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Editor Low Sok HuiSenior Teacher (Art), Eunoia JC

Cover Design & Illustrations

Zachary NgStudio Assistant, STAR

STAR-Post (Art)January 2020

ForewordSeow Ai Wee

Deputy Director (Art) & Master Teacher (Art),STAR

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ontents January 2

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Working towards Reaching All Students through Differentiated Instruction in the Art Classroom

Victoria Loy4

Choice-Based Learning and Differentiated Instruction in ArtLisa Lok14

Nurturing Creative Voices Through Choice-Based Learning in Art EducationAng Kok Yeow22

Rethinking Teaching Spaces, Reframing Starting PointsLorraine Lee32

Project ARTICULATE! Elana Tan40

Making Marks -- Leveraging on Technology to Develop Thinking and Ownership of LearningTeo Chor Howe44

Authentic-Assessment in the Art Classroom -- Some ConsiderationsCandice Lee48

Reflecting on Authentic Assessment in the Art ClassroomTan Wanxin Sherry52

Contemporary Art Practices in Schools! (CAPS!) 201956

Reframing Art teachers as Active Art PractitionersMiao Hanqing74

We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world” is a phrase I often hear in conversations

about current political and economics situations. In the context of the local education system, we are ourselves seeing rapid changes that might have generated uncertainties in designing learning experiences, and created complexities in implementation that has been challenging to navigate.

Our role as educators is to equip students with future-oriented skills and foster global awareness that nurture them as confident and hopeful global citizens of tomorrow. To do this, we must ourselves be passionate and self-directed lifelong learners, enhancing our pedagogical content knowledge in inquiry-based learning, differentiated instruction and assessment literacy. We should broaden our subject content knowledge on how learning in art develops social and emotional skills that empower students to think independently and work collaboratively.

The art fraternity can look to STAR for leadership and guidance, and we can also look to each other for imaginative possibilities and promising practices. In this issue of STAR-Post, colleagues and friends share how they harness differentiated instruction to design thoughtful lessons and teaching resources to better facilitate art learning for all students. A couple of articles also address how assessment can further support holistic learning experiences in the art classroom. I learned a lot and I know you will too. Enjoy the read!

Victoria LoyMaster Teacher (Art)STAR

Working towards Reaching All Students through Differentiated Instruction in the Art Classroom

Plan the Learning Highway with Ramps Built In

Analogy provided by Dr Carol Ann Tomlinson

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Currently, the art syllabus is designed as a

common curriculum for lower secondary students from all three courses (Exp, NA, NT). We have observed and learnt that in many schools, the art teachers have gone ahead to differentiate the pedagogical practices and assessment demands in school as a form of customisation to cater to the different groups of students from the different streams. Hence, differentiated instruction is not totally new to art teachers.

The implementation of Full Subject Based Banding (FSBB) would help provide us art teachers with new impetus and opportunities to sharpen our understanding of differentiated instruction in order to enact the intended art curriculum. It should be one where students get to learn in a conducive environment with peers of varied academic abilities. Students should feel empowered to develop their artistic interest and potential during their weekly art lessons.

As we aim towards inclusiveness in our education system, we recognise that all students are learners who can benefit from a meaningful, challenging and appropriate curriculum, and

So, what is Differentiation?

According to the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, in order to teach effectively, educators must 因材施教 , that is, to teach according to aptitude. This corresponds with Tomlinson (2005) who advocates that teachers should respond to students’ varying abilities by teaching them at their particular readiness levels.Indeed, in any classroom, no two students are alike and every

individual is unique and learns differently. Subscribing to the Singapore Curriculum Philosophy, we believe that every child wants to and can learn. Based on this belief, differentiated instruction in art teaching and learning is key to ensuring that children have multiple options for processing information and making sense of concepts in their art classroom, so that all of them can make progress and experience success in their learning.

“Differentiated Instruction (DI) is not primarily a set of strategies, but rather a way of thinking about teaching

and learning – a way of “being” in the classroom

with the goals of honouring each student’s learning

needs and maximizing each student’s learning capacity.”

- Tomlinson

differentiated instruction would help address unique strengths and needs. Inclusion seeks to establish collaborative, supportive and nurturing communities of learners by providing the services and accommodations needed to succeed, while respecting and learning from each other’s individual differences (Jackson et al., 2000).

An example to illustrate how I do grouping for the class based on students’ readiness

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How to Begin Differentiated Instruction in our Art Classroom?

In Term 3 of 2019, I had the opportunity to teach a Sec 1, mixed ability class over 8 weeks in one of the FSBB pilot school. Based on my stint, I culled out key fundamentals for one to begin practising differentiated instruction in our art classroom.

Starting with the basics “SOAR”

Study to know our students, so we can better support them Organise the art classroom and allow for flexible learning groupsAdvocate Assessment for learningResponding by differentiating (content, process, product)

1. Study to know our students, so we can better support them

“The biggest mistake in teaching is to treat all children as if there were

variants of the sameindividual and thus feel

justified in teaching them all the same subjects in

the same way.”- H. Gardner

The first step is getting to know all the students in your class. This means looking at and studying their data, understanding their family background, who they are, what they already know and understand, and where their artistic level of understanding is like. Which levels are they at based on the Art Learning Outcomes as spelt out in the revised Primary Art Syllabus? In the art classroom, who already has very strong aptitude and positive attitude towards the subject? Who does not and what are the root causes for that? Who are the students who have good prior understanding of the fundamentals of art knowledge and skills? Who has little exposure and lack of skills or even interest in the subject? What could have resulted in that? What other interests would these students have so that these could tapped on or leveraged upon as themes for the students to inquire further?

The range of differences within the class can be huge. Knowing the students take time especially when art teachers only see the students once a week. Hence, in the 2017 revised Lower Sec Syllabus, teachers were highly recommended to spend the time in Term 1 of Secondary 1 to get to know the students well. Differentiation requires recognising the variety of individual learning needs within a class, planning to meet those needs, providing of appropriate instructional guidance and evaluating the effectiveness and progress of students’ learning. Teachers could leverage on technology (eg. Kahoot, Padlet,

SLS, See-Saw and etc.) to gather students’ data.

The following suggestions may be useful to support you in eliciting students’ current understanding, knowledge, skills and interests:

• Teacher observations• Student profiling and

inventories• Questionnaires and surveys• Focus group discussions with

students or/and parents• Teacher designed diagnostic

tasks and tests• KWL (What I Know, What I Want

to Know, What I Learnt)• Brainstorming• Studying samples of students’

past works (art portfolio or visual journal if applicable)

• Questionnaires and surveys• Students’ self-assessment and

reflection based on art task(s)

Besides these, one quick and useful tip is to work closely with the students’ form teacher and perhaps other subject teachers too. They would be able to provide us with more information about each student.

2. Organising the Art Classroom and Allow for Flexible Learning Groups

Well planned organisation of your art classroom is vital to complement differentiated teaching and learning by providing choices or tiered assignments to facilitate students’ learning. Such organisation will facilitate the use of flexible grouping. The practice of using different kinds of grouping could be based on common themes, readiness/prior knowledge, or students’ progress at different times throughout the year. Like in any effective

Hence, differentiation in art means providing for the individual student’s learning needs in class, so they can all make progress in learning.

Extracted from a sample of initial self-assessment by student. They started by determining which level of achievement they are at first (Developing, Competent, Proficient) and work towards a targeted level of achievement in their next piece of work.

Celebrating your progress made!

Drawing 1 (31 July) Drawing 2 (7 Aug) Drawing 3 (14 Aug)

Artist: Lisa

Draw what you see, NOT what you think you see!

What are the changes made to the form?How could you make your 3D alphabet form more interesting? (Note those who made alphabets C & N)

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3. Assessment for Learning

A good way to involve students in assessment and ownership of their own learning is to empower them to self-assess and peer-assess. Students of this age group would have the maturity to discern and provide an honest self-assessment if the learning objectives were clearly articulated and the success criteria have been clearly understood. Based on a teacher-designed assessment rubric or a teacher-student co-designed assessment rubric, the students would be able to assess their own

You can learn more on formative assessment at:

http://tinyurl.com/js9ffvz

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/quick-student-assessment

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/show-your-cards-student-assessment

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/class-warm-up-routine

http://tinyurl.com/gnl8rw6

classroom, teachers could also assign roles and establish routines in the art classrooms. A well-designed and organised classroom will enable the teacher to observe, support and meet the learning needs of students over time.

level of achievement and set their own learning goals for the coming assignment. This would free the teacher to focus on students who need more guidance during the art lesson.

4. Responding by Differentiating

Tapping on their knowledge of students’ interests, learning needs and preferences, teachers should be flexible in their approach and adjust the following to suit the different learners in the same classroom:

• what the students will learn (content),

• how the students will learn (process) and,

• how students will demonstrate their learning (product).

An extract of the power-point slides to illustrate how students were guided to self-evaluate and see their own progress made in drawing over time.*Note: this is the first time students were exposed to doing observational drawing from actual 3D artefact

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Suggested adjustment to support slower progress learners

Suggested adjustment to support artistically talented learners

Content-what students will learn, or materials that will give students access to what they are asked to learn

• Provision of more concrete concepts rather than abstract concepts

• Helpful to provide examples to explain concept

• Provide directly relevant examples eg. artists’ references for them to choose from

• Provision of more conceptual and abstract concepts

• Stretch students to research /introduce more advanced artists’ references

Process- activities through which students will make sense of learning content.

Providing the necessary scaffolding. Scaffolding is the art of knowing what your respective students are capable of and then supporting them to do something more.

• Break tasks down into smaller and more manageable chunks

• Providing print-out with steps necessary for the tasks would be helpful, so that students can refer to it when needed

• Allow students to experience small successes

• Use of simpler themes

• Reduce range of material

• Show physical, concrete samples of complete, in-progress work for quick reference

• May need to have small group teacher demonstration or one-to-one support

• Bigger and more complex tasks

• Can provide entire tasks, or list only key steps or question prompts to facilitate thinking and to see the whole picture/overview of what exactly is required of the tasks

• More complex and mature themes/concepts

• Artist-range materials

• Can be directed to find/research on own artists’ references

Process- activities through which students will make sense of learning content.

Providing the necessary scaffolding. Scaffolding is the art of knowing what your respective students are capable of and then supporting them to do something more.

An example of individual drawing task (Guided Inquiry):

Students are provided with A4-sized paper or instructed to use pre-drawn boxes in a worksheet, limiting the scale of the drawing. They are also given ‘view finders’ and taught how to use them to draw from observation the forms/artefacts they have created from a long strip of paper.

The teacher demonstrates and ‘thinks-aloud’ the process of hand-eye coordination, and the use of thick and think lines when drawing.

An example of pair work (Structured Inquiry):

In small groups, students are to view ‘Picture This’ by Molly Bang online. Teacher facilitates students to see and understand how shapes could be used to represent and create characters.

A ‘Beginning-Middle-End’ story- board has 1 out of 3 frames already created. Students are to work in pairs. They are guided to recognise the shapes used in the frame story board, and given the time to discuss as a pair to complete the two other frames.

Alternatively, each student could be tasked to do a different frame, so that both could contribute to the entire 3 frames.

An example of individual drawing task (Guided Inquiry):

Students are provided with A3 or A2 papers to draw from observations the forms/artefacts they have created from a long strip of paper.

An example of pair work (Structured Inquiry):

Students are to work in pairs to create 3 to 5 frames of story boarding. They could decide on the characters.

As a pre-lesson activity, students are to view ‘Picture This’ by Molly Bang online to see how shapes could be used to represent and create characters.

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In providing choices for students’ learning, teachers can include visual, auditory, and hands-on options as well as analytical, creative, and practical learning choices. Stu-dents will feel empowered and they can be more engaged in the learning activity either alone or as a group.

Find out more:

Instructional strategies adopted by different teachers to support all students in learninghttp://singteach.nie.edu.sg/category/issues/issue38-sep-oct2012/

Differentiating Teaching and Learning: The benefits and the challenges https://academyofsingaporeteachers.moe.edu.sg/docs/librariesprovider2/resouces-docs/elis-research-digests-doc/elis-research-digest-vol-5-issue-2.pdf

Moving Forward

Although managing a differentiated classroom is not always easy, progress in this direction tends to make schools a better fit for more students. It also makes teaching more satisfying and invigorating. It is most important for us as teachers to understand the need for differentiation and adopt a responsive and growth mindset.

To enhance our professional practice in differentiating instruction as we work towards reaching all students in the art classroom, we would like to encourage teachers to continue to improve and enhance their practice by:

1. Collaborating with colleagues in schools and across schools in differentiating lessons for students in art classrooms; and

2. Engaging in critical inquiry or collaborative inquiry to deepen their own understanding.

If you have ways that you are already using differentiated instruction in your art classroom, we would love to hear from you! Please feel free to share via aedge Facebook and STAR-Post with the rest in the fraternity.

References:

David S. Jackson (2000) The School Improvement Journey: Perspectives on leadership, School Leadership & Management, 20:1, 61-78

Doubet, K.J. & Hockett, J.A. (2015). Differentiation in middle school and high school: Strategies to engage all learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Singapore Ministry of Education. (2017). Singapore Teaching Practice. Retrieved from https://opal.moe.edu.sg/stp/

Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to differentiate instruction in academically diverse classrooms. Alexandria. VA: ASCD.

Tomlinson, C. A. & Murphy. M. (2015). Leading for differentiation Growing Teachers who grow kids (3rd Edition). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tomlinson, C. (2014). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners (2nd Ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A, & Moon, T. R. (2013). Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom. Alexandria, Va: ASCD.

Product-how students demonstrate what they know, understand and can do

• Smaller scale and dimension or format

• Simpler design or visual concepts applied, or pre-planned to a certain extent, then complete remaining steps

• Fewer steps, more time spent on perfecting finish, or re-doing steps

• Simpler artistic process, or provision of readily available examples for reference

• Larger scale and complexity or format

• More details and considerations

• More time allowed for entire complex tasks

• Exposure to wider range of artistic processes

Choice-Based Learning and Differentiated Instruction in Art

Lisa LokSubject Head (Visual Arts)Crest Secondary School

Drawing outcomes from the first lesson: Schematic drawing vs realistic drawing

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Actively engaged learners bring joy to teachers. Lesson design is key and when lessons are

delivered right, both teachers and students gain tremendous satisfaction in the learning process. I am sure all educators believe that every student is a unique individual who is capable of learning and excelling. That being our belief, teachers may consider adopting Differentiated Instruction to cater to the wide spectra of learning needs in our classroom.

Diagnose While Teaching

In my recent Sec 3 NT Art Elective lesson module, the first drawing activity re-vealed that I had two groups of students -- one that made schematic drawings and the other, a group that drew in a realistic style. I knew that in such a class, those who could draw well would naturally excel in the drawing module whilst those who could not, would simply feel demoralised and bored for the rest of the module. In order to have a fruitful teaching and learning experience for the students and myself, I had to change my teaching approach. I had to be open-minded and make adaptations to my lesson plans. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson (2017):

“In a differentiated classroom, the teacher proactively plans and carries out varied

approaches to content, process, and product in anticipation of and response to student differences in readiness, interest,

and learning needs.”

Non-Dominant Hand Drawing which subsequently became the basis for stu-dents to develop further.

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My first lesson served to diagnose my students’ learning needs. Thereafter, I decided to continue with this approach -- to diagnose as the lessons unfolded. I proactively adopted students’ feedback to modify and craft subsequent lessons so that I knew what they had learnt and which areas they needed more guidance. Adopting the Differentiated Instruction (DI) approach enabled me to focus mainly on:

• How my students might learn (process) and, • How they might demonstrate their learning (product)

Process - Supportive and Safe Learning Environment

It is paramount to create a supportive and safe learning space where students feel assured and have no fear of being ridiculed. With a safe learning space, students are able to fully immerse, engage and contribute to the learning experience. As articulated by Clapper (2010),

“If the learning environment is not physically and psychologically safe, learners may not fully engage with

the activities in the lesson.”

In the second lesson, I created a shared learning experience by using the Non-Dominant Hand Drawing strategy. Understandably, throughout this exercise, all my students lamented on the challenge of producing ‘good’ drawings. This activity was done to put everyone on an equal learning platform in terms of their drawing abilities. No student would feel superior to another in terms of skills. The drawing outcomes from this lesson were used by students as a starting point to develop their subsequent drawings.

For the third lesson, I decided to challenge them about their perception of aesthetics. Using the Karen ethnic minority tribe as an example, students discussed and questioned -- what and who determines beauty? It was interesting to observe the engaging discourse amongst the students. They paused to think and rethink their preconceived notions of what beauty meant to them. This led them to reflect how their drawings from the second lesson could be appreciated from alternative perspectives. When students are aware and are able to understand diverse viewpoints, they would feel more comfortable and be encouraged to articulate their opinions and value their work.

As a follow-up, I weaved in some questions for a drawing exercise -- What if you are the leader of the country and you get to determine the standards of beauty? What if all things oval (shape) are considered beautiful? Students created a series of drawings of animals using different shapes. In the midst of their own creation, they made decisions on what shape they, as the ‘leader of the country’ wanted their animals to be. They were at ease with their own creation; they did not have to worry about being ridiculed. By sharing with them awareness of different cultures and perspectives, students are then equipped with the belief that everyone can be different and unique, thus helping them to embrace their own unique drawing abilities as well.

Drawing outcomes from the ‘What If’ shape drawing exercise lesson

Choice-based learning outcomes18 19

Process - Teacher as Facilitator and Collaborator

According to Tomlinson, the teacher has to “proactively plan lessons that provide a variety of ways to “get at” and “express learning”. Teachers should not have the mindset of entering the class with a fixed lesson plan and be adamant to carry it out exactly as planned. Rather, flexibility is key, and feedback sessions should be incorporated. Feedback, in verbal or written form, at the start, middle or end of the lesson, should be observed and recorded keenly. It serves as a tool for teachers to learn how well students are learning and to follow-up to improve and tailor better learning experiences in subsequent lessons. As rightly put by Heacox (2002),

“As a teacher who differentiates instruction, you become both a facilitator and a collaborator.”

Student-centred learning where lessons are co-designed between students and teacher can give rise to much student engagement and ownership.

Choice-based learning outcomes

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Product – Demonstrating Understanding through Choice-Based Learning

Inevitably, when it comes to Differentiated Instruction, teachers tend to be concerned about the varied outcomes and assessment criteria. To mitigate this, the teacher could craft the module with knowledge of their students’ learning abilities in mind. In this module, the art task for students was to create a series of animal-themed merchandise that would serve as souvenirs for the Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

As rightly put by Tomlinson, Differentiated Instruction “offers different approaches to what students learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they’ve learned.”

It helps teachers to optimise learning and make effective learning occur. Ultimately, I want my students to believe in their inherent abilities, to embrace their strengths, be affirmed and feel encouraged. I believe that most of us as educators adopt some form of Differentiated Instruction in our classrooms. It is the pride of the teacher when students walk out of the classroom believing that they have achieved something. Differentiated Instruction has liberated the ‘should and should not’ of teaching, and both teachers and students can benefit from the teaching and learning experiences.

References:

Clapper, T. C. (2010). Creating the safe learning environment. PAILAL, 3(2), 1-6.

Heacox, Diane (2002), Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms. Third Edition. ASCD.

As a means to develop students’ drawing skills and fulfil their roles as product designers, they were equipped with learning opportunities in both realistic drawing (which can be more challenging) and illustrative drawing (which is more representational in nature). These two drawing styles were intentionally selected to provide a choice-based learning approach in order to cater to the students’ learning needs. They had the liberty to choose between these two styles and determine which method suited them best, or would challenge them most. A conscious decision was hence made as a designer, to execute the chosen style depending on their strengths. This process allowed students to own the work they created. Be it in the realistic or illustrative style, all the students created their series of designs for the animal-themed merchandise at the end of the module. Everyone delivered the task and felt accomplished!

Nurtur ing Creat ive Voices Through Choice-Based Learning in Art Educat ion

Ang Kok YeowArt TeacherZhenghua Primary School

Choice-Based Learning motivates students to be

self-directed agents of their learning.

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“What is art when the artwork lacks character and personal voice?” This question asked during a vendor-run art programme got me thinking. I had started to notice a similar compositional style in my students’ artwork and their loss of interest in the subject over time. As I reflected upon this, I asked myself, “How would I have done my lessons differently?”

This question popped into my mind again when I attended the National Art Education Association (NAEA) conference held last year in Boston. I had the privilege to listen to Ms. Janet Taylor, an inspiring fellow art educator and advocate of Choice-Based Learning (CBL), who shared about how she transformed her art classroom into a nurturing CBL environment that impacted changes, helped students discover their creative voices, and honed their artistic skills.

By respecting students as artists, they are given the opportunities for creative explorations.

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What is Choice-Based Learning (CBL)?

Choice-Based Learning (CBL) is not the latest buzzword, and neither is it a new methodology. In fact, CBL was coined in the 1970s and continues to be relevant today. CBL is a learner-centric pedagogy designed to promote inquiry and encourage choices and voices in the classroom. Closely linked to Teaching for Artistic Behaviours (TAB), the methodology touches on three important guiding principles:

1. What do artists do?2. The child is the artist, and 3. The art room is the child’s studio

With a sense of autonomy and control, CBL places students in control of three key areas—subject matter, art media, and art-making approaches. These approaches can be modified to meet the student profiles or lesson objectives. As a result, it supports differentiated learning where students could connect their artworks to their strengths and interests in a culturally diverse environment.

Unpacking what I had learnt from NAEA 2019, I decided to research the topic and start integrating CBL in my art lessons.

Working in groups, my class of 40 Primary 3 students went through a vigorous 10-week process that sought to encourage them to explore their creative choices. The subject matter, “Water Pollution”, was conceived in response to Teo Eng Seng’s artwork, “The Net: Most Definitely The Singapore River”. For the lessons to be effective, I re-designed them to allow flexibility in catering to the diverse needs of the class.

Choices, The More The Merrier?

Everyone likes to have choices but too many can be overwhelming. For young children to feel comfortable, the choices for art material had to be introduced in batches. When I first started with 5 media centres, students were hesitant to experiment with something new. To help them get out of their comfort zones, I placed materials in a “choice-café” setting the following week. This meant they were free to roam around to se-lect materials for their sculptures. The setting also allowed them to be both focused and engaged.

Nurturing Creative Voices Among Different Types of Learners

The above diagram illustrates my students’ learning process throughout the course of 10 weeks. Time spent during the “Investigate” and “Resolve” phrase may vary depending on the progress of each group. (Diagram adapted from Lean UX Design and Agile presentation by Dave Landis, 2016.)

While observing my students during the art making process, I identified 3 types of learners:

• Type A: Makes smooth progression• Type B: Faces conceptual difficulty • Type C: Faces technical difficulty

BA

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From Weeks 3 to 6, using different types of materials, they created a bloated fish and stuffed it with plastic. When the students realized that their artwork was not up to their expectations, they initiated further explorations.

Students completed a bigger sculpture using 6 types of materials and the work was firmly glued on a plate in Week 10.

The title, “Do you want to eat this fish?” challenged the audience to think deeper.This was the kind of fish we would consume if humans continued to pollute the sea.

Type A students progressed smoothly and independently from the beginning of the activity. They understood the lessons well and were able to apply the concept. Through trial and error and teacher consultations, they fine-tuned their own ideas and produced artworks that demonstrated excellent understanding of the subject matter, materials and approach.

In Weeks 1 & 2, students discussed and researched on the topic of “water pollution”. They learnt that marine animals mistook plastic waste as their food source.

Working process for Type A students:

Type B students started work with a lot of ambitious ideas and enthusiasm, but struggled to carry through the execution. At one point, they were distracted by their classmates and created a volcanic sculpture but without a clear purpose. Even though they had to reconstruct their volcano eventually, they were able to persist to the end with some guidance.

Working process for Type B students:

Initial phase: Besides the volcano on the left, students also constructed a sea of animals that appeared to be killed by natural disasters. By Week 6, they realised that the volcano did not fit the brief and had to remove it.

In Week 7, students discovered that metal wires could be used to suspend their bird structures. Titled “Save The Animals”, they developed their ideas from the concept of a polluted ocean, showing how it affects wildlife.

C

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Type C students faced challenges in the selection of appropriate ma-terials for their artworks. In their attempt to create “beautiful” works, they were worried about choosing the wrong materials and were re-luctant to try their hands at unfamiliar materials. However, by Week 7, the group had a breakthrough after a gallery walk and class discussion. They had learnt that taking calculated risks are necessary in creating unique and distinctive art pieces.

Working process for Type C students:

From their sketches, it is clear that students understood marine lives were trapped in waste disposed in the sea.

The ‘fish’ was simply drawn on a piece of foam, as students were not open to trying out new materials

Final Product titled “This Is What Will Hap-pen If We Do Not Keep The Ocean Clean.”It shows a cage filled with rubbish and sea animals that are trapped. It is clear the stu-dents had put in so much more thought and creativity in this piece (as compared to the one above). More importantly, they made clear their intent of conveying the impor-tance of protecting the environment.

From my experience of CBL, I recommend the following considerations for art teachers:

Basic Housekeeping Rules

After converting the art classroom into a studio that consisted of 12 media centres (with 50 materials available for artmaking), keeping the space in order is of utmost importance. For a start, teachers should demonstrate the process of tidying up and help students get used to the routine. More time needs to be factored in for cleaning up as well. Items such as textured papers, paints, fabrics, and clay, should be categorised and clearly labeled for easy accessibility. Other areas for consideration include traffic flow, proximity of resources and arrangement of supplies. With careful planning, the art classroom can be optimised to facilitate both group and individual projects.

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Creating High Quality Work: Motivation Versus Frustration

CBL cultivates a curious mind and nurtures creative voices. At times, a lack in technical skills can be a limiting factor for students to realise their full potential. As a result, they may be discouraged or frustrated. It is thus crucial for teachers to step in to support, motivate and challenge them at the right time.

High quality work can only happen when students are motivated to do their best. I learnt that students could be inspired to challenge themselves to create more meaningful art. When they felt a sense of accomplishment, they gained confidence and ownership of their own work.

Students were challenged to develop their technical and thinking skills with consider-ation to the purpose of their artwork.

Choice-Based Learning: Do More Than Just Creating An Artwork

Despite the complexity of an open-ended art task, CBL is effective for the simple reason that it triggers the children to discover the “what”, “how” and “why” due to the experimental nature of this strategy. The key to learning is to promote autonomy and help our students develop inquisitive thinking beyond classrooms. Only then will we will be able to see students produce highly distinctive works and they shine as unique individuals with a strong personal voice.

Lorraine LeeSubject Head (Art Elective Programme)National Junior College

Rethinking Teaching Spaces, Reframing Start ing Points

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“Most of the time we don’t notice the effects of the environment on us because we are too preoccupied with

the normal trials of life.” Keedwell P. (2017) Headspace. London, Quarto Publishing

In late 2018, Sec 3 art students entered the room they would come to call ‘home’ for 2019. An uninspiring, inherited

mess greeted them -- cupboards spilled over with leftover materials, hefty wooden tables with tiny drawers stuffed with mysterious items, and old canvases and boxes hoarded the remaining wall space. As the students worked on wiping the tables and mopping the floors, their two art teachers were on their knees digging out the ancient muck from the sink trap.

Another challenge to be faced by these students was in February 2019, when these students would be them doing their Visual Arts tasks on laptops. Most would be facing a wall, almost in a panopticon fashion, with extension cords creeping around the floor, tasked to multiply 2 socket points into 20!

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WHATBeyond the physical inadequacies of the room, I also observed undesirable behaviours such as students not working together as a class or taking good care of the space. They were always in a lethargic mood. My suspicion was that the ‘symptoms’ could be improved by redesigning the environment.

Current approaches to room design rarely consider factors beyond functionality. The difference in my approach was to meet their psychological needs first and simultaneously accommodate the diversity of practices in the classroom. In doing so, I hoped to impact their behaviour through the space they inhabited.

WHYI referenced ‘Headspace: The psychology of City Living’ by Dr Paul Keedwell. The book posits that urban design can affect our wellbeing, as how places look and are arranged are not just aesthetic concerns but are critical for our mental health. Some principles provided insight into how spaces in our schools can cater to users’ psychological needs, and these will be introduced in this article.

HOW

In my planning, I wanted designs to be led by, and inclusive of the needs of the users. My two guiding questions were:• How can I involve my students in the design of the classroom?• How do I make choices about space that preserves needs, but reimagines the area?

1. ‘Emotional Audit’

I borrowed an activity from ‘Rethinking Classroom Design’ by Finley and Wiggs. Every student was given two blue post-its and two yellow post-its to write on. They stuck their blue post-its on areas that they associated with negative emotions and yellow post-its on areas they associated with positive emotions. This exercise allowed users to be more sensitive to their space.

I found that:

• Students loved having food, natural light, a conducive temperature, and social space

• They hated the furnishings, lighting and lack of cleanliness

• Mixed feelings were felt about functional aspects that reminded them of work, like the printer, personal work space and the messy resource cupboard.

2. Sales Pitch

Through a presentation, I convinced users that the room was worth valuing, using examples of how humans expect our various home or work environments to support our needs. I showed them the different types of classrooms they had encountered before and how these rooms invited or discouraged the users. Students were then primed to question what they desired from their space.

“Attractive classrooms lend dignity to the learning process”

Niemeyer D (2003) Hard Facts on Smart Classroom Design

“Public consultation at the planning stage provides

useful feedback on the first draft of the

design process… When the comments were almost entirely

positive the architects knew they had got the design right”Keedwell P. (2017) Headspace

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3. Consult the User

Immediately after, to collect their inputs in a visual manner, students were tasked to co-create their dream room in small groups.

From their models, I found that:

• Tables should allow for communal seating

• They wanted a carpeted/curtained rest area with cushioned seating

• A snack pantry and printing facilities were fundamental and must be allocated space

• Plants should be included

Based on the first round of inputs, I showed examples of possible furniture and layouts for the room to allow for discussion and modifications. We discussed simple questions such as, ‘Should the tables be rectangular or round?’, ‘Is the carpet for stepping on or sitting?’, and ‘What else have we not yet considered?’

4. Making it Happen

Teachers coordinated the timeline of the project, arranging for the disposal of bulky items, and the delivery of new furnishings. When the room was cleared and the new furnishing had arrived, students helped in building and positioning the furnishing. I hoped that this act of working on the furnishing together would increase their ownership of the classroom.

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5. Final Review

To understand the impact of these changes, I had students repeat the post-it activity with the previous two prompts, along with two additional prompts. This was done a few months after the changes, to obtain their final evaluation.

I found that these were the three most important and positive changes:

• Providing shelves for individual cubby holes. This fostered a sense of personal organisation, gave a sense of progress as it filled up, and reduced the threat of things going missing.

• Replacing bulky tables with lightweight ones. This allowed for different table configurations. The tables made the room look less cluttered, encouraged sharing and conversation, were aesthetically pleasing, prompted cleaning, and allowed for more sustained attention spans.

• Creating a refuge area comprising of sofa, carpet, snacks and plants. These gave options beyond working at a desk and served as a cosy area for breaks. It helped some people to calm down, and reduced the stress level of the entire room. The food energised and motivated users.

Areas/things that give you

a positive emotion

Areas/things that give you

a negative emotion

What you perceive to be the most important change?

Other comments or suggestions

for future years?

SO WHAT

Refuge is a priority not a luxury. Refuge spaces are semi-private spaces one can retreat to, away from central social spaces. They are restorative and highly desirable in public and work spaces. As we seek ways to promote the emotional well-being of students and colleagues, we can consider elevating wellness through features in our environment.

While I have observed that only one-third of the class use the refuge space regularly, the difference it has made to those who struggle with anxiety and stress or physical discomfort, shows it is critical to create more of such spaces in our schools.

Cultivating Cleanliness

Diagnosing the perennial issue of students not cleaning up after themselves required more thought: was it that they could not clean because they were unable to, or was it because they were unwilling?

The former would be a resource need that could be easily solved; we could increase accessibility to the right cleaning equipment (brooms, bins, rag, soap), facility (sink) and floor space (less obstructions).

The latter required psychological priming for ownership and initiative. The users needed to value the ‘best state’ of the room they owned. The risky choice of light-coloured furniture that did not hide dirt was a conscious decision. This prompted the students to notice and address any stains they unwittingly created. Also, teacher modeling took place over a few months. We deliberately tidied the room in their presence.

While I’ve noted that occasionally some instruction is still required, students are engaged when cleaning and they take the initiative to reach a higher standard of cleanliness.

NOW WHAT

Unfinished Business.

Handing over to the next batch of users in 2020 and their teachers is the last part of the journey. Some parts of the space may need to be reassessed and transformed to meet the needs of future users. There were also new issues that were not previously ‘diagnosed’ but were now flagged as possible sites for future improvements.

Recommendations:

1. Make plain to the students what you are doing at every step. Collect their input during discussions and show them the effect of their suggestions and efforts.

2. Dare to dream: do your research, which may not only be confined to books on art and education.

3. Test things out physically to ensure the right fit: visit physical stores instead of relying on online options.

4. Work with key personnel and school operation managers who can support your efforts in unexpected ways.

5. Start somewhere, at any scale.

All these are possible thanks to the trust, logistical support, guidance and encouragement of my NJC colleagues and most importantly the ‘O’ level class of 2019 for being the motivation and collaborators to realise these changes!

To my fellow art teachers, think about what kind of learning environments your students learn better in and find ways to make them a reality.

References:

Finley, T., & Wiggs, B. (2016). Rethinking classroom design: create student-centered learning spaces for 6th-12th graders. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Keedwell P. (2017) Headspace. London: Quarto Publishing

Niemeyer, D. C. (2003). Hard facts on smart classroom design: ideas, guidelines, and layouts. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Crit ical Inquiry Project 2019:

PROJECT ARTICULATE!

Elana TanArt TeacherXinghua Primary School

P4 class: In groups of 5 -- Tuning-in Art discussion

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ABOUT

Talking about art is an inquiry process that hones critical

thinking and meaning-making in students. It is a launching pad for cognition, collaboration and creativity. Art discussion also develops observational skills, empathy as well as connection with history.

However, across all my art classes from P1 to P6, I realised that students do not engage in conversations or discussions about art without being facilitated or directed to do so, let alone outside the art classroom. Usually discussions are teacher-led, where teachers would ask the questions and usually it will be the same students who would raise their hands to answer. The shy ones would often remain very quiet; their opinions and thoughts left unheard.

Bearing in mind these observations, I did a quick survey to better understand the needs and interests of my students. These findings point to one thing -- children want discussions on art to be fun and interactive. Many of my students found it boring to just look at the screen and then answer the teachers’ questions about the artworks. Some also mentioned that they have no avenue or opportunities to talk about art outside of curriculum.

METHODOLOGYWith the simple use of technology and adaptation from STAR’s Toolkit -- Let’s Talk About Art, ‘Project ARTiculate’ aims to make talking about art fun, interactive & self-directed for all students of all ages.

As students these days are very technologically savvy from a young age, I decided to use technology to entice them to talk more about art. I found an application on the iPad -- Daily Decision Wheel. This is an app that an indecisive person can use to make decisions. I adapted this app and customised the options, keying in questions from the Let’s Talk About Art toolkit, e.g. What do you see; What do you think the artist is trying to say; Guess the art medium used, etc.

P2 class: Tuning-in Art discussion about Liu Kang’s Life By The River.

(Top) P6 students: Project Articulate pilot group(Top left) P4 class: Tuning-in Art discussion

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The questions that I input differed and varied with each selected artwork. Students took turns to spin the wheel, and they had to answer the questions highlighted. Since it was done in groups, every member of the group, even the quiet ones would have to spin and answer the questions. In this way, the less outspoken students also got opportunities to share their views and opinions.

The artworks for discussions could be selected according to the theme of the art module. Alternatively, consider choosing compelling artworks that might interest and intrigue your students for the purpose of challenging them to think and exercise their creativity!

SET UP: 1 iPad and art work for each group

After trying this out with a few groups of students & classes, I realised that students became more engaged and self-directed. They were able to facilitate their own art discussions and were very excited to spin the wheel to answer the questions!

However, I noticed that not all groups had meaningful or rich discussions. Some students were unable to give quality responses. Instead they gave superficial answers lacking in-depth analysis. Some students just wanted to be quick to answer so as to spin the wheel again.

Therefore, to ensure quality responses and effective use of this platform, I realised that I should first demonstrate how an art discussion should look like.

As teachers, we should encourage ‘Think Time’ where students first look intently and make careful observations of the artwork given. Teachers can also reiterate that there are no “right” answers and that every child is to celebrate differences in opinion and ideas.

Alternatively, I would recommend that art teachers provide sentence openers or art vocabulary to help students articulate their thoughts or views when looking at an artwork. In addition, it might be difficult for the teacher to go around to listen to every group’s discussion. A suggestion I have would be to appoint a group member to be the scribe or videographer to document their group’s responses.

MY LEARNINGThrough this CI Project journey, I learnt that children enjoy looking at and talking about works of art. They just lack the opportunities to do so. Moreover, the children’s responses to artworks are interesting and unpredictable. They are story-tellers by nature! Just by changing the mode of delivery, students are able to facilitate their own art discussions and conversations. Effective communication is a vital life skills and we as teachers need to help our students develop this valuable skill.

FELLOW ART TEACHERS, TRY THIS!

1. Make it a routine for your students to talk about art. Try this out for Tuning-In as a group activity for about 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Use this idea to facilitate art field trips or museum visits.

3. For upper primary students, consider getting them to craft and customise questions for their friends to answer. This can help to challenge their thinking.

Teo Chor HoweSenior Teacher (Art)National Junior College

Making Marks -- Leveraging on Technology to Develop Thinking and Ownership of Learning

Singapore Teaching Practice

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The term “assessment” tends to be associated with marks, grades

and summative evaluation of students’ learning of the subject content. This article aims to provide snapshots of how our school designs assessment through the form of art writing (Study of Visual Arts) in order to be more formative, and to help develop thinking habits and build ownership in our students’ learning, by leveraging on the use of technology.

We believe that in art, thinking and making is integrated, informed both by the practical and theoretical knowledge of art. This iterative process is influenced by the contexts and experiences that the artist (in this case, our students) has encountered. This belief stemmed from the theoretical underpinnings and philosophy of John Dewey’s Art as Experience. In short, we believe that learning art goes beyond making artworks as end-objects. Instead it embodies the whole experience and process of thinking, making, critiquing, writing, speaking, contextualising and communicating. Grounded in this belief, we made two observations about our students: they needed to develop critical thinking and critiquing skills, and when they presented their opinions through

writing, they wrote as if they were speaking or texting.

In our Junior and Senior High Art curriculum, we incorporate art writing into our studio practice and design writing tasks in authentic contexts, aligned to our subject matter and subject goals. We enhance this by leveraging on the use of technology and web-based platforms (Google classroom). This is because we feel that in the contemporary real world context, art writers/ critics/ historians use digital technology to write and that digital platforms offer quick efficient organisation of points/opinions/ ideas. The latter would allow us to focus on developing some key thinking and writing skills (such as describing, analysing, interpreting, forging links, organising, etc) first, which traditional pen and paper might not be able to offer as efficiently. More importantly, the digital platform allowed us to quickly assess their writings with qualitative comments and allowed for efficient sharing with the classes. The students could then access their own and their peers’ writings with our comments in a timely manner. This encouraged collaborative learning and students could reflect and improve, and in the process, build self-ownership in learning.

Of course in doing so, we have made some assumptions based on our understanding of students and the ways they process learning and information (Singapore Teaching Practice - STP). We assumed that our students are digital natives and so they are familiar with ICT modes of communication. We too assumed that they are able to express their ideas and opinions proficiently through the use of ICT and they are competent in the use of gadgets and ICT-related apps or software.

Let me use one example to illustrate. In 2019 Semester 2, for my JH3 class (equivalent to Secondary 3) of 26 students were given an independent open project with focus on digital art. They were required to decide on their artistic intention, the target audience and the context in which they will operate in. They were to submit a project brief, experiment with different digital processes and finalise what was the best form to present their intentions digitally.

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During this whole process, three practising artists (a designer toy artist, a mural and book artist, and a comic artist) were invited at strategic points to share their artistic journeys and how digital platforms impact their practices. They also went on a learning journey to Takashi Murakami Exhibition at STPI. The aim of these sessions was to broaden the students’ understanding of digital art beyond their familiar perceptions and allow them to see possibilities in their own artistic approaches. A Google classroom task was set for each talk and the learning journey (see below).

These writing tasks aimed to build the students’ abilities to structure their thinking through writing using the Visible Thinking Routine (VTR) of Claim-Support-Question. Through this, students develop clarity, accuracy and precision when they structure and put forth their opinions and ideas. They eventually cultivate their ability to form and express personal opinions in an informed way. For each task, the students were given a week to submit their writings through the Google classroom. The writings were assessed qualitatively (with no grades) and all the writings with comments were shared

with the students through Google online folders. Overall comments were shared during subsequent lessons. Students were also tasked to read at least 3 other peers’ writings and apply what they had learnt in their next writing task (see below for one of the writing tasks with comments in blue).

In terms of the level of impact, anecdotally, there is a marked improvement for a number of students in both their quality of thinking and expression of their opinions. Some evidence of learning from their peers could also be seen in their writings. Nevertheless, in order for assessment to go beyond the grades and to improve

learning, timeliness of the feedback and authentic fit-for-purpose task design is important. This could be enhanced with the help of technology to build self-directed learning habits and ownership.

Reference:Dewey, J. (1980). Art as experience. New York: Penguin Putnam.

** Chor Howe shared on his art assessment practices at STAR’s workshop – Marking Marks: Subjectivity + Objectivity in Art Assessment, held on 25 September 2019. Click on this LINK to access a PDF copy of the slides.

Example of Google Classroom task

Snapshot of writing assessed qualitatively with my comments

Candice LeeArt TeacherManjusri Secondary School

Authentic-Assessment in the Art Classroom -- Some Considerat ions

48 49

“Isn’t Art Easy to Mark?”

As art educators, we often come across comments or questions that suggest art is subjective and has

few or no grounds for objective assessment. Art is most often assumed by others to be assessed based on the teacher’s personal preferences, shaped by biasness or experiences. But are we not somewhat influenced by these personal factors? What does it mean to have an authentic assessment in the art classroom? These questions will be explored in this article based on personal reflections of my teaching and ideas I have gathered from STAR’s workshop -- Subjectivity + Objectivity in Art Assessment.

Creating Formative Assessment Opportunities for Better Learning

The least desired scenario of all educators would be a class of unmotivated students. When an art task is not well-scaffolded with clear instructions and engaging visuals, students are less likely to participate or assimilate any content. During the workshop, Chor Howe, Senior Teacher (Art) from NJC, shared how he uses diagrams (see below) within his Aesthetics department to illustrate strategies in engaging students’ learning.

Chor Howe’s sharing highlights the importance to design lessons that encourage divergent and convergent thinking to sustain students’ interest while reducing the probability of stu-dents getting stuck with developing ideas. It is also essential to set clear expectations at the start of each lesson while ensuring the learning task is age-appropriate for the students. Online quizzes such as Kahoot and Trivia Crack are great ways to introduce new content informally to entice students while assessing their prior knowledge and understanding. Often, my stu-dents would request to replay the quiz and this helps them to retain more new information.

One of the diagrams shared by Chor Howe.

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Learning does not stop at online quizzes; it could continue through and beyond the lessons via these strategies shared during the workshop:

• Self-Evaluation and ReflectionProvide a series of reflective questions for students to self-evaluate their “artistic behaviours” (Kerner and Mattimoe, 2018) when developing their ideas; selecting appropriate art media and techniques; organising their workspace; creating their artwork; time management; overcoming problems and articulating their final artwork and its processes.

• Peer-Evaluation: Empathic Critique (Bartel, 2017) Marvin Bartel’s Empathic Critique was adapted by Shelly Hallsted who created a list of “soft” open questions that encourages a positive dialogue for students to use while observing and analysing each other’s artwork in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

By using such questioning strategies, students will be able to self-evaluate in order to gain more awareness of their learning. Authentic formative assessment acts as an essential and motivational milestone check for students to make progressive improvement.

Can Summative Assessment Be More Authentic?

For assessment to be authentic, it has to be fairly assessed. As art educators, we have the responsibility to ensure that assessment criteria are well aligned to the lesson objectives and outcomes. In my practice, I assess students’ works criterion

by criterion and rank them accordingly. This helps me to focus on the specific criterion and assess more effectively. The works are then reshuffled randomly before the next criterion assessment to reduce biasness towards the final outcome. A well-rendered and composed artwork with adequate supporting studies may not necessarily perform better than an artwork with mediocre craftmanship but packed with an insightful set of artistic processes.

Through the workshop, we shared and discovered more strategies for authentic assessment. For instance, teachers can pass the power to students to decide on a list of assessment criteria based on the lesson objectives and outcomes. Upon the completion of their assigned task, they could identify the success criteria in their peer’s work and give one another feedback. This helps to affirm their understanding and awareness of their learning.

Another strategy I found particularly helpful is “My Ideal Solution” by Beattie (1997). This strategy encourages students to envision the final outcome of their idea and identify a list of appropriate criteria, according to its significance, that will help to lead them towards creating a successful solution for their assigned task. The criteria might include craftmanship, relevancy of subject matter, specific elements of art and/or principles of design, choice of colour schemes, depth of research work with reference to other artists, etc. After students have completed their artwork, they will refer back to their lists and rethink whether the order of their criterion ranking should be changed or what improvements needed to be made in their work in order to match their ideal expectations.

Beattie’s strategy strongly resonates with the idea of meta-learning where students are “being aware of and taking control of one’s own learning” (Biggs, 1985). Authentic assessment takes place when students set their expectations, take ownership in improving and imagining future possibilities of their artwork.

References

Bartel, M. (2017). Art Teacher Guide Smart-Soft Critique. [online] Bartelart.com. Available at: https://www.bartelart.com/arted/critique08.html

Beattie. D. K. (1997). Assessment in art education. Worchester, MA: Davis Publications

Biggs, J. B. (1985). The role of meta-learning in study process. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 55, 185-212.

Kerner, P. and Mattimoe, K. (2018). Authentic Assessment in Choice-Based Art Classes. In: NAEA 2018 Presentation.

Tan Wanxin SherryArt TeacherQifa Primary School

Reflecting on Authentic Assessment in the Art Classroom

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The assessment workshop Making Marks: Subjectivity

+ Objectivity in Art Assessment by STAR gave me many ideas for practical assessment tools that we could utilise in the art classroom that will help inform us of our learners’ progress. The workshop was conducted in an organised manner with authentic case studies for us to engage in discussions with our fellow art teachers. We enjoyed very much the insights and rich content that was shared.

Before I attended the workshop, I had questions on how to make the grading of art as fair as possible for my students. I found it challenging to develop a very objective and specific set of rubrics to measure the learning outcomes for art. Creativity manifests in multiple forms,

how best could it be assessed? Through the discussions, I realised that assessment for art is complex; there are multiple or different ways to assess outcomes and a straightforward rubric for assessment may not always work. What is more important is how the teacher could make the objectives clear, scaffold and unpack the learning for the students meaningfully. After the workshop, I intend to adjust some of my learning activities and rubrics for a more holistic assessment of the learning outcomes.

The workshop also had us reflect on our personal teacher beliefs, the syllabus outcomes and how they inform assessment. The sharing by Senior Teacher (Art), Chor Howe, from NJC also led me to re-think the teaching approaches for art. For him, art could be used to solve real- life problems, such as having his students design furniture for the elderly. He explained his rationale and shared how he created a holistic assessment approach for the module. I thought that his approach of letting students take ownership of their learning and assessing their processes and prototypes in various stages was a good

(Top & Bottom) Teachers sharing their assessment practices in groups.

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takeaway. In my own classroom, I give students some choices, e.g. decisions on subject and content of the work, but the inquiry process is still more guided so as to cater to the younger students I teach in the primary school. I also find the idea of him displaying the students’ process work (sketches, prototypes) around the art classroom useful as it encourages students to continually think about their work whenever they can. This display is like a form of journaling where teachers are able to see the progression in the students’ thinking as the lessons progress.

Wee San, Master Teacher (Art) from STAR also shared her experiences in using formative assessment in the art classroom. She emphasised that reflections are important components to guiding students to the set of learning objectives or success criteria that teachers want to achieve. The reflections also inform our own teaching and allow us to better help learners if we are given insights on their struggles or eureka moments during lessons. As a teacher, I also need to reflect on which tool could be relevant at different learning junctures to develop self-directed learning amongst students. For example, I would like to implement simpler checklists for the lower primary

students so as to help them gauge their own learning and progress for their artwork.

The book -- Softening the Edges by Katie White, was given to participants as a resource at the end of the workshop. This allowed us to read and learn more about various assessment strategies after the workshop so that we could continue to design appropriate assessments to address students’ needs and promote artistic growth.

Thank you STAR and all the art teachers who shared generously at the workshop!

Contemporary Art Practices in Schools!(CAPS!) 2019

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CAPS! 2019 comprised an Artists’ Talk and a series of four exciting workshops and open

studio sessions. Over the 5-day workshop, our art teachers had opportunities to experience contemporary inquiry-based approaches to art making. They investigated ideas, materials and technical processes under the mentorship of Singapore contemporary artists – David Chen, Michael Lee, Sam Lo and Zul Othman.

David’s workshop revisited some of the fundamentals of art-making through the exploration of over-arching concepts such as observation, transformation and translation. Using inquiry-based tuning exercises, teachers examined some of the most basic concepts of art and recaptured some of the nuances of creation, such as the potential of colour, form, viewer experience, etc.

In Michael’s workshop, philosophies and methods of self-care in the context of art educators in Singapore were explored. Discussions began with the observation that

teacher-artists in Singapore are overworking to near-burnout juggling art teaching duties, professional art practice and personal life. Other topics discussed included -- What do today’s teacher-artists need—or want? How does one perform self-care under the pressures to perform? What would make the life and work of teacher-artists in Singapore more tolerable? Guest-presenters invited to share at this workshop included – Yoko Choi, Pixie Tan, Tan Guo-Liang and Renée Ting.

Sam Lo together with sculptor Daniel Yu took the teachers on a journey of exploring the fine art of sculpting through “Art Toys”. Through this immersive and hands-on workshop, teachers experienced storytelling in the process of ideation and creation. They were also introduced to and got to work with a range of moldable materials that were fun, manageable, and easily accessible for both private practice and classroom settings. The studio was abound with excitement as our teachers explored the endless possibilities.

For the teachers who joined Zero’s workshop, they were guided through the fundamentals of graffiti painting. Teachers enjoyed learning the basics of letter styling, urban character design and collaborative approaches in a graffiti mural production. They got their hands dirty and experienced first-hand the unique mannerisms of pressurized aerosol paints. Using the spray can, they learnt of the frustration artists faced with this less than orthodox medium of art.

Faizlyana IsmailArt CoordinatorPrincess Elizabeth Primary School

CAPS! 2019:

Graffiti and Street Art with Zero

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I have always been interested in graffiti and street art. When I was a secondary school student, I filled

my student handbook with tags. A tag -- a stylised personal signature, is the most basic form of graffiti. When STAR revealed the list of artists who would be featured in CAPS! 2019, I immediately recognised Zulkarnaen Othman, who goes by his moniker, Zero. With little hesitation, I jumped at the opportunity and signed up for the Artist Talk and accompanying workshop.

Key Takeaways

Through the talk by Zero, we had an insight on the history of urban and street art, how it had grown and transformed globally as a universal art form. He also shared more about our community’s perception towards

Tag of initials and sketch for mural.

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During the workshop with Zero, we picked up ideas about tagging, creating our own unique styles of writing and designing characters. The highlight of the workshop was learning a new medium – spray paint. We learnt about the different types of spray paint, the difference between high and low pressure, and how using different bottle caps could help us achieve different effects. We also tried different techniques such as layering, blending and cutting. As we practised using the spray paint on an empty wall, I realised that it was not as easy as it looked. Using the spray paint was initially challenging for some of us as it required good control of our fingers, hands, arms and body.To create our collaborative mural, each participant had to contribute our individual design to the wall. We started with a mock-up

and sketched our designs on paper. When we were ready to transfer the designs onto the wall, we applied the techniques we had learnt and used different spray caps to achieve different effects in our artwork. Working to continuously touch-up and clean up the lines as we spray-painted, I realised that a graffiti artwork involved many layers. In addition, we also had to think about the use of colours and addition of elements such as clouds, bubbles, lines and patterns. Although we may be working on our individual designs on the wall, we had to collectively ensure that our designs came together to form a seamless piece of artwork.

Our test-wall. Trying the different techniques and effects of different spray caps.

Personally, this brought about a whole new level of appreciation for graffiti and the collaborative spirit among street artists.

Application in the Classroom

While it would be quite challenging to do graffiti in school, there are definitely some aspects of my learning that I would apply in my art classroom. I would like to introduce graffiti-style writing or tagging, where students could learn about the creation of graffiti lettering, allowing them to explore their self-identities and express their own individual styles. Processes of mural design, application of elements of art and principles of design as well as composition could be introduced as well.I would also share with my students the history and evolution of graffiti and street art, and introduce to them some

local and international street artists and artworks. While Singapore’s street art scene is growing and receiving more recognition and appreciation, it is also important for students to be aware of the contemporary issues surrounding street and public art.

Inspired!

The experience from CAPS! has definitely reignited my interest in street art. Working collaboratively with a group of teacher-artists, we will be creating a graffiti-inspired artwork for aedge 2020 to explore this art form even further. While we celebrate graffiti and street art becoming a globally-recognised medium of artistic expression, we also need to understand its influence, impact on society and how it is deeply rooted in today’s visual culture. As art educators, I feel it is important for us to be informed and for us to keep ourselves abreast of the art trends. We need to constantly seek to understand different contemporary art forms.

street art, the difficulties and challenges he faces as an artist and advocate. His sharing made me realise that street art goes beyond the aesthetics – it is a vehicle for expression and a platform for artists to showcase their self-identities, history, culture and even messages.

Lin Lifen ColeneArt CoordinatorHoly Innocents’ High School

CAPS! 2019:

A Self-Care Guide: Teacher-Artists’ Edition

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Key Takeaways

Over the 5-day workshop, our group had opportunities to learn and hear

from the 4 guest speakers- Yoko, Renee Ting, Pixie Tan and Guo Liang on their own personal encounters, challenges and experiences in making or pursuing art. Through their sharing, we learnt how art could be used to practise self-care, develop resilience and passion for their individual craft. The many conversations and dialogues enabled us as teachers to reflect and also to understand the various challenges that our students might face if they choose to pursue art as their career or profession. In this VUCA 21st century, we have the responsibility to guide our students to be open and ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

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Through Yoko’s sharing on self-care, we learnt about the three-ring theory and the importance of safeguarding the outermost circle of the ring -- our personal boundaries. This is the key to better work-life balance and self-care; we should not let other elements spill over into our personal space and time.

During the workshop, we were also engaged with various book-making activities such as making books anew again via destruction, learning the kettle stitch, and using old catalogues, pamphlets with other materials to create book sculptures. These activities served as good ideas to be shared with our students. We could think about the ways through which we approach paper and text as a medium so as to engage our students in critical thinking and help them perceive books in a different light.

Our project

Learning alongside fellow art teachers through this workshop, we had the opportunity to share and listen to issues faced by both beginning teachers and experienced teachers. Through these discussions, we came to realisation that we are not alone in facing similar issues as art educators. The shared experience led us to develop our book project- Never Say Earlier.

Each section of the book - Never Say Earlier was created by the eight teacher-participants with Michael Lee mentoring us throughout the process. Working collaboratively to support one another through the process was the key to our success in completing the book within the short time frame. The ideas gained from the collaborations and discussions helped us to conceptualise our book – the content and how the book should be presented. This experience of us working together echoed the importance of group work in our classrooms where students learn from the process, the fundamental skills of working as a collective unit toward a common goal, time management, resource allocation and communication skills.

CAPS! 2019:

Beyond the Surface Workshop by David Chan

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“Seemingly straightforward processes can make a really

big difference in guiding students to think with an inquisitive and creative

mind.”Hadi

“A fun and approachable way to teach the processes of artmaking to students who are afraid to take

risks. It allows students to experiment, make mistakes

and learn from them.”Hafifah

“Giving time and space for students

to explore. The emphasis on

processes such as abstraction and

painting systems was a refreshing take.”Tan Wanxin Sherry

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“Loved how David incorporated other knowledge and learning into making art, i.e. using paper to make a compass to draw perfect circles; using mathematics to calculate the measurements of a pyramid without the use of rulers or calculators. These are little practical tricks that will intrigue learners and we can easily bring them back into our classrooms.”Lilian

“A practical treasure chest of takeaways

for use in the classroom!”

Wendy

“Scaffolding of learning activities to allow the difficult task of visualisation from 2D to 3D. There is no one fixed way to exploration but multiple possibilities to solving a problem.”Sharon

“Simple and approachable strategies to guide students in the explorative and experimental processes.”Charmaine

“I learnt a lot from David – how to design a lesson with both fun and

meaningful elements. The way he introduced EOA is very engaging

and students could understand and apply them to their own art

making. This should be the way we carry out our

lessons!”Susan

“I really like David’s way of addressing gaps especially when it comes to exploring

different mediums. His method of scaffolding questions and/

processes in his lessons is something very much

appreciated.”Liling

“It’s all about abstraction! We start with something and went

on to remove all traces of reality...We pick out the elements -- be it colour, form or just patterns

and try simplifying. The exercise of abstracting and getting

our fellow teachers to guess what each of us have drawn

exemplified the use of inquiry skills in teaching abstraction.”

Choy Yoke

Joyce Chia Keh LingSubject Head (Aesthetics) West Spring Secondary School

CAPS! 2019:

The Stories in the Sculpt with Sam Lo

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Super Sculpey Super Play – Igniting the Joy of Learning in Art Teachers

A group of art teachers came together for this CAPS! workshop to get creative with polymer clay and epoxy

putty. Together with Singaporean artist, Sam Lo and sculptor Daniel Yu, we went through a journey of exploring the creative processes to create our very own sculpted ‘Art Toys’.

Teacher-artists engrossed in creating their art toys. We were given a theme -- Our ‘alter ego’, and we each created a character depicting our persona and personality.

carving a wax surface whilst working with tools as the clay holds what you add or subtract from the form. Impressions do not “pinch” or “drag” the clay; sharp edges are easy to create and overall, the clay feels very malleable.

Why did I Sign up for CAPS! 2019 – The Stories in the Sculpt

Influenced by the craze of the toy-making industry in pop culture, I was keen to try toy sculpting for myself. Consumer demand has made designer toys a booming business -- fan conventions like Comic-Con International and specialty toy shops draw big crowds. Designer toys, whether oversized or pocket-sized, are typically made from materials like resin, vinyl or wood. Some are original designs by urban artists, but most have pop-culture roots. The entertainment industry has been quick to license characters for designer toys to promote movies, TV series and video games.

It was also timely for me to learn toy-sculpting as I wanted to explore sculpting techniques to further develop my art practice, and to prepare for my art lessons on character design. As art teachers, I believe that we are also learners, and being involved in hands-on art-making enables us to enrich the learning we bring to our students. Having gone through the processes, we are better able to connect with our students in terms of the subject matter, help them be aware of their artistic strengths and weakness and appreciate the artistic process as a journey filled with ambiguity, failures and successes.

Exploring a new fun medium

Super Sculpey and Epoxy Putty are new mediums to me.

Initially, I found them challenging to work with, but with practice I became more familiar handling them. Super Sculpey has a medium density that could be softened a little by kneading the clay. It feels like

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A Reflective Learning Art Journey through:

PLAYINGEngaging the mind with fun activities, feeding the mind with knowledge without judgement or consequences.

CREATINGPersonal interpretation of an ‘Alter-Ego’ manifested through intention and self-discovery.

INVESTIGATINGSelf-directed learning through exploration and experimentation with medium.

REFLECTIONSharing our thinking processes and outcomes through articulation of our ideas and showcase of artworks.

Recounting the Journey of Toy Sculpting: Telling Our Stories

The symbolic representation of our ‘alter-ego’ character that we created is part of the creative play scenario — we had to investigate, explore and play with the Super Sculpey to understand how it worked before we created our final artwork. We examined the material with curiosity and interest. It was a playful exploration of materials, trial and error, and a process of self-discovery. This was when I began to understand that I was not just creating art. I was telling my story. The sessions were about telling our individual stories and childlike fantasies through our artworks.

Awakening Our Inner Artist at STAR

Creating your own art puts you at the heart of the art-making process. We create our stories. What is yours?

Our Journey in Creating Art Toys:

In a rich learning environment led by Sam Lo and Daniel Yu, we began our exciting art making sessions, investigating our ideas and challenging ourselves with the new mediums -- Super Sculpey and Epoxy Putty. Ideating through sketches and research, all the teacher-participants began to translate our discoveries and endless possibilities through sculpting.

“Everything you can imagine is

real.”Pablo Picasso

Megan MiaoArt Teacher

Jurong Pioneer Junior College

Reframing Art Teachers as Active Art Practitioners

In the Pre-Vernissage panel at aedge 2019, the art teachers fraternity comes together to discuss the importance of art practice and the processes, thoughts and concerns that surfaced through the work of the teacher-artists.

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Art theorist Thierry de Duve proposed in 2009 that the art school of the future will not take the form of a building run by professionals,

but a “mode of transmission of art” to individuals who are artists. Such a proposition implies that teachers of art are inherently art practitioners first and foremost, in order to be capable of “transmitting” art. Although de Duve may be speaking of dedicated art schools (as opposed to mainstream education) and although he refers to a hypothetical future, we can already find such art practitioners within our fraternity who take on a dual role as art teachers. In this essay I refer to art practitioners as those who maintain an artistic practice1 through experimentation and sustained developmental processes. I will examine the benefits of and needs for the teacher-artist model, the challenges present, and evaluate the sustainability of this dual role.

In late 2018, I had the pleasure of scrolling through a Google Sheet, with descriptions of the most fascinating art practices exploring a range of rich thematic concerns and revealing a set of complex and thoughtful artistic dispositions and processes. Stretching one’s imagination along divergent directions, these submissions by art teachers to aedge2 2019 shared a common alignment and impulse to make art – to practise. Research shows that art practice creates intentional learning for art teachers and allows them to feel authentic. The desire to practise is also evidenced in numerous teacher-artists who maintain a practice external of the fraternity3 . These impulses are supported by the integration of studio practice into pre-service training at NIE and a range of professional development opportunities offered by STAR once an art teacher enters service.

1 Here the word “maintain” is not tied to any particular frequency or level of achievement. The word “practice” is also used loosely to cover a range of artistic pursuits across a non-exhaustive list of media and processes, such as - and in no means limited to - exhibiting in individual or group exhibitions, writing for art publications, running a craft project.2 aedge, an acronym for “Art Educators’ Developmental and Generative Explorations”, is an annual teacher-artist art exhibition organised by STAR.3 Some notable examples include Sarah Choo, who has exhibited her work at the Venice Biennale and whose work has been collected by local and international individuals and institutions, as well as Priscilla Tey, Illustrator and Author of “In-Between Things”

Art teachers make a natural transition to being practitioners. Like the artist, art teachers respond to external stimuli and seek to reflect the zeitgeist through carefully crafted learning experiences. And just like the artist, art teachers experiment with materials and concepts to create new meaning, guided by their experience in facilitating a studio practice for their students. Teacher-artists are also particularly adept at dealing with ambiguity, benefiting the educators’ capacity for creative pedagogy, as well as in preparing students for the VUCA future. However, despite these proven strengths of an art and pedagogical practice that go hand in hand, teacher-artists are still a minority in the fraternity, especially when it comes to sustained exhibition of work.

Why might art teachers find it challenging to maintain an art practice? Firstly, professional development programmes might be too structured and skills based, with exploratory and open-ended practices only supported up to a lesser degree . Secondly, time is a constraint, with a packed school year causing residency programmes to be not viable and limiting exhibition opportunities. This creates a conundrum - while independent studio practice is a necessity in pre-service teacher training in NIE, art teachers’ practice might also be perceived as an additional commitment over and

A semicolon is used to join 2 or more ideas (parts) in a sentence, indicating that those ideas are of equal position or rank. In the context of a;edge 2020, the semicolon signifies giving equal importance to both traditional and contemporary art forms. It also shows how the art forms can come about together seamlessly to create a new form of artistic expression. How they might, when combined, birth a new and more meaningful idea that reflects the lived experience of our time.

a;edge 2020 will be on view at the SOTA Art Gallery between 4 to 13 Mar 2020. This exhibition is brought to you by our team of art teachers!

Guest Curator Tan Wee LitVisual Arts Faculty,SOTA

Teacher-Curators Zaki ZulfakarLead Teacher (Art)Marsiling Sec

Ang Kok YeowArt TeacherZhenghua Pri

Teacher-Programme Managers

Tan Shun RuArt TeacherXinmin Sec

Lee Gim FangSubject HeadLianhua Pri

Teacher-Designers Muhammad RazaliAssistant Year HeadCHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ Sch (Sec)

Poh Shu HuiArt TeacherSt. Stephen’s School

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There will also be a series of teacher-led programmes such as curators’ tour, sharing of artistic processes and art-making sessions lined up. Register your interest with this LINK and look out for more details on our a|edge Facebook page!

Grace Cheng’s work Moonrise in aedge 2019 surfaced her experiences juggling motherhood and teaching work and expresses art making as a form of escapism.

above of their teaching work, not just by colleagues but also by themselves. While the teacher-artist model creates a win-win situation for an individual’s personal development, it also becomes a burden to bear.

In order to resolve these challenges, I propose that the definition of an “art practice” could be reimagined in a way that is infused into, rather than on top of the teaching practice. What does it mean to practice? Our current frame of art practice is production-focused and revolves around individual expression through art objects . Yet in Postmodernism, where the death of painting and sculpture gives way to conceptual and socially-engaged art making processes, perhaps the act of teaching art in itself has already become an artistic action. Joseph Beuys once exclaimed, “Teaching is my greatest work of art.” In teaching students how to think about art, art teachers are modelling not just how to be an artist, but also how to be an art critic, a theorist, an appreciator and more. This transmission of artistic disposition can be seen as a way to practise art. By reframing how we look at art, de Duve’s predictions might already be a reality.

References:

Day, M. (1986). “Artist-Teacher: A Problematic Model for Art Education”: The Journal of Aesthetic Education. 20(4), 38-42.

Lynn, D. (2017). “Art Teachers’ Perceptions of the Relationship between Personal Artistic Creative Work and the Practice of Teaching”: Educational Studies Dissertations. 126.

Smith, W. (1970). “The Teacher as Artist”: The Journal of General Education. 22(3), 209-211.

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Seow_Ai_Wee@moe.gov.sg6664 1556

Seow Ai WeeDeputy Director (Art) & Master Teacher (Art)

Lim_Kok_Boon@moe.gov.sg6664 1502

Lim Kok BoonMaster Teacher (Art)

Victoria_Loy@moe.gov.sg6664 1551

Victoria LoyMaster Teacher (Art)

Chun_Wee_San@moe.gov.sg6664 1547

Chun Wee SanMaster Teacher (Art)

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