Multi-Model Presentation

Multi-Model Presentation


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boys dont do arts

The concept that real boys don't do arts is being challenged. Margaret Cook reports.

THE arts have been overlooked as a way to engage boys in education, according to Melbourne University academic Wesley Imms.

He says a great deal of research has been conducted into improving boys' academic performance, especially literacy, but little into why so few study the arts.

However, arts subjects - music, drama, art and dance - suit the needs of many boys, says Dr Imms, who is also research manager of the Federal Government-funded Boys' Education Lighthouse School project.

For example, boys enjoy doing things with an outcome, that are hands-on, and that allow them to learn from their mistakes and successes, all of which apply to the arts. The arts also requires boys to engage in aesthetics, talk about personal interpretations and open up to other people.

Dr Imms spoke at the Boys and Music Conference, held recently at Melbourne High School and organised by the Association of Music Educators (Victoria).

Kevin Kelly, the association's executive officer, says the rate of boys' participation in music at school varies. Factors include the style of music offered, a boy's family and background, and whether he learns music outside of school. Sometimes boys find their school's program uninteresting or limited. Also, some teachers lack experience in a range of music, such as jazz, rock, classical and electronic.

Mr Kelly is encouraged by the "growth in music programs" in the past few decades - for example, schools have formed rock bands for students at risk of dropping out. However, Australia, unlike the US (where "every school has a band and a choir") and Europe, still places a high priority on sport for boys and regards music as a specialist area.

"There is a perception in Australian culture that music is more 'feminine' as opposed to sport," says Sonny Chua, a music teacher at Melbourne High, a boys' school with a strong music program.

Music is compulsory at year 9, as is mass singing for year 9 and 10 students. The school also has three choirs, a symphony orchestra and several bands, and about 500 of the 1300 boys learn an instrument.

"We've found that if you create the right environment - one that allows boys to feel comfortable - then they will choose music," says Mr Chua. "Also, they can do both sport and music."

However, Clare Hall, a music teacher at Trinity and Caulfield grammar schools who also spoke at the conference, warns that boys construct their gender identity from an early age. Her research has found they enjoy singing until about grades 5 and 6, but then regard it, and playing instruments such as the flute, as "feminine".

"Boys need education that is kinaesthetic and a physical experience - what's better than singing?" asks Ms Hall. "Also, unless they are taught the joys of singing and how to use their voices, we will have a generation of men who don't have that ability. It's important that we broaden boys' education and that they learn many ways of expressing their masculinity."

Ms Hall's research included a case study of 40 five-year-old boys, some of whom had already developed a reluctance to sing. In an effort to motivate them, she asked two older boys, both enthusiastic members of choirs, to join their music lessons. It was "instant love" from the younger boys, she says.

Mr Chua says single-sex classes are good because boys are less self-conscious about enjoying music and don't feel the need to be "macho" in front of girls. Teachers must also choose a broad repertoire, from classical to contemporary music and which is relevant to today's boys.

"Engagement comes from within, and we need to motivate boys by means of their own interests," says Dr Imms, who has developed a model that teachers can use to create a "boy-friendly" curriculum. This includes a learning environment where they feel free from ridicule, and where they can move around and communicate with many boys, not just their friends. The arts fit strongly within his model.

Melbourne High's acting principal, Susan Bell, says: "It's important that boys have an understanding of culture, and that they share the bonding experience of singing and performing together.

"It's about connecting them to school, and this overflows into other areas. They come out of music feeling happy and positive, and they take that feeling into maths class."

---

Copyright 2004 John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited. www.theage.com.au. Not available for re-distribution.

The teacher Gallery from pebble pad

A blog that looks at the perception of teachers based on the visual images online.

 

Education for the future; an international perspetive. Colin Power 2006

• The Author argues for a renewed sense of purpose in education with greater emphasis on human social and cultural elements in education
• Belfield& Levin 2003 explore the myth that private education is more efficient, the evidence suggests that systems that provide education for the masses’ at a high level of preparing students for the challenges of education are more successful , UNESCO 2005
• School’s must provide students with educational experiences that enable them to deal with current and future challenges and change with a sense of optimism and resilience.
• Increased quality is increased inline with expenditure in teacher education and enhanced school facilities.
• Interestingly those countries with the most success are these that have teacher education systems that have high standards for recruitment and training, and where society views the profession with prestige.
• In critique of technology the author identifies the danger of not identifying optimum use of media as it may be detrimental as a tool if it is a reflection of economic and political agendas of nations and corporations and institutions.
• The author reflects that we must ensure our students become responsible world citizens that understand the rights and responsibilities of the nation.

The promise of critical reflection: promises and contradictions, Brookfield, 2009
• It is not thinking hard on a subject But:
1. questioning the power relationships
2. it assumes that small issues between minority struggles of equality exist in the wider world.
3. It takes its focus on challenging set hegemonic practice power dynamics
4. assuming that those forces that may be in our best interest may be working against us.
5. There is I believe a link to the post modern here. The methodology of pragmatist construction varies a point of view between person and context. Each viewer sees through their own constructed lens.
• CT is grounded on three core assumptions that : 1 the world be being democratic is unequal with all the issues and problems that exist in a democracy. 2.The system is perceived as normal and this seen as a self protecting system not to be challenged. 3. That CT is a challenge to that system and a prelude to changing it.
• Bourdieu- 1977, our way of understanding the world, our “habitus” our constructed reality through our own experience and context. The cultural capital we bring especially pertinent in art education.
• Raymond Williams 1977 goes on in the same manner as Bourdieu that we are shaped products of our, social habits, cultural forms, these legitimise political, educational structures. That represents the order of things. Again the main issue when judging success within art students comes down to this in my context.
• A wonderful phrase ‘the subtlety of hegemony is that it becomes deeply embedded part of the cultural air we breathe’. In the fabric.
• The conspiracy of normal.
• The dark side to the sense of vocation, social workers- exploited and manipulated. Vocation becomes hegemonic when workers are given extra responsibility, duties far exceed their energy and capacities, it destroys health and relationships. This is the private school, you must do more, you are judged on your last mistake, how late you go home, how early you arrive the next day, the prestige of the teams you coach, the extra student competitions, the rehearsals, excursions, galley student exhibitions, I’m so tired, I worked so hard on the weekend, my paperwork is huge, ,,,on and on the badge of honour. Not once is there ever a comment on the quality and effectiveness of vocation.

A passage that illustrates the danger of inbred cultures within schools.
Notes on a scandal.
This passage from notes on a scandal by Zoë Heller page 16, illustrates my concern at my arrival at my present school 2005 where old boys were the continuation of a culture of mediocrity and misogyny. The danger of a culture that does nothing but reproduce itself is nothing if not dangerous and against anything this unit tries to explore.

“But the truth is, St George’s alumni make exceptionally poor teachers. Its not that they don’t know anything about anything(which they don’t.) Or even that they are complacent about their ignorance. (I once heard Elaine blithely identifying Boris Yeltsin as ‘the Russian who doesn’t have a thingy on his head’.) The real issue is one of personality. Invariably, pupils who come back to teach at St Georges are emotionally suspect characters-people who have summarised that the world is a frightening place and who have responded by simply staying put. They’ll never have to try going home again because they’re never going to leave. I have a vision sometimes of the pupils of these ex-pupils producing more ex-pupils who return to St Georges as teachers, and so on. It would take only a couple of generations for the school to become entirely populated by dolts.’

Losing Jordan

22 April 2013

 This is the only image I have when thinking about the mortality of children, I watched my dad cope withh the death of my little sister. I can't really explore this futrther than this.

Study of a Dead Child, the Artist's Son 1860,

William Lindsay Windus

We just buried a student in my class. He was part of my teaching journey for the last four years. His death paralysed me; I have been unable to really comprehend what has happened.\Personally:
• It has given me nightmares; I have only just got the image of his face out of my head.
• I have been paralysed regarding my motivation, I have been unable to complete things to how I usually apply myself.
• I have felt no guilt in this matter. However being a father myself has certainly affected my feelings.
• The complete horrific and tragic circumstances of his death mean I don’t want to explore this in an academic manner. Am I in danger of a little depression here? Perhaps.
• I have lost boys over the years compared to other teachers, teaching boys in rural communities certainly has its toll, roads, alcohol, speed, risk taking, suicide. I will not be reviewing the literature on this matter, and not looking to statistics of depression and risk taking in young men.
• Thus was different, this was so personal in comparison. \
• I won’t explore this further other than reflect on what a privilege this job is. It takes me back to the beginning of this unit what is the model of the ideal teacher, what qualities do we have. Parents at the funeral came to me to thank me for my care as a teacher, looking after their sons, being thankful that they were not the ones burying a son. Yes teacher’s can be agents for change and transformation. Yes we have our own moral compass that some students look to; we provide images of cultural academic and social values. We are not one dimensional we are a blended agent. I hate the fact that this incident has provided a full circle for this blog, back to what a good teacher is. Am I saying I’m an ideal teacher? I could not be that arrogant. I’m trying to be the best teacher I can be. This unit has only put a structure to the knowledge I already had, or the intuitive skill that I thought I had. The literature illustrates these points using the conventions of academia to support and add validity to mere intuition.

Live to teach

18 April 2013

 

Reading _Cheryl Craig 2006 The nature of teacher Knowledge.
Schwarb, 1969,1971,973

• The idea of professors working alongside teachers in schools, fantastic, now lets see how engagement works in practice with year 9. I would love to see how that really works, the relationship formed between the two. Who wins, Mr D cult of personality or Guru of education…fun times.
• I also agree that classrooms are too complex to be viewed from one viewpoint. (Jackson 1968) Perhaps we can find solutions to possible questions??what are the questions?
• The ‘cult of efficiency’ Callahan 1962 cited by Eisner schools producing little of ‘enduring quality’. I have seen this in stereotypes and it worries me, our director of teaching and learning who turned a school upside down to meet the needs of the implementation of Every chance to learn policy ACT. Implemented in 2008. compounded by the fact we had registration in thaty year. Yes we were complient, yes we passed with flying colours, however, the process in which it was done was painful and to the detriment of all middle management that were having to swing to the whims of an individual and their technocratic love of excel spreadsheets for mapping learning outcomes. That person is now promoted off the basis of this achievement to school leader at another school. It was not the outcome that sat uncomfortably with me, it was the process that was strict, autocratic and undemocratic. Only one person understood the process, could change the spreadsheet information, and once that person left the set up which was innovative and in theory made a complex issue very understandable, now became over ambitious with no one around to carry on the work or even to build upon that knowledge. It was scrapped twelve months later with a new direct or of teaching and learning and a promise of National Curriculum just around the corner.

I am also interested in the author’s remarks that a teacher creates knowledge, and Clandin and Connolly’s metaphor that teachers are curriculum makers. 1992. I sits well iwyth the comment of Dr Wesley Imms and his key note address at the NGA Canberra, National Art education conference, when he commented that when a school hires a teacher they hire a curriculum. January 2011.