by-passing the dittoed easter bunny

National Art Education Association

By-Passing the Dittoed Easter BunnyAuthor(s): VitoriaSource: Art Education, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Jan., 1973), pp. 10-13Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3191784 .

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Teachers find it irresistible to re-use seasonal and holiday art formulas for their students, from one year to the next. Convenient and time-filling, the Thanksgiving turkey made from tongue depressors, the Christmas tree from a fanned Reader's Digest, the paper doily valentine, and the May basket in five parts, are widely invoked measures of teacher security and sanity.

The jack-of-all-trades role which is the classroom teacher's lot, fosters the use of the art stereotype during the unrelenting days of pursuant classroom activities in which any formula of guaranteed success and silence is an oasis. The dittoed Easter bunny is as addictive as an automatic baby sitter.

Stereotypes materialize in many ways. In art, the stereotype is a form of condensed visual slang which seems to appear "spontaneously" with predictable regularity in certain forms at certain ages. However, rather than being

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truly spontaneous, stereotypes are learned: from peers, parents, teachers - the culture at large. Unless interrupted, they are methodically repeated with little deviation, often into adulthood (See figure 1).

In America, where the evidence of aesthetic malaise abounds, visible along miles of highway concrete, in the dehumanization of the cities, the similarity of subdivisions and multiplying products, the need for aesthetic choices and selections could hardly by greater. Implicit in a child's use of stereotypes is acceptance of their use by the culture at large, in lieu of making selective choices based on a syn- thesis of perceptual and creative understanding. The ap- pearance or use of a stereotype is a cue that visual and aesthetic deprivation has been contracted.

How can stereotypes be "broken" or headed off once they appear? What can a classroom teacher do, who may himself be a victim of the problem and who may feel personally inadequate in art? There are many courses of action,



even for the teacher who has had no formal art learning ex- periences since elementary school.

Recognizing Visual Stereotypes The key in recognizing visual stereotypes lies in repetition.

The repeated use or reliance upon an art concept (such as always using a circular shape for a treetop or sun), an art media (such as always using the same material, as crayons), a subject (the lollipop tree, for example), or a technique (such as only wanting to use a very small brush and the same kind of brushing motions when painting), may not know that other possible combinations exist and how to actually implement them as needed (See figure 2). Other alert signals may be: a short attention span, always finishing quickly and haphazardly, starting over continually, frequent- ly destroying the end product, or refusing to have anything to do with the problem at hand or art at all. Stereotypes also provide a kind of anonymity which the individual may use as a protective camouflage against criticism or attention. Copying is a form of stereotyping which may imply an association of friendship, loyalty, or admiration between one person and another. In addition to being an instructional cue, stereotypes, when they appear, are a form of resignation, an abandonment of a part of curiosity.

Why The Classroom Teacher? Although an art specialist may have a more experienced

eye in detecting stereotypes, his schedule rarely allows for more than 40 minutes of contact with up to 1,200 children per week at most. The classroom teacher has a better op- portunity to see more of a child's work from day to day and has the advantage of knowing each child better. Also, stereotypes, which a formal art lesson may circumvent, often show up more naturally in the course of daily classroom work. Naturally, consultation with the art specialist can be valuable, and is recommended, but it may also be im- possible.

Opening The Door Since accessible options and choices circumvent the

initiating or growth of stereotypes, fertilizing the ground of selection is the first matter at hand.

Self-evaluation: It is important to devise some manner of saving each child's work over a period of time, for the pur- pose of evaluation and comparative study. It is easy to forget what the work that was done actually looked like and therefore, often difficult to judge if what one is present- ly doing is any kind of improvement. If the child cannot personally see improvement (it doesn't matter how "good" or how "bad" others think it is), and growth, it is doubtful whether any has occurred. Frequent evaluation before and after each problem is completed is vital. It is this step which is most often forgotten or ignored-even by art specialists. The most important part of learning is knowing what one knows, which means being able to see how information works for the present, how it worked in the past, and what implications it has for the future.

Beginning: Whenever an art activity is undertaken, try to make a few impromptu mental or written notes beforehand.

First, try to clarify what the children will be able to do after the exercise is done. Write or state simply and explicitly these expectations in a mutual way with the students. Developing expectancies should take student needs, wishes, and readiness into account. Including them in developing expectancies can bring some of these needs to the surface more readily, while training them to focus on taking a specific direction simultaneously. With practice, students can eventually identify and develop their own expectancies without always relying upon specific teacher or peer support.

Encouraging Divergency: Once a goal or goals and what good they can do have been established, develop with the students how and in what ways the goals might be ap- proached-routes of possibility. It is often tempting in art to state: "Today we're going to make Halloween pictures", or,

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figure 1 figure 2: examples of the "tree stereotype" common to elementary school children and beyond

"Today we're going to make a salt map of the Eastern United States", or, "Today we're going to make get-well cards for Jimmy". The end product and how to get there are both assumed, often solely teacher-conceived, with die-cut results. Thinking of a group of students as a group with individual needs, interests, and readiness levels can help to avoid some of the pitfalls that assumptions of group instruction elicits. As the students get the hang of identifying what they want and need to learn, on the basis of what they have successfully-or unsuccessfully-done, their abilities for self-planning will increase correspondingly. As their capacity for self-planning and evaluating increases, there will be many more added opportunities for you to work more individually with students while choreographing the general directions of the class. The constant use of teacher- directed large group instruction discourages independent thinking and, consequently, self-evaluation. At the heart of stereotyping is convergency, the practice of finding a single solution to a problem, often by a pre-established route. Divergency suggests that many solutions may exist to a problem, and that there may be a variety of routes to discover.

An Example Using the cues: Perhaps you notice some of your children

having trouble using scissors and call this to their attention. Developing meaningful objectives: By asking if they

would like to improve their use of scissors, further readiness can be ascertained (kids who don't want to shouldn't have to; they may join up later anyway, as things get more in- teresting). Generally speaking, the goal would be increasing understanding of tools, specifically and behaviorally; the children will be able to use scissors effectively in many different ways at the end of the exercise.

Planning: Everyone interested should be involved (not just listening and watching) in this aspect of the exercise. What are scissors mostly used for? What else could scissors be used for besides cutting? A list might be individually or communally compiled, with teacher and students seated or working at the board. In problem solving, it is important to encourage "far-out" or crazy ideas in the beginning stages of looking at a problem. After all, some crazy ideas have turned out to be television sets and moon travel. This part of the planning opens up the existing concept of "scissors", per- sonalizes it, and adds to its vocabulary of uses. The most common articles of living, from pencils to cities, are often so bound up in their primary functions, that they become a thousand prisons, ordering and restricting response. Once "scissorness" has really been opened up to its most way-out

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point, bring the focus back to more specific practicality. Experimenting: Using single sheets of any kind of paper

(even newspaper will do), suggest finding as many different ways of using the scissors and the paper together as the children can: from cutting with their left hand, if they're "lefties", and vice-versa, to ripping, zig-zagging, fringing, punching, scoring, rolling, and folding. These and many other techniques should come quickly to light. Some children may want to try out some of the things on their lists, also.

Evaluating: Using previously-done work in which scissors were (or might have been) involved, a comparison might be drawn between what the children know now, and what they would do to change the previously-done problems, if they were to do them again. Some children may wish to do just that, which should be encouraged. Suggestions for what the various new techniques might be used for in the future (another list?) can help tie in their discoveries, if specific examples are made.

Summary: Although this lesson has a very modest objec- tive, expanding use of the scissors, it is often overlooked or assumed that by certain ages children have control of such basic tools as scissors, paper, crayons, paste, etc. The truth is, that even adults may be unaware of the rich variety of a taken-for-granted implement as a pencil has to offer, because of its primary association with writing.

Just as this exercise focused on technique, others could focus on an art element or concept ("How many tints-white mixed with a color-can you make?"); a media ("How many different kinds of strokes can you make with this brush?"); or a subject ("If you could invent a machine that does nothing useful, what would it do and what would it look like?"). As divergency in the children's use of art increases, they will be able to make more meaningful decisions in what and how they do things according to their needs-not the teacher's needs. Just as practice on the piano, and calisthenics in sports, problems in art not only exercise perceptual, creative, and skill potentials, but can also give the student personal improvement he can actually see. Art ability, contrary to popular opinion, does not fall from the sky, but comes to anyone who will not only ex- plore it, but practice it.

By stretching existing horizons to include a field of choices and by relating why and when and how those choices can be personally used and applied, even the Easter bunny may acquire undreamed of dimensions!

Vitoria is assistant professor of art, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.



Stereotype Survey,

The checklist below is to help identify areas in which you may be fostering a climate for stereotypes.

1. Is art a (a) daily, (b) weekly, (c) occasionally, (d) never occurrence in your classroom?

2. If you have an art specialist, how many times have you observed his or her art lessons? (a) once, (b) two or three times, (c) never, (d) often.

3. Have you followed up on the art specialist's instruction? (a) once, (b) two or three times, (c) never, (d) often.

4. Have you requested a copy of or looked at the art curriculum used by your school or district?

5. Do you use art to (a) fulfill teachers' needs primarily, (b) primarily fulfill student's needs, (c) fulfill teachers' and students' needs?

6. Have you ever used art: (a) as a means of having a quiet room, (b) as a punishment, (c) as a reward, (d) as an end-of- the-period, lunch-hour, day or month stop-gap, (e) to take up slack while the rest of the children finish another class assignment?

7. Do you personally view art: (a) as an expensive "frill", (b) as a means of releasing tensions and emotions, (c) as being primarily for "talented" or "gifted" persons, (d) not a meaningful or lucrative profession to go into, (e) as basically unrelated to day-to-day living in a practical way, (f) as being good mostly for young children, (g) as having to do primarily with painting and sculpture, (h) too messy for your classroom?

8. Are art materials (a) always "passed out" and "collected", (b) usually available anytime, (c) available only during formal art lessons or room projects?

9. Are art materials (a) reliant upon what art program can provide, (b) provided for out of general school budget, (c) reliant upon what children can bring in, (d) a combination of (a), (b), (c)?

10. Do you limit children to one media at a time? 11. Is subject matter in art (a) teacher assigned, (b)

student assigned, (c) student/ teacher assigned? 12. Does subject matter (a) relate personally to the

student, (b) evolve from class activities, (c) relate primarily to teacher's needs (d) relate primarily to holidays, seasons, special events and class assignments?

13. During an art-oriented activity, what percent of planning time is (a) contributed to by students, 90%, (b) contributed to by teacher, 90%, (c) 50% teacher, 50% students, approximately?

14. Is the major emphasis of the art activity on (a) students staying in their seats and being quiet, (b) getting things out and putting them away correctly, (c) staying clean and not making a mess, (d) following directions, (e) getting finished?

15. Are examples from other years, teacher's demon- stration piece (a) posted prominently, (b) assigned as a "model" to be copied?

16. Do students or teacher have primary responsibility for preparing bulletin boards and displays?

17. Have your students been tested for (a) perceptual'dif- ferences and/or handicaps, (b) creative potential, (c) readiness levels in regard to skill development?

18. Are your art activities geared primarily to (a) producing a product which can be taken home, (b) used as a "showpiece" in the corridor, (c) to illustrate that you con- duct "a well-rounded" program, (d) as a decorative sideline to plays, programs and pageants?

figure 2: common sterotypes others; airplanes, .war scenes, the sailboat-and 3-waves, the horse's head, cartoon charac- ters, sunsets, rainbows, holiday stereotypes as; ghosts, witches, pumpkins, haunted houses, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, pilgrims, turkeys, snowflakes, and of course, the Easter bunny...

1. (a) 10. no 2. (d) 11. (c) 3. (d) 12. (a) & (b) 4. yes 13. (c) 5. (c) 14. none 6. none are recommended .15. none 7. none 16. students 8. (b) 17. all 9. (d) 18. none

REFERENCES

June King McFee, Preparation for Art. San Francisco: Wadsworth Co., 1961.

Robert F. Mager, Preparing Instructional Objectives. Palo Alto, California: Fearson Publishers, 1962.

Warren H. Anderson, Art Learning Situations for Elementary Education. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Pub. Co., Inc.

Earl Linderman, and David Herberholz, Developing Ar- tistic and Perceptual Awareness. Dubuque, Iowa: W.C. Brown Co., 1964.

Dale B. Harris, Children's Drawings as Measures of Mental Maturity. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1963.

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by-passing the dittoed easter bunny

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