A Symphony of Possibilities

Description

A Symphony of Possibilities explores arts-based pedagogies for secondary teachers of English language arts. Drama, music, poetry, public art, and visual art are explored in detail by experts in their fields sharing proven methods of instruction with secondary students and teachers.

In an educational environment that privileges scripted curricula and intensive preparation for high-stakes tests, the arts offer a more hands-on approach to learning and problem solving, challenging students to approach course material in personal and interactive ways. In A Symphony of Possibilities, experts in their fields explore in detail arts-based pedagogies for secondary teachers of English language arts, focusing on drama, music, poetry, public art, and visual art and sharing proven methods of instruction. Through the arts, we see teachers and researchers who explore and expand on comprehension, memory, issues of identity, and culturally relevant pedagogies, and we see students excited by their active learning. Editors Katherine J. Macro and Michelle Zoss and their contributors provide creative approaches that help teachers accommodate the diversity of their students and their needs, as well as move their students into innovative and thoughtful learning spaces. This book goes a long way toward answering the question, What is the role of the arts for English teachers?

Sujets

• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Subjects
• Teaching
• EDUCATION
• Lettres et linguistique
• Study
• Level
• Secondary
• Subject
• School
• ELA

Informations

• Publié par: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• Date de parution: 25 juillet 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780814100332
• Langue: English

Extrait

A Symphony of Possibilities
NCTE Editorial Board
Steven Bickmore Catherine Compton-Lilly Deborah Dean Antero Garcia Bruce McComiskey Jennifer Ochoa Staci M. Perryman-Clark Anne Elrod Whitney Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Kurt Austin, chair, ex officio Emily Kirkpatrick, ex officio

Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Manuscript Editor: The Charlesworth Group
Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf
Cover Design: Pat Mayer
Cover Images: iStock.com/MAXSHOT , iStock.com/PaoloGaetano , iStock.com / Nongkran_ch, iStock.com/BrianAJackson
NCTE Stock Number: 49713; eStock Number: 49720
ISBN 978-0-8141-4971-3; eISBN 978-0-8141-4972-0
©2019 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
NCTE provides equal employment opportunity to all staff members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical, mental or perceived handicap/disability, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, pregnancy, citizenship status, personal appearance, matriculation or political affiliation, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Every effort has been made to provide current URLs and email addresses, but, because of the rapidly changing nature of the web, some sites and addresses may no longer be accessible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Macro, Katherine J., 1974- editor. | Zoss, Michelle, 1974- editor.
Title: A symphony of possibilities : a handbook for arts integration in secondary English language arts | edited by Katherine J. Macro and Michelle Zoss.
Description: Urbana, Illinois : National Council of Teachers of English, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary : “Explores arts-based pedagogies for secondary ELA teachers, including drama, music, poetry, public art, and visual art”—Provided by publisher.
Identifers: LCCN 2019010157 (print) | LCCN 2019980977 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814149713 (paperback) | ISBN 9780814149720 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Language arts (Secondary)—United States. | English language—Study and teaching (Secondary) | Arts in education.
Classification: LCC LB1631 .S95 2019 (print) | LCC LB1631 (ebook) | DDC 428.0071/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019010157
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019980977
For David, who learned to love to read because of pictures, and Grace, who never stops performing, drawing, imagining, and writing.
— Katherine J. Macro
For Fiona, who is always reading and seeing the world in new ways, and Cordelia, who delights in all the books, drawings, music, and dance.
— Michelle Zoss
Contents
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
I NTRODUCTION
M ICHELLE Z OSS AND K ATHERINE J. M ACRO
C HAPTER 1           Musical Adaptations and Explorations in English
T IMOTHY J. D UGGAN
C HAPTER 2          “I am Arkansas”: Social Activism through Protest Songwriting
C HRISTIAN Z. G OERING AND A MY M ATTHEWS
C HAPTER 3           Exploring the Art of Spoken Word Poetry with Students: A Sample Unit
W ENDY R. W ILLIAMS
C HAPTER 4           Dadaism, Found Poetry, and Close Reading in English Language Arts
T OBY E MERT
C HAPTER 5           Integrating Drama: An Embodied Pedagogy
K ATHERINE J. M ACRO
C HAPTER 6           Arts-Based Pedagogy: Exploring Shakespeare Study in the Classroom
L AURA B. T URCHI AND P AULINE S KOWRON S CHMIDT
C HAPTER 7           Exploring the Possibilities and Tensions of Visual Responses to Literature
A LISHA M. W HITE
C HAPTER 8           Using Artistic Response Strategies Meaningfully in the English Language Arts Classroom
P AMELA M. H ARTMAN , J ESSICA B ERG , B RANDON S CHULER, AND E RIN K NAUER
C HAPTER 9           Teaching High School English with Drawings and Large-Scale Visual Projects
M ICHELLE Z OSS
C HAPTER 10         Putting the Public in Publication: Guerilla Art in English Language Arts
S TEPHEN G OSS
C HAPTER 11          Radical Visions for the Future
M ICHELLE Z OSS AND K ATHERINE J. M ACRO
RESOURCES
GLOSSARY
INDEX
EDITORS
CONTRIBUTORS
Acknowledgments
W e are grateful for our colleagues and fellow members of the NCTE Commission on Arts and Literacies (COAL). This group always supports the arts in their own work and showcases the possibilities of the arts for English each year at the NCTE Annual Convention. This book extends the published work and active involvement of COAL members in both NCTE and classrooms in schools and universities across the United States. COAL is a group under the umbrella of the English Language Arts Teacher Educators (formerly the Conference on English Education), and we extend our thanks to the leaders who sustained our work, especially Mollie Blackburn and Melanie Shoffner.
We owe great thanks to the students in all the classes highlighted in this book who tried out these ideas and brought them to life. Likewise, we thank our teaching colleagues and research participants who also graciously shared their time and wisdom with us as we learned alongside them. One person in particular encouraged this book from the beginning: Roz Linder, who was a strong supporter of writers creating books to change the landscape of education. Though she passed away before this book came out, we are grateful to have shared time, conversation, and laughter with her along the way and hope that this book would have made her proud.
A book like this is possible when a great team gathers toward a common purpose. Many thanks to the editorial team at NCTE, especially Kurt Austin and Bonny Graham, Pat Mayer, our cover designer, and the editing team at the Charlesworth Group. We appreciate too the reviewers of the manuscript who carefully read and gave feedback to us throughout all stages of the publishing process. We also thank Laura Efford and Latricia Oliver, doctoral students at Georgia State University who generously read the manuscript for editing details.
Finally, there are two groups of people without whom this work would not be possible. The first group is our teachers. We thank all the art, drama, English, and music teachers and professors who showed us the way when we were in secondary school, college, and teacher education. In particular, Kathie would like to acknowledge Marlowe Beis, Tim Ward, and Sharon O. Watkinson, and Michelle would like to acknowledge Carol Morrison, Peter Nazareth, Elliot Eisner, and Peter Smagorinsky. The second is the group closest to home, our families. We thank our loved ones who graciously shared our time and listened to our stories along the way. David Macro and Nick Zoss championed this work and we are most thankful.
Introduction
M ICHELLE Z OSS , Georgia State University
K ATHERINE J. M ACRO , SUNY Buffalo State College
In an English classroom in New York State, tension dominates the room as students with bowed heads begin to silently write essays. This is not the quiet hush of busy minds and pens excited to commit ideas to paper, though; it is instead the silence that pervades when writing is tested and tied to graduation. They write because they must; the students in this classroom, like many others in New York, write because they have learned to jump through hoops, to write five-paragraph essays, to insert examples of the proper literary elements in a formulaic response to questions posed by people they've never met.
Elsewhere, in an eighth-grade English language arts classroom in Georgia, the situation is eerily similar. As students read through prompts and write responses, they sit in a room empty of instructional materials. All of the bookcases have butcher paper taped over the shelves, while posters the teacher used throughout the year to encourage students to think widely and deeply are now stored out of view until the testing window for the entire school is complete. There are two teachers in the room, required to provide a secure testing environment, who move through the space under strict instructions not to tarry near any given student, and not to look at the exam questions. In this space, both teachers and students are subject to the restrictions set forth by the state, district, and school. These efforts are made to show that the teaching is effective, the learning can be displayed and objectively measured, and the school is accountable for proving its value.
These illustrations of English language arts (ELA) classrooms are just snapshots of the current challenges facing secondary teachers. In contrast to these images, there are stories of hope and delight, creativity and innovation to be told as well. This book is a tribute to those narratives, and a handbook for teachers who seek to renew, revive, or create experiences that are alive with thinking and passion as they strive to push back against the testing and standardization culture depicted above. In this book, we present the strategies and stories of teachers who choose to bring arts in the form of music and drama, creative writing, and visual art into their classes.
Every year at the convention of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), during roundtable presentations, teachers, professors, gradua