt gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Linda Hoeptner Poling. Right from the very day we established contact through email, she was always supportive and ensured my successful enrollment to the program. Even at the time when my father died and I had to defer my admission, her kind words gave me hope to pursue this dream, and her support throughout this journey has been immense. Her patience, understanding, and readiness to support me with resources right from the start of this research to the end has made this research a success. Her sacrifice to drive me to and from the research site on multiple occasions for data collection was crucial in getting this research done. I know for a fact, that without her support, I definitely would never have finished this thesis on time. I would also like to thank Dr. Sheri Klein and Professor Dorff who guided me through my transition as an international studying abroad. They were extremely supportive in helping me develop a critical understanding of the issues in this program. Also, to Dr. Vande Zande and Dr. Kan for supporting me as well with all the resources that I needed from time to time. They always took time out of their busy schedule to talk to me, advise me to keep my dreams alive. It is a great blessing to have this supportive faculty who are ready to listen and guide you. viii And Lastly, to my family, I would say thank you for getting in touch with me every single day to ensure I was fulfilling my purpose of studying here. They made it hard for me to think of giving up on this dream. ix 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Topic of Study Social justice art education is deeply rooted in a pedagogy of critical inquiry which is implemented through multiple approaches that would lead to students’ critical understanding of social issues such as race, class, identity, gender, and sexuality through art. Garber (2004) describes social justice art education as education for a society where the rights and privileges of people are prioritized. In this form of education, art is a core component as a means to address social issues. In defining social issues, Milbrandt (2002) notes that it is “an umbrella term used to denote collective concerns that exist in the public or social arena (p.142).” The discussion on social issues in the K-12 art classroom is relevant for students towards understanding how, for example, racial, economic, and gender inequalities exist in the political and social landscape of America. These discussions illuminate the daily struggles marginalized groups, the racial and economic inequalities they have to deal with regularly in a dominant society and explore the possibilities of using visual art in addressing them through social justice art education. Social justice art education is relevant in the K-12 classroom due to the role in giving voice to the voiceless, empowering students to speak up in the face of injustices and bias, and helping to create safe classroom environments where every student feels valued and respected regardless of their cultural background. Unfortunately, many art educators are skeptical of including social issues in their lessons, and they avoid such discussion with their students due to either; lack of pre-service preparation to handle such issues or for the fear of not meeting state 2 standards, or opposing views of parents and community, or even termination of their teaching contract. As Liggett (2011) proposes, integration of elements of social justice in curriculum must not be perceived as distraction from the focus of the discipline, but rather an expansion of the field towards using art as a tool for social change. This would help students develop critical thinking skills to examine issues confronting society, build on their creative abilities to address issues with art, and above all become responsible citizens who look out for the well-being of all people. The focus of this study was to investigate how social justice issues are being addressed in the art classroom, paying attention to the methods and approaches art educators use to facilitate discussions on bias, prejudice, and injustices related to racial,

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