Learning love and the arts

Learning, Love and the Arts The arts, it is said, cannot change the world, but they may change human beings, who might change the world.. Conte 2001 asked most eloquently, “If all chil

Learning, Love and the Arts

The arts, it is said, cannot change the world, but they may change human beings,

who might change the world Maxine Greene

In a small school, nestled in the mountains of Appalachia, a second grade

classroom began every day with a short centering Children would gather in a circle on the floor, sitting quietly and settling in for the day ahead The change in children’s energy from the busyness of arriving at school, hanging up coats, dropping book bags on the floor and entering the classroom easily transitioned to silence and stillness The morning centering was a key part of the day and prepared students by gathering together in a focused community practice

On one such morning, I led students in a guided visualization to the center of their hearts to explore what existed in this interior space Children were gently guided to see a door that lead to the interior of their hearts Once inside, they were directed to look around and see what lived in this repository: emotions, sensations or an experience of a time when they felt loving or loved After a brief period, these children were asked to gently open their eyes and move silently towards the art materials in front of them Using white paper and colored markers, students were instructed to illustrate their experience Revelatory and insightful, each child’s drawing contained unique images that ranged

from the concrete such as beloved pets, to swirls of color and shapes that abstractly represented the rich terrain of the children’s emotional life At the conclusion of the drawing period, students gathered in a circle to share their drawings and, gladly and without reluctance, provided detailed accounts that ranged from concrete and tangible objects to more abstract concepts such as fear, joy and happiness, represented in equally abstract shapes and colors The arts bridge the inner and outer worldly experiences with ease and clarity; the materials speak for the children in ways words could not Images, shapes and colors reveal emotionally rich, humanely essential, and loving representations

of children’s inner lives made manifest in outward expression

Artistic experience can be deeply profound, influential and academically rich in the lives of children Offering multiple pathways for learning and a vast array of

symbolic language to strengthen self-understanding, the arts deepen learning using

creative expression that is both unique and authentic In a society where commercialism deadens the senses and an educational system accentuates the cognitive at the expense of the affective, attending to the inner life of children is not only wise, it is essential

Although the arts have often been considered the heart of the human experience, they are rarely the heart of school curricula In fact, the arts are often relegated to the periphery Conte (2001) asked most eloquently, “If all children were given the gift of the arts to explore their inner lives and develop their authentic voices, what would our communities

be like and how would our culture change?” (p 78)

Children are born with the ability to love Love is a form of intelligence (Lin, 2006), and as a pedagogical framework, it creates curriculum that opposes the fear school environments can engender in an era of assessment and accountability Love can offer an

ideal that unites the emotional, spiritual and intellectual aspects of learning for children in today’s classrooms, and when art, with its repertoire of affective learning is bound with love, education is transformed Lin (2006) explained,

Education in the 20th century has left us with many major problems that are beginning to have a serious impact We have trained people to use their minds sharply but have largely neglected to cultivate their hearts and souls with love and compassion (p ix)

Teaching in this one-sided approach to development lays waste to the full capacity of the students in our care This narrow focus on education with an emphasis on certain

academic disciplines, banishes the arts from schools dismissing the immense talents of children who do not fit into narrow corridors of knowledge This obsessive culture of standardized testing established what Lin (2006) described as “spiritual wastelands” (p xi), school systems where students’ natural talents and imaginations are neglected and where the arts are viewed as non-essentials The goal of education should be to cultivate the full capacities of all children to ensure they live and lead authentic lives Robinson (2009) explained, “we're all born with immense natural talents but our institutions,

especially education, tend to stifle many of them and as a result we are fomenting a human and an economic disaster” (n.p.) We have the tools to envision and enable such

an education, but with the dominance on standardization and testing, we eradicate a key essence in our students−the heart, and the tools with which to nurture the heart−the arts

Art is a powerful tool to integrate the cognitive and affective realms in education Ruskin (1893) explained, how by use of the head, heart and hand, art becomes a natural venue for teaching and learning that is holistic and embraces the totality of the human

experience At the core of all artistic efforts is the concern to express and experience our humanity To be human means more than to be able to think; it encompasses the

integration of all the senses and faculties we associate with the human person Arthur Efland, an art education historian, speaks to the benefit of the expressive nature of the arts He explained “that there are certain subjects that are good for thinking (logic and mathematics), whereas the cultivation of feelings [lies] mainly in the arts” (as cited in Davis, 2008, n.p.) Combining aesthetic and artistic explorations opens students to the complexity of their own experiences and enables them to make connections with the world in which they live Teaching and learning, in, through and about the arts aims to connect all dimensions of the human experience, embracing the “emotional, physical, ecological, cognitive, aesthetic, social, cultural, and spiritual aspects of the person” (Campbell, 2012) A pedagogy of love embedded with the arts creates experiences celebrating and strengthening cognitive and emotional intelligences while also affirming personal, cultural and spiritual values in the lives of children

The Human Spirit and the Arts

Art is not separate from life but represents an endless interaction with life In fact, the arts have been a part of the human experience since the beginning of time Our ancestors painted on the walls of caves, sang and performed ritual and celebratory

dances Celebrating the invisible thread that connects humanity, the arts have been a method of documenting our history, providing meaning, and shaping our experiences across time As an essential part of humanity, the arts provide a continuous thread that connects generations through imagery, movement and voice (Dissanyake, 2001) Today art holds the same power to transform Through the process of making art, we engage in

an experiential activity that affects us internally, touching upon emotion and thoughts while also offering a tangible object that serves as a source of inspiration Sidlin (as cited

in Conte 2001) explained,

When words are no longer adequate, when our passion is greater than we are able

to express in a usual manner, people turn to art Some people go to the canvas and paint; some stand up and dance But we all go beyond our normal means of communicating, and this is the common human experience for all people on this planet (p 83)

Historically, the arts have been used to express the relationship between the self or identity and one’s relationship to the world (Parsons, 2004) For children whose

identities are being shaped and molded, the arts offer tools to make meaning, shape their experiences and empower children to become aware of their rich inner life and personal spirituality

There is a growing body of research that suggests a contemporary understanding

of spirituality that provides a foundation for students’ to explore universal and collective values such as “wisdom, compassion, loving kindness, joy, beauty [and] peacefulness” (Griffin, 1997, p 271) Children are schooled to know about facts and figures and events and places in society but rarely about themselves, let alone the nature of their full human potential The arts with their rich repertoire for exploring paradox, allowing inward focus and expressive investigations provide children with tangible and accessible tools to examine the spiritual questions of life that are an integral part of the human experience The arts aid the way children react to, record, and share their impressions of the world in which they live Today, according to Fowler (1994), the arts continue to strengthen

identity and relationship to the world by humanizing the curriculum and strengthening interconnectedness of knowing through multiple modalities Through the arts, students are able to artistically and creatively envision a more just and loving community, by attending to their own internal development, as well as their relationships with others According to Fowler (1994),

the power in the arts is that they can move [author italics] They serve as

connectors that give understanding a human dimension They tell us about people—how they thought and felt and what they valued They help us to define ourselves and our times, as well as other people and other times (p 3)

The arts engage the whole child and offer a plethora of possibilities for learning that are experiential and emerge out of “felt” knowing and discovery Deep learning can emerge through personal exploration and discovery when cognitive and affective are entwined in the learning environment As Fowler (1994) explained, “We are creatures of feeling as well as thought, and schools that recognize this basic fact and address it are better

schools Science and technology do not tend to our spirit The arts do That is their role” (p 9) The arts provide a balance to the curriculum by nurturing our spirits and offering alternative ways of receiving and understanding information Balance is essential to effective educational design by recognizing that one dimension of learning and the human experience is not valued more than another and also acknowledges that

experiential learning can provide self-knowledge Allowing visual and artistic

exploration gives more depth and meaning to the curricula while also balancing the affective and cognitive domains

Pedagogy of Love

What is love and how can it be a guiding factor in education today? Lin (2001) defined love as “the very essence of our existence It is a great sense of oneness,

nonseparation, all-inclusion, as exemplified by such attributes as compassion, respect, kindness, forgiveness, care, and service (p 15) A pedagogy of love, a concept

articulated by Nel Noddings (1984), Paulo Freire (1998) and further articulated by bell hooks (2003), invites teachers to nurture an emotional connection with their students “A pedagogy of love empowers students, increases their competence, nurtures their whole self-image and confirms them as valuable human beings with worth and dignity”

(Johnson, 2008, p v) When love becomes the foundation for all learning, we prepare students to understand a pluralistic world and their places within it This is not to say that

we disregard academic integrity and excellence, but that we let love be the arbiter of academic brilliance, setting the course for expanding the mind and the heart Lin (2006) explained,

Love knows no boundaries or limits It sees all existences as from the same source, as divine sparks of the universe.…It is a love that blends one’s life’s purpose with that of the whole of humanity, nature, and the universe (p 27) She continued by explaining how this love creates an expansion of our awareness shaping students in who they are and who they are becoming A foundation of love in the

classroom establishes a safe and solid foundation for students to explore the complex, information rich and sometimes challenging facts and figures in the man-made and natural world

Noddings (1984) introduced love as a pedagogical template and associated caring with the mother, or the feminine side of moral ethics rooted in, "receptivity, relatedness,

and responsiveness," (p 2) She explained, "To care for another person, in the most significant sense, is to help him grow and actualize himself" (p 9) Noddings claims that the aim of the teacher should be to foster receptivity in children and to encourage them to see, touch and listen to the world around One approach she recommended is to organize curriculum around “caring for self, for intimate others, for strangers and global others, for the natural world and for nonhuman creatures, for the human-made world, and for ideas” (Noddings, 1984, p 1) When children have an opportunity to explore themes of caring

in their classroom, the results not only create awareness and connection for the individual student but also for the larger community A culture of domination, like ours, must strive

to teach children how to live in community and to understand our interconnectedness with each other and the natural world Hooks (1999) explained, “to be guided by love is

to live in community with all life” (p 110) Teaching children to work collaboratively and caringly prepares them to work morally in a world that is complex and ever

creates an environment of unconditional acceptance, wherein children are free to express emotions and where risk-taking and expression are encouraged and applauded; in such classrooms, the arts are present and visible

Freire (1998) stated we must “dare, in the full sense of the word, to speak of love without the fear of being called ridiculous, mawkish, or unscientific, if not antiscientific” (p xviii) Freire believed that emotion is a central aspect of teaching, and he calls this love; he explains, “it is not possible to be a teacher without loving one’s students” (p 15) Teaching with a pedagogical framework of love allows teachers and students to foster relationships by valuing the inner life, intuition, reflection, creativity, expression and imagination In turn, each of the aforementioned values touches upon emotional

awareness, empathy, compassion and an understanding of the interconnectedness of all things Love not only strengthens the curriculum but also binds together the inner and outer life of the child Likewise art, with its expressive capacities, can deepen the

relationship with the self and the understanding of the interconnectedness of all things Education must turn towards love in educating children to be citizens of the world Love

is expansive and offers a framework to build upon the inherent gifts of children When coupled with the rich repertoire of the arts, love is given voice through creative

experiences making love visible in the classroom It is not surprising then to find that the word “art” is embedded in the word “heart.”

Engaged Minds and Open HeARTS

If we love, we open ourselves to other emotions We don’t run from what we don't understand; instead, we feel Through the arts, connections emerge that engage both cognitive and emotional pathways The arts give voice to children’s emotions in a

manner that is often inaccessible through words and which allows them to work through experiences that their blossoming spirits cannot yet fully comprehend “The arts are attempts to understand both the common (experienced by most or all) and profound (of great seriousness and significance) aspects of what it means to be human” (Deasy, 2005,

p viii) Creating learning environments where children can translate their thoughts about their experiences using the arts expands their capacity to learn and grow emotionally and cognitively For example, in mathematics the study of geometry explores size, shape and the position of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes, requiring spatial

awareness and geometric reasoning Geometry is found in art, architecture, sculpture as well as nature; exploring geometry through the arts can provide an alternative to

quantitative and precise answers, thereby expanding learning and offering a broader perspective and a broader vision of everyday geometry in the world When students are asked to explore answers to the same question through the arts, they become engaged in their learning and become active questioners through experiential learning As Fowler (1994) shared,

When we involve students in creative problem solving, we invite their

participation as partners in the learning process Instead of telling them what to think, the arts engage the minds of students to sort out their own reactions and articulate them through the medium at hand Their beings become embedded in the task so that they learn from the inside out rather than from the outside in (p 2)

Artistic experiences open children to emotions and awareness, often in unexpected ways Developing well-rounded children through a balanced curriculum strengthens intellectual

development and emotional capacity And when we invite students in their entirety to engage in their learning process, rather than telling them what to think, we empower them

to draw upon their personal experiences to find solutions, make meaning and articulate these through artistic means

Children are complex and constantly changing Therefore, an educational

framework that is balanced holds enormous potential for creating “synthetical moments,”

where there is a “reconstruction of the self and an experience of solidarity of the intellect, the body, the spirit, and the cosmos, as well as an intrinsic coherence of time, place, and meaning” (Pinar & Grumet, 1976, as cited in Slattery, 2006, p 242) The arts offer equilibrium between the various aspects of the self, allowing learning to take place

through cognitive, affective and psychomotor experiences, honoring both the inner and outer worlds of children

Facilitating learning and inclusion through the arts

Schools are environments where the issue of marginalization of students is an ongoing challenge Marginalization occurs in schools when students are excluded from meaningful participation in coursework; expectations for academic success are below their competency level and instructional objectives fail to take into consideration the cultural, societal and best practices that would support academic growth (Freire, 2007) In such settings, the arts have been proven to be beneficial to students from economically disadvantaged circumstances and for those students who characteristically had difficulty learning in school (Deasy & Stevenson, 2005) There are always students who live in the margins despite access to classrooms with language rich environments, technology and resources; however, the arts provide vast educational potential and a multitude of