Celebrating the Arts
1/22/2021
painting by David Sears On Tuesday, we had a MIddle School Information Night via Zoom for rising middle schoolers. To prepare for this, I went to the experts. One expert, Dr. Thomas Armstrong, lists a number of requirements for best educational practices for early adolescence. Those instructional requirements include:
When I read through the list, I felt really proud of PNA. As an independent school we can decide on what we provide to our students. This list just reinforces my belief that what we have been doing in the classroom, really is what we should be doing. With that being said, I will just let you read from the Dr. Armstrong’s chapter on middle school from The Best Schools: How Human Development Should Inform Educational Practices about the expressive Arts. Due to Covid, we have only just begun to resume this specialized programming for middle school. Since we are studying U.S. History, Laura Bruni, the art teacher, is focusing on art from the U.S. Expressive Arts Thomas Armstrong “Given all of the emotional and physical tumult roiling inside of young adolescents, it's a wonder that more focus has not been placed on the expressive arts at the middle school level. Expressive arts should be considered a core component of any middle school plan. The arts provide opportunities for young teens to express themselves in an atmosphere that is without judgment in areas such as sculpture, painting, drama, music, and dance. It's virtually impossible to fail in the expressive arts. In the course of expressing themselves artistically, students can sublimate sexual energies, channel violent impulses, sort out emotional conflicts, and build a deeper sense of identity. These are all critical developmental tasks in early adolescence. ... Young adolescents should have the opportunity to do some type of creative art activity every day, whether it is integrated into the regular curriculum...or engaged in as a freestanding activity. When young teens write poems, work in clay, draw, paint, dance, and sing, they are creatively involved in the act of forming themselves as autonomous individuals. The benefit to society could not be greater.” hiSTORY
1/9/2021
Historical Fiction (Adapted from a blog piece written by Martina Henke 2018) We are wired for story. Tell us a story and we are hooked. A simple search on the topic of storytelling will quickly show that we humans learn through story, connect through story, grow through story. So it just makes sense that we would use story to connect students to the reality of historical events. This week our middle school students began our Units of Study unit on the genre of historical fiction. This is not necessarily a genre that most students clamor to read, in the way that fantasy and science fiction flies from our shelves. But it is a genre that can take the stark facts of our history book and set them within compelling stories that help students understand the contexts, times, and people that shaped them. It’s a way to combine the “vitamins” with some “chocolate cake." As they learn to read this unique genre, students will be learning about historical events and time periods, but they’ll also learn about how to read the genre: how challenging setting and character development can be; how the internal traits of characters conflict with external conflicts raging around them; how themes develop in these kinds of books; how to go outside the text to shore up background knowledge so the story makes sense (Hello nonfiction and -gasp- textbooks!) They’ll learn to differentiate between the fiction in these books and the facts that surround the great stories. They'll examine multiple perspectives; begin to understand the complexity of issues that seem, on the face, simple; and have the chance to break through stereotypes. They will go deeper into topics that interest them, and wrestle with difficult questions. Most importantly, they can learn something about themselves, since most characters in their books are young people like them. How would they react in similar circumstances? Was that the right choice? How might things have been different, if only…? The topics of our books can be heavy, because if it’s worth writing about, it’s likely a tough topic. Students will be reading about things that expose them to some hard truths about our world. Already this week several have come into class railing at the unfairness they are reading about. It’s a perfect starting point for discussion. "You’re right! It WAS unfair. What kind of world will YOU be creating as you grow up? How can you change our future?” Our emerging young adults are interested in the world and how it works; they are passionate about justice and equity. This unit will hopefully kindle an interest in this genre. But our best hope is that it generates an awareness of how much we have to learn from history and the stories of people who’ve struggled, suffered, persevered, and triumphed - and continue to today. And who knows... they might even find a reason to read that textbook every now and then! |
Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
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