Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning (JUAL): Special Issue on the Arts
Pages: 1-3
Foreword:
As an educator who has always embraced and championed alternative methods of learning in the classroom, it has been a sincere pleasure editing this special issue of JUAL (Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning). Kudos to Dr. Carlo Ricci (founder and principal editor of JUAL) for providing me with such a wonderful opportunity!
When it comes to alternative methods of pedagogy, the arts have always figured centrally. Creativity, imagination, innovation, and ingenuity are just a few of the words that come to mind when I think about the inherent value of not just teaching about the arts, but also using art-based approaches as a tool for general teaching. In this special issue of JUAL, we have many interesting thoughts and perspectives from scholars of diverse backgrounds.
John Vitale
Project of Heart: Art Installation and Alternative Settings Placement in Teacher Education
Pages: 4-32
Abstract:
This paper is a self-study between an Assistant Professor and a Teacher Candidate as they curated an arts-based installation as part of an Alternative Settings Placement at Trent University School of Education in Peterborough, Ontario. The installation focused on the legacy of residential schools, with Teacher Candidates creating artifacts that represented their learning and commitment to truth and reconciliation. The results of this project include analysis of the authors’ interactions throughout the project under the themes of pedagogy, problem solving, and personal growth. This project is significant to education, exploring alternative teaching placements, faculty and teacher candidate mentorship, and using arts-based creation methods for awareness and activism.
Katie Tremblay and McKenna Jackson
Akinoomaage Manidoo-giizis: Learning on the land from the land, the land as teacher in the 13th Moon (Spirit Moon)
Pages: 33-37
Abstract:
In this arts-informed piece, I envision an encounter during the Spirit Moon. My Indigenous worldview reminds me that all things are interconnected in my culture as I move around the medicine circle in the physical world from the west to the north direction. Visioning our ways with All My Relations.
Jonathan Pitt
Digital Stories: Using an Arts-Based Approach for Social Justice Learning
Pages: 38-59
Abstract:
This paper explores the use of an arts-based assignment, the creation of a digital story, in a mandatory Diversity and Inclusion course for Bachelor of Education students (future educators). Our paper explores the rationale for using experiential learning to develop students’ social justice self-efficacy to counter dysconsciousness and outlines the process we implemented to scaffold the students’ creation of their digital stories. It is our belief that through the creative, interactive, and reflective process of an art-based assignment, TCs become cognitively, somatically, and emotionally absorbed in a process that encourages critical awareness and, ultimately, transformation.
Christine Cho and Julie Corkett
Teacher Reflections on Students’ Learning in a Music Composition Project
Pages: 60-92
Abstract:
Sound Connections: Composing educational music is a multi-year, multi-site research project in which professional composers composed new music for young musicians. This article focuses on teachers’ reflections on the students’ learning through their participation in the project. The teachers listed specific rhythmic skills needed: percussive sounds below bridge; tremolo (pulsating rhythm); pizzicato; accented syncopation; varied and complex rhythm patterns; pivoting from notes of different durations; quick string crossings; tempo contrasts; and body percussion. Bowing skills, such as bow placement and articulations, were also required for the newly created compositions. First and third position fingerings, including the half position involving quick change patterns for accidentals, were essential. The jazz slide, portamento, and swells on long notes needed to be learned. Harmonics, both artificial and on open strings, also had to be taught. Further, exaggerated slow tempo (unison breathing) and quick tempo and metre changes had to be learned. Whole class (ensemble), group (sectionals) and independent work, research and practice were assigned. These were shaped through lectures, workshops, seminars, and individual conferencing. Demonstration occurred through teacher/peer modelling and watching videos. Drills and rote learning applied to practicing and memorization. Isolating problems and chunking were used to add more complex goals in progressive terms of easy to difficult and slow to fast. The findings will be interest to composers writing music for young musicians, teachers of strings in classrooms and private music studios, and to those teaching music composition in school and post-secondary settings.
Bernard W. Andrews