Education and the Arts: Blurring Boundaries and Creating Spaces Autumn 2008 Vol. 2 No. 1 Editorial Staff Editor: Lynn Butler-Kisber Managing Editor: Mary Stewart Copy Editors: David Mitchell Carolyn Sturge-Sparkes Graphic Artist: Maryse Boutin Technological Direction and Support: Robert Costain Web Integration: Zegapi The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Editorial Staff or LEARN. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that proper standards of scholarship have been followed, including obtaining approval from review boards, where applicable, and ensuring that informed consent has been given from participants involved in any research studies. Copyright ©2008 LEARN holds the copyright to each article; however, any article may be reproduced without permission, for educational purposes only, provided that the full and accurate bibliographic citation and the following credit line is cited: Copyright (year) by the LEARN Web site, www.learnquebec.ca; reproduced with permission from the publisher. Any article cited as a reference in any other form should also report the same such citation, following APA or other style manual guidelines for citing electronic publications. Comments to the Editor: [email protected] Printed in Canada in the 4th quarter of 2008 Imprimé au Canada au 4ième trimestre 2008 ISSN 1913-5688 Table of Contents Autumn 2008 Vol. 2 No. 1 7 Statement of Purpose 8 Review Board 9 Dedication 11 Editorial Lynn Butler-Kisber 17 Commentary: Education and the Arts:The Windows of Imagination Maxine Greene 23 Commentary: What Education Can Learn From the Arts Elliot Eisner 31 Imagination’s Hope: Four Poems Carl Leggo 35 UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education: A Poetic Review Monica Prendergast 45 Free Yourself From the Role Dale Boyle 49 Focusing on the Earth: Using Photography and Photo Elicitation as Instruments to Engage Children as Coresearchers in a Community Garden Ann Grugel LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 3 69 Art as “Connective Aesthetic”: Creating Sites for Community Collaboration Suzanne Thomas 87 Angels,Wings, and Hester Prynne:The Place of Content in Teaching Adolescent Artists Mary Hafeli 115 The Classroom as Studio—The Studio as Classroom Nicole Bourassa 127 Arts: Inspiration for Life Anne-Sophie Grenier 131 Readers Theatre—Take Another Look—It’s More Than Fluency Instruction Marlene E. McKay 145 Reinvigorating Conceptions of Teacher Identity: Creating Self-Boxes as Arts-Based Self-Study Ruth Leitch 163 Working the Image: Unearthing Aspects of Teachers’ Lives Through Arts-Engagement P.Bruce Uhrmacher & Cassandra Trousas 179 Theatre and Critical Consciousness in Teacher Education David Dillon 195 “Who We Are Matters”: Exploring Teacher Identities Through Found Poetry Elizabeth J. Meyer 211 A Quest for a Theory and Practice of Authentic Assessment: An Arts-Based Approach Joe Norris 4 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 235 Inhabiting Silence: A Sorry Story Susanne Gannon 245 Collage Inquiry: Creative and Particular Applications Donna Davis 267 Research as Experience and the Experience of Research: Mutual Shaping in the Arts and in Qualitative Inquiry Liora Bresler LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 5 6 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 Statement of Purpose LEARNing LandscapesTM is an open access, peer-reviewed, online educa- tion journal supported by LEARN (Leading English Education and Resource Network). Published in the autumn and spring of each year, it attempts to make links between theory and practice and is built upon the principles of partnership, collaboration, inclusion, and attention to multi- ple perspectives and voices.The material in each publication attempts to share and showcase leading educational ideas, research and practices in Quebec, and beyond, by welcoming articles, interviews, visual representa- tions, arts-informed work and multimedia texts to inspire teachers, administrators, and other educators to reflect upon and develop innova- tive possibilities within their own practices. LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 7 Review Board Avril Aitken, Bishop’s University Peggy Downey, McGill University Peter Gouzouasis, University of British Columbia Corrine Glesne, University of Vermont Charlotte Hussey, McGill University Joanne Kingsley, Bishop’s University Patricia Leavy, Stonehill College Anne Lessard, Université de Sherbrooke Matthew Meyer, St. Francis Xavier University Shaun Murphy, University of Saskatchewan Marni Pearce, Alberta Children and Youth Initiative Debbie Pushor, University of Saskatchewan J. Kenneth Robertson, Champlain Regional College Pam Steeves, University of Alberta Teresa Strong-Wilson, McGill University Tiiu Poldma, Université de Montréal Lori Rabinovitch, Education Consultant 8 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 Dedication This issue of LEARNing Landscapes, “Education and the Arts: Blurring Boundaries and Creating Spaces,” is dedicated to Fani Lobel Caspin, wife, mother, friend, colleague, student, and artist. Fani began her career as a teacher and was sought out by students and peers because of her supportive approach and compelling pedagogy. She earned an M.A. in counseling psychology, and for many years had her own practice and helped a wide-reaching and very appre- ciative clientele. More recently, she was a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education at McGill University. Her focus was on student engagement and how to make a difference for diverse learners in secondary schools. Her cre- ativity and love of art was a constant in her life that she nourished in her paint- ing. Fani lit up every room with her energy and engaging smile, and ignited interactions and many friendships with her caring, honest, open and warm out- reach to others. She fought a courageous and valiant battle while never losing her optimism and good humour. She has left behind a huge gap in many lives, and is remembered fondly and affectionately by all those she touched. LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 9 10 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 Editorial or at least two thirds of the 20th century, art was considered a separate discipline in education, and what constitutes art, who should produce art, and what art means were predicated on formalist conceptualiza- Ftions (Broudy, 1972). According to Broudy, and others who endorse a modernist per- spective, the aesthetic experience is derived from exposure to exemplary works of art. This limits access to art, experience with art, and the potential of using art forms in everyday life for mediating understanding in different ways (Eisner, 1991).This per- spective has had a longstanding impact on how art and education intersect. The advent of postmodernism, or belief in multiple realities, inclusionary practices, and relational ways of being and knowing,has changed and continues to change the con- cept of art and its relation to education. Dewey’s (1934) notions, that art is connected to everyday life, and that aesthetic experience is derived in the doing of art and what it reveals in the process, have been dusted off the shelf and gained an increasing foothold in schools, preservice teacher education, and research. These ideas have been bolstered by the realization that learners have multiple intelligences and ways of communicating (Gardner, 2000), some of which are better suited to certain learn- ers than others, and by the increasingly visual and digital world in which we live. We have come to an exciting moment where in many places art is functioning as a way of reflecting on,understanding and representing thinking and values,and as a way of opening up spaces for social action and change.The very interesting and compelling articles in this issue illustrate the immense potential that exists when art and educa- tion meet in stimulating, varied, accessible and embodied forms and practices. We are honoured and privileged to have commentaries from Maxine Greene and Elliot Eisner, two visionary and eminent scholars who have made an astounding impact on education and the arts in both schools and research. Greene touches the reader with a plea and poignant excerpts from artists, urging us to open LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 2, Number 1, Autumn 2008 11 Lynn Butler-Kisber our imaginations to the possibilities of an aesthetic education that unites, engages, and awakens the senses to the “wonders of appreciation.”Eisner posits eight maxims for how education can improve by learning from the arts. He argues eloquently and persuasively about the inextricable fusion of form and content. He highlights the importance of nuance and surprise, and the need for savouring through the senses and argues that the arts push the limits of language, value intuition and embodi- ment, and above all, open up the imagination. Leggo, a poet and education professor at the University of British Columbia, Prendergast, a faculty member in the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences at Lesley University, and Boyle, a musician and Ph.D. candidate in education at McGill University, show the power and magic of poetry and music. From very different van- tage points,we glean as both readers and listeners,the special nuances of experience that their messages reveal. Grugel and Thomas each show how art can create sites for community out- reach and new understanding. Grugel, who is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, shares the work she did with elementary students