Fables and Facts: Learning Truth through the Arts

• The ABCs of Student Videos
• Tell Me a Story
• The Play's the Thing
• Novel Study in the Round
• His Teaching Assistants are Puppets
• True Lies
• The ABCs of Poetry
• Standing in the Spotlight
• Artful Learning
• Learning the Lines

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No one really believes that Aesop saw a crow dropping stones into a wine jug to raise the level of the liquid closer to his beak, but everyone recognizes the essential truths of the story. All of Aesop's fables tell us that we have to find creative solutions to problems, learn to see the world in a different way and keep trying without getting discouraged.

Our communication- and information-based economy places great emphasis on hard facts and verifiable truths. Employers (and parents) want schools to teach solid knowledge and measurable skills. Increasingly, arts education - music, drama and fine arts - is seen as an unnecessary frill.

This trend concerns many teachers - not all of them arts teachers, either - who see the arts, the realm of creativity, imagination, exploration and expression, as vital to education. Like Aesop's fables, the arts may work through the medium of fiction, but truth is the message.

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The ABCs of Student Videos

A good movie can make you lose track of time; it seems to have barely begun and then it is over. A lot of time and effort go into creating such a captivating production, "far more time than people realize," comments Jack Trovato, drama teacher at Alpha Secondary School in Burnaby, British Columbia. Trovato and his fellow Prime Minister's Award recipients Kevin Harrison and Gaston Comeau each provide many opportunities for their students to create engaging videos, both in class and as entries in film contests.

Harrison of Timberline Senior Secondary in Campbell River, British Columbia, suggests following an 11-step process for guiding and evaluating student video productions. His students create public information videos for a wide variety of clients, including the United Way and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Depending on the subject and the team, a two-minute video takes two to three weeks of classroom time to prepare (each class is 75 minutes long) plus some homework time, he reports.

• Brainstorm ideas. Evaluate the brainstorming. "It's easy for the students to get carried away at this stage," warns Comeau, who teaches middle immersion French at Bridgewater Elementary School in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. His students enter their science videos in a provincial science fair. "They get a lot of entertaining ideas and I have to guide them back to science content for the competition." Three years ago, Comeau's students produced an award-winning video using the model of television weather reporting to describe weather disasters around the world.
• Pick an idea. Look for a "hook," an image that will stay with viewers when the video is over. This is the stage at which the teacher can steer students towards ideas reflecting issues of social responsibility, comments Harrison.
• Pitch your idea. Explain the idea to a group to determine whether it is of interest. Gather feedback on the idea, foresee problems and solicit volunteers.
• Script it. Write out the story with dialogue and action. Evaluate the scripting process and script. Most of Trovato's students' time and effort are spent during this scripting process, Trovato explains. "It surprises them how much work is involved, unlike putting on a stage production with an existing script."
• Create a storyboard. Draw the major scenes showing placement of characters, props and camera angles. Evaluate the storyboard process and storyboard. Many curriculum outcomes in language arts, science, technology and art can be covered during the scripting and storyboarding process, comments Comeau.
• Create a needs list. Determine how many cameras, tripods, costumes, sets, crew members and cast members are needed for the project, and which community and school resource people you will need to contact. "The middle of the shoot, with community sponsors and volunteers standing around, is the worst time to discover you need an extra set of lights because the outdoor light level has changed!" explains Harrison.
• Hold a production meeting and rehearsals. Evaluate the production meeting and rehearsals. This stage is necessary to ensure that everyone has a role to play and knows his or her responsibilities, points out Harrison.
• Shoot the video. Be sure to include plenty of close-ups and medium-distance shots. "This can be labourious and monotonous," remarks Trovato. Every camera shot must be set up and checked, then every scene may need to be shot several times to get it right. "It can be hard to keep the emotions alive at this point."
• Edit the video. Add effects such as music, transitions, narrative and titles. "Students often spend a lot of time in this stage, polishing their productions to absolute perfection," says Harrison.
• Screen the video. Seek out feedback. Evaluate the finished product and the criticism offered. Even with this long, painstaking process, the results can be wildly imaginative and energetic, says Trovato. Recent student productions in his classes include a documentary called The Life of a Paper Ball, with voice-over narration as a paper ball rolls around the school, and The X-Files Gone Weird.
• Re-edit and improve the video using the feedback gathered at the screening. Creating a video may take a lot of time, but it is well worth the effort, agree the teachers. Students gain valuable experience, pride in their accomplishments and confidence in their abilities.

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Tell Me a Story

"The arts offer a wealth of human emotions and experience. Literature, drama and poetry may be just ink and paper, but with thought and creativity you can bring them to life," says Jack Trovato, who teaches drama at Alpha Secondary School in Burnaby, British Columbia. The arts tell stories, he explains, and stories, whether they are fact or fiction, are always about the human condition.

"And the story is always bigger than the storyteller," adds Robert Heidbreder. A story needs listeners to bring their own perspectives to it and to share the experience of living through the story together, he says. With songs, poems and a cast of fantastic handmade puppets, Heidbreder creates new stories every day for his Grade 1 students at General Gordon Elementary School in Vancouver.

Listeners' various perspectives bring another dimension to the story, Heidbreder continues. Since stories are told through words, and everyone hears and interprets the words differently, listening to a story together becomes a way for students to learn that we all see the world differently.

This is not just a lesson for elementary students, either, points out Karen Douziech. "It's my job as an English teacher to assist students as they sift through all the nuances of a piece of literature, to help them find and explore all the layers of meaning," says the English and theatre appreciation teacher at McNally High School in Edmonton. Her eyes sparkle with her passion for, in her words, "making ideas soar in the students' imaginations."

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The Play's the Thing

Teaching the arts is one of the best ways to teach critical-thinking skills, Douziech maintains, because art allows us to "play" with ideas in order to develop critical analysis and perspective. Deeply puzzling questions - such as Why are we here? What is my purpose in life? What is truth? - are transformed into concepts students can manipulate and explore in Douziech's class. Her innovative literature circles encourage students to approach a literary work as a strange new territory (which, in fact, it is) that they as a team must chart and explore (see "Novel Study in the Round," below).

The role of play is central to these teachers' view of the importance of the arts in education. The playfulness of the arts invites children into learning, remarks Heidbreder. When he creates a puppet adventure for his Grade 1 students (see "His Teaching Assistants are Puppets," below), the narrative gives the metaphor and connections to the learning for the child. Figuring out that Vaporia the steam elf has sent them a letter by the steam marks on the paper, then deciding among themselves how to catch her - taking into account, of course, the properties of steam - actively engages the children in their learning. "Learning through play links thought to action and action back to thought, orders the children's impressions and observations and leads them into higher level thinking," Heidbreder explains.

Play also creates a safe environment for exploration and, ultimately, for learning, comments Peter Gallant. Teaching instrumental music at Summerside Intermediate School in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, he hears a lot of false notes and bad timing. This is to be expected, he says; every beginning music student makes mistakes. But it is only through those mistakes that they improve. "Every child has a unique expression mode that they need to find and develop in order to communicate. The arts give the child the opportunity to click 'undo' in a safe place, without fear of criticism or detrimental impact on their lives."

"The arts both present the idea and become the result; play is the action that makes the art," declares Trovato. "It's not just fooling around. It's purposeful play, even if it's not immediately obvious." When his students joke and dance around the stage during an improvisational exercise, they are not wasting time. Not only are they learning valuable acting skills, but they are also discovering many of the universal truths of the human experience. (For information on how Trovato and fellow high school drama teacher Kim Lewis evaluate their students' drama work, see "Evaluating the Dramatic Moment".)

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Novel Study in the Round

The "away team" from the starship McNally sets out on a mission to explore the world of To Kill A Mockingbird. A team leader, a graphic engineer to make artistic interpretations, a mapmaker to chart the world, a sociologist to study the inhabitants and a recorder to record the findings work together to explore this strange world as fully as possible.

Karen Douziech's English students at McNally High School in Edmonton have embarked on a "literature circle." After choosing a novel to study (their choices are To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham or Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher-Staples), they spend the following four to six weeks reading the novel section by section, sharing their impressions and discussing their conclusions. This is the same amount of time Douziech would spend on a traditional novel study. "But by the end of a literature circle, every student in the class has read the novel cover to cover, where previously there'd always be five or six who hadn't read the book," she explains.

Douziech usually gives the students a choice of three novels (though a literature circle can be done with a variety of genres). When the students have chosen the novel they would like to study, she divides them into groups according to their choices and begins devising exploratory activities (the Star Trek-style "away team" is just one example). Occasionally, she has the whole class study one piece of literature at the same time, though still divided into teams.

The teams take four days to study each section of the novel. Douziech monitors each team's progress by visiting them once every two days and providing a chart of specific tasks to carry out for each section of the novel. Students read the novel at home, then spend the classroom time doing the exploratory activities they are assigned.

This process gets around the tendency of some students to ride the coattails of their more conscientious classmates, Douziech explains. "If they don't do the work, they can't contribute to the discussion. They get left out and feel left behind."

When Douziech first read Harvey Daniels' book about literature circles in elementary schools, Literature Circles, Voice and Choice in the Student-Centred Classroom, she thought, "What a way to play!" And what better way to learn than to play with ideas and interpretations? The playfulness of the exercise engages the students' interest while the specific tasks assigned to each team member provide a focus for his or her reading.

Literature Circles, Voice and Choice in the Student-Centred Classroom is published by Stenhouse. To learn more about literature circles, visit LiteratureCircles.com.

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His Teaching Assistants are Puppets

Each year, a meek little character shyly joins the children in Robert Heidbreder's Grade 1 classroom at General Gordon Elementary School in Vancouver. Her name is PTK (Potato-Tomato Ketchup) and she is a snail.

When PTK begins to speak in her squeaky high-pitched voice, the children begin to smile. When PTK gains courage and becomes bold and silly, they break into giggles. This is how Heidbreder welcomes children to his classroom. After all, if PTK - with her silly name and funny voice - has the courage to come to school, school can't be all that scary, can it?

"I began using puppets to bring some fun into the classroom, but I was amazed at the impact on the children," Heidbreder explains. Smaller and sometimes less smart, honest or kind than his young students, the puppets were "wildly empowering," he found. The interaction between puppets and children sets the classroom apart from the confusing, mysterious world full of big people and big problems. It becomes a world where child order reigns.

Heidbreder uses his cast of colourful and zany puppets to entice and guide his students into learning. Some of the puppets are entertainers, telling puns and wild stories; some (like the cranky spiders Doris and Morris) introduce units of learning, while others lead the children on adventures of exploration and problem solving. All teach that learning is safe, exciting and fun!

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True Lies

And what universal truths can students learn through the arts that they would miss otherwise?

"First of all, we can learn what it means to be human," says Heidbreder. Stories can show us how the human mind and heart tick, that we all have flaws and mistakes, fears and unknowns. And when we look at our own lives as story, we begin to understand that our lives are not fixed, he points out. Just as different people's interpretations take a story to different conclusions, we can re-invent and re-direct our own lives.

"Learning that we all share the same emotions, and that happiness, sadness, fear and joy transcend race, ethnic background or boundaries, helps build bridges to other people," observes Trovato. Exploring the truth of our shared humanity through the arts broadens students' horizons, builds empathy and understanding, and creates citizens of the world. "The students begin to see their own ethnocentric perspectives and learn to move beyond them," he says.

Perspective is critical, agrees Douziech. It is one of the truths revealed through the arts. By showing a variety of perspectives, the arts show us that there is not one set Truth. Students learn that they need to be tolerant of all perspectives, while making a choice of which perspective and which truth apply to them. "When they think they've found Truth, I want them to be sure that they've looked at all aspects, stepped into everyone's shoes and then made a choice of which perspective is right for them."

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The ABCs of Poetry

Robert Heidbreder introduces the joy of language to his Grade 1 students by writing a signature poem for each of the puppets that join the fun in his classroom at General Gordon Elementary School in Vancouver. Using rhythm and rhyme, the children learn to read by chanting the puppet poems, such as this Hallowe'en poem for a little bat puppet.

"I'm Flat the Bat,
I'm Flat the Bat.
I'm not a Rat
I'm not a Cat

I'm Flat the Bat
I'm Flat the Bat,
Now what do you think of that?
Hey!"

Not only is it a perfect tool for word recognition and simple spelling, but this poem is also memorable and fun! Almost without realizing that they are learning, the children develop strong literacy skills as they encounter each puppet, follow its adventures and learn its poems.

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Standing in the Spotlight

"Come on, take a risk!" urges Kim Lewis to her drama students at John McGregor Secondary School in Chatham, Ontario. Lewis leads all her students - whether painfully shy, wheelchair-bound, blind or simply nervous - towards a confident, shining performance in the spotlight. By the end of the school year, each student has made at least one public performance, either in a dramatic production, the school's Remembrance Day ceremony or one of several Christmas performances in the community.

It is scary for the students, but "risk is my secret weapon," Lewis confides. "Not only is it invigorating and exciting to take a risk and succeed, it's what draws the greatest growth from my students." Students discover their full potential when they step outside what is familiar and safe, she says, and when they look back and see what they have accomplished by not settling for "good enough." She has seen remarkable insights and moving performances in classes in which the students have learned to accept risk.

Risk is what motivates and teaches students to be lifelong learners, Lewis concludes. Once students learn that, while it may be scary, stepping outside their comfort zone is worthwhile, they are willing and able to continue moving beyond the safe and familiar as they become adults.

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Artful Learning

In addition, problem-solving skills - so valued in education and the workplace - are developed through studying the arts. Exploring, manipulating and evaluating ideas - in other words, playing with them - develop creativity and imagination, build problem-solving skills and, most importantly, make learning fun, Trovato says.

"Many high-risk students haven't had the permission or opportunity to play," says Patti Sebestyen, who runs the Opening Doors Program, an alternative school in Saskatoon. "They don't see the point to learning because it just isn't fun anymore." Exploring the arts and developing playfulness allow her students to express themselves and give them the creativity to envision a better future for themselves, she says.

"Art and play take time," points out Sherry Taylor, a Grade 5 teacher at George H. Luck School in Edmonton, "and unstructured time for play is becoming increasingly rare." It is because we do not reward risk-taking in the same way as we reward success, says Gallant. Art, play, self-expression and exploration are all about taking risks and making mistakes. The success comes later, sometimes much later.

Even if it does not obviously and immediately connect to other, more academic and fact-based disciplines, the learning of truth through the arts and play is vital to the whole of education, the teachers all insist.

The arts offer a wealth of perspectives for a student to explore, and develop their critical abilities as they examine the lives, experience and opinions of the characters they meet. The arts create empathy, understanding and tolerance for the beliefs of others, and help each student approach learning with an open mind. The arts encourage creativity, imagination and risk-taking, skills that easily transfer to problem solving in other disciplines.

"Art and curriculum have the same objectives at heart," concludes Douziech. They both present the truth.

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Learning the Lines

Some works of literature do not need to be brought to life in the classroom - they are already coming to life at a local theatre. Taking students to watch live theatre brings another dimension of appreciation and understanding to a work, enthuses Karen Douziech, who teaches English and theatre appreciation at McNally High School in Edmonton.

Douziech's theatre appreciation course grew out of her involvement with Edmonton's Citadel Theatre Students' Club, she explains. Students attend a short reception with appetizers - "Food is always an attraction for teenagers!" she chuckles - a pre-show lecture from Citadel staff about some aspect of theatre and a theatre performance, followed by a post-show lecture with actors and the director talking about their interpretation of the work.

"I suggested to the students that keeping a club theatre journal with a record of the plays they'd seen and their responses would be really helpful to them - just as keeping a record of the novels one reads is a useful tool." Some of the students' journals were remarkable works themselves, she reports, with hand-drawn sketches of sets and costumes and long descriptions of the staging and performances.

When students suggested that this much work should earn credits, Douziech agreed and approached the school board about creating a theatre appreciation course. Grades 10, 11 and 12 students take the cross-grade course at one of two levels: beginner or intermediate (which requires more work on the students' part). Each class reads two of the season's six plays, attends the Students' Club performances, maintains a theatre journal and makes a presentation to the class about one of the plays. Guest speakers from the Citadel Theatre regularly visit the class to discuss some aspect of theatre and theatre production.

Despite the success of the program and the wide-ranging benefits of arts education, Douziech is concerned that the theatre appreciation course may not survive a rumoured change to the Alberta high school curriculum that will remove all additional English credits.