It’s Valentine’s Day and time to think about passion — for learning and teaching! In adding arts-based strategies to my evolving list of teaching/learning strategies (see Page 1), I want to honour exemplary, passionate colleagues who either taught the arts or integrated the arts in their own curriculum.
I remember RB, who left aircraft design to teach music and who could captivate both the student studying the cello privately, and the bewildered soul handed one on her first day in high school. There was RW who saved Friday afternoons for a cultural exploration of art and architecture with his wood technologists. And there was AH who celebrated folk and popular music in his academic history courses.
The disciplinary and interdisciplinary power of the arts to promote creativity and critical thinking is undeniable. And whether you use a tableau to create a timeline of the American Civil War, a collage to juxtapose cause and effect in early childhood education, or a storyboard to sequence a scientific experiment, you are applying those artistic elements held in common with all subjects: movement, language, rhythm, pattern, composition, gesture, characterization, and sequence. Through the arts, you and your students experience the unique contribution that dance, art, drama, and music can make to a life of learning.
In retirement, I am enjoying a new artistic phase: establishing a musical instrument business in our home in Port Stanley, Ontario. I have my product in mind— affordable and beautiful string folk instruments. But it is the interdisciplinary process that is so engaging and demanding. I must research and design a range of instrument models with mechanical pencil and plastic templates, submit my financial plan for review to the local business association, search the Internet for the best quality woods and glues, read the flyers for deals on tools, learn how to make my own strings, set up an economical and ergonomic workshop, and market the fruits of my labour. Some sleepless nights later, my shop is assembled and I’m ready to go.
In attempting to become a passionate luthier, I am relearning to learn. I hope that on this Valentine’s Day you enjoy a passion for learning, even if it gives you a sleepless night or two!
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