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"We cannot limit learning to verbal, intellectual, logical forms. We also learn with our emotions, our imaginations, our muscles, through sound and touch . . . THE
PROJECT THEREFORE RECOGNIZES THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENT WAYS TO LEARN AND
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE MINORITY CHILD LEARNS BETTER THROUGH .METHODS
MOT CURRENTLY EXPLORED TO THEIR FULLEST POTENTIAL. What are the first learning experiences? How does the Indochinese child differ from the Hispanic child? How can the educator hope to bridge the gap that exist because of these differing backgrounds Is it possible to develop a formula that would be all successful, a panacea for the ills of education, an educational answer to the rapidly changing demands put on society by its twentieth century world wide mobility. This project say yes. It is first necessary to recognize an expanded dimensional awareness for solutions and then be brave enough to attempt to implement what may appear to be too soft, too easy a solution. A solution which takes aspects from our ancient past tied to the dominate aspects of the present. A solution which which recognizes the holistic approach to learning. A solution which does not exist any where in the nation. The U.S. Department of Education has been contacted. Mew Haven Art Consortium, Boston City Schools, plus a survey of the literature has revealed that no where in the United States is there a program such as we propose. The project adheres to the following hypotheses concerning basic learning: 1. ALL STUDENTS ENTER SCHOOL WITH PREVIOUS LEARNING. 2. LEARNING IS A PROCESS WHICH TAKES PLACE ON MANY LEVELS. 3. MAXIMIZING SENSORY INVOLVEMENT OR THE HOLISTIC APPROACH INCREASES LEARNING POTENTIAL. 4. THERE ARE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING WHICH AFFECT LEARNING. 5. THERE ARE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN RECOGNIZING MANIFESTATIONS OF INTELLIGENCE WHICH AFFECT LEARNING. 6. THERE ARE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN ALLOWING PERSONALITY TRAITS TO DEVELOP WHICH INFLUENCE LEARNING, SUCH AS AGGRESSIVE AND SUBMISSIVE BEHAVIOR. 7. THERE ARE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARDS AUTHORITY, MALE-FEMALE ROLES, AND CORRECT SOCIAL BEHAVIOR WHICH AFFECT LEARNING. 8. A STUDENT'S RESPECT FOR HIS OWN CULTURAL HERITAGE LEADS TO A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE, AND A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE LEADS TO INCREASED LEARNING POTENTIAL. 9. STRONG FAMILY TIES PRODUCE A MORE CONFIDENT INDIVIDUAL WHICH RESULTS IN INCREASED LEARNING POTENTIAL. 10. TRUE LEARNING IS A CREATIVE, EXCITING ADVENTURE WHICH PRODUCES A GROWING, PRODUCTIVE, POSITIVE, HAPPY STUDENT. 11. TRUE LEARNING IS AN ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIFE WHICH SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD AND TAUGHT FOR THE MAXIMUM BENEFIT TO ALL MEMBERS OF SOCIETY. 12. TRUE LEARNING IS A POSITIVE GROWTH EXPERIENCE LEADING TO CONSTRUCTS ENDS. 13. THE
DESIRE TO LEARN IS INHERENT IN EVERY INDIVIDUAL, ONLY NEGATIVE LEARNING
EXPERIENCES CAN CHANGE WHAT IS A BASIC DRIVE. The
research of Bookover, Erickson, and Joiner (1967) has indicated that
"Students with negative self-images of ability rarely perform well
in school," Using knowledge from the
past to expand and build for the future. Let the student take
from his bicultural, bilingual past and fit it into his future through
fresh, positive experiences. The
balancing scale will not be a seesaw of negative attitudes through
isolation, but an integrated series of positive learning experiences
leading to changed attitudes towards self and learning. Carlton
and Moore (1966, 1968) have shown that "self-directed dramatization
and self-selection of stories can improve the reading skills of
elementary- school children while bringing about favorable changes in
their professed self concepts." Grace E. Lee presented the following view on Asian students at the International Reading Association's 22nd Annual Convention, May 5, 1977. "Teachers can help to expand these children's oral language development by creating an environment that is conducive to spontaneous and creative language activities." Theater activities draw on and challenge the participant on all levels and require personal response and involvement. However, theater participation might be limited to aspect of theater, such as acting or stage crew. The primary reason for this specialization is because most theater activities are performance oriented. Our project will be student oriented. Videotaping will be for feedback purposes and as a stimulus for student goal setting. A major activity will be puppetry. Puppetry challenges the participant in every aspect of theater, from performance, to lights, sound effects, stage and prop construction. It is "mini-theater" in its potential and yet can be engaged in limited facilities. It is a perfect classroom activity for Total Physical Response and is beginning to be recognized for its educational value in the United States. Puppetry is a means for holistic, aesthetic, purposeful learning, a product which can be shared. Videotaped, it can be shared indefinitely. Using puppetry as a means for developing oral language has proven to be highly effective. Perhaps the one outstanding strength which is of importance to the educator and inherent in puppetry is that of relieving undue tension in a learning situation. The puppet has the attention focused on it. The puppeteer is either hidden from view or secondary in the attention of the audience. The student does not have the responsibility for the speech problems of his puppet friend. He has thus been removed from any shame or shyness because of his language inadequacies. The excitement that manipulating a puppet brings to a child encourages his involvement to a high level of intensity and therefore resulting value. His continued interest motivates him to rehearse and again reinforce his learning. Joy Magezis, staff writer for The Puppetry in Education News in an article "Improving Speech Efficiency" sums up the benefits simply. "Puppetry provides children with an acceptable release for their inner conflicts, fantasies and fears-» as well as giving them a medium through which they can successfully communicate and gain confidence." The second inherent quality of value that puppetry has which is of prime concern for the educator is the natural attractiveness puppets. hold for the child. Increasingly we are aware that this affinity is not limited to young children. The most well received "Moppets" on television supports their universal magical appeal. These characters have been seen on every continent. The Sesame program has been translated into 12 languages. The motivation and interest that puppetry involvement can bring into the classroom needs to be tested. In 1978 during the National Convention of the Puppeteers of America, a special seminar on Educational Puppetry was held. Bob Biderman, managing editor of the Puppetry in Education News stated, "Educational puppetry is beginning to come of age in the United States. Although it's certainly nothing new under the sun, the idea of using puppetry as a tool for learning is spreading rapidly in schools, libraries and remedial institutions throughout the country." Forms of puppetry have been seen throughout history. They are and have been used for teaching. From the medicine man in remote villages to the heroic sagas of the Bunraku puppets in Tokyo, puppets have been used to instruct. The third and possibly the most important quality is the total body involvement which puppetry can elicit. In addition, all aspects of the curriculum can and should enter into puppetry, from construction and design, to music and performance. The child can explore history or literature with an eye to dramatic presentation. He can investigate costumes, customs, language for the purpose of script writing. He will construct, manipulate, and perform with a puppet which has special appeal because it is part of his creative expression. Many educational television programs have made use of and currently use puppetry because of its attractiveness to children. However, research indicates that the most effective approach to using television and puppetry is still to be explored. THE STUDENT'S PERSONAL AND ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT IN BOTH IS THE INHERENT STRENGTH AS A LEARNING TECHNIQUE. What is needed is blending the two to maintain a stimulating, challenging,. and yet non-threatening environment where the participant receives constant cues and self-evaluation feedback opportunities through the use of videotaping rehearsals. In addition, final copies of productions would be videotaped. The projects' proposed classroom goal of producing videotapes with puppets is within the scope of each participant and carries within its perimeters almost guaranteed success. This is not to suggest that students would be .producing professional television programs, but rather that the students will be satisfied with their own work and feel, not only a sense of accomplishment, but also a familiarity with the television media, an assurance that they have performing potential, an awareness of the components of theater, and they they were able to take an abstraction, such as a story and give it concrete form. Most educators would agree that this is what a solid "basic skills" education is all about. Learning basic skills and the opportunity to apply them at the same time is a learning environment which can stretch the learning potential of the student, because they can see the application of knowledge in a purposeful, tangible way. This mini-theater approach goes beyond the typical art experiences of the plastic arts, fine arts, or performing arts. This project has the potentia to combine all of the art forms with the resultant quality of a product that can be shared while concurrently reinforcing the self-imaging and self-worth of the student. One of the strongest forces that we have in society today is the tremendous influence of the television media. It has shaped language, changed morals, set standards. In everyway it has influenced not only our country, but cultures in every part of the world. It is necessary for students to become inteligent viewers, particularly the minority, limited English student who views the Anglo world through television. .The mystique of the television world can be easey by involvement on their part in actual producing videotapes. He can learn the components of television production and in the process learn how to be more analytical about what he views. The process of producing tapes will also help him to feel part of the current scene. However what is happening at most schools is that the brighter, cooperative, and more personable students are involved with television equipment. Very few limited English students take advantage of the television classes offered at the secondary level. It is a "foreign world. A world that they don't think of entering. The very experience which could attract and hold their attention is the one experience which they have not enjoyed. Opportunities must be made available. Programs must be developed. The subject matter from
which the students will draw will be world history and world literature.
They will then produce videotapes using scripts developed from
their research. The students
will be encouraged to use history and literature from their own ethnic
background. This will have a
dual purpose of showing respect and interest in their cultural
background and encouraging them into an awareness of the store of
knowledge that they already have. The
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, stresses in their A Better Chance to
Learn: Bi1inguat-Bicultural Education:
"A major aspect of bilingual bicultural education is
inclusion in the curriculum of the child's historical, literary, and
cultural traditions for purposes of strengthening identity and sense of
belong and for making the instructional program easier to grasp." 1. ACCEPTING THE INDIVIDUAL AS OF UNCONDITIONAL WORTH. 2.
PROVIDING A CLIMATE IN WHICH EXTERNAL EVALUATION IS 3.
UNDERSTANDING EMPATHICALLY THE WORLD OF THE STUDENT. As the student learns to
look at himself and his own work objectively, he will. transfer this
faculty to viewing television. It
is this component of viewing himself, the world in general via
television, and ultimately his own culture objectively which is another
dimension of this project. Many
experts argue that the "government
is not doing enough to build esteem; it is imperative to learn
what to accept and what to reject, not only t'n our own cultures, but
within ourselves, and within the world. That
he will gain in oral language skills, research and writing skills, and
construction skills are not questioned.
However these activities are the means whereby the student's
self-image will change in positive, enduring, practical, and concrete
ways. In summary, there are numerous innovative features of the Integrated Dramatic Skills Program approach to specific skill acquisition and attitude changes: 1. The student will search history and literature and learn how to select material appropriate for videotaping. This will afford a totally new approach to reading, an approach which allows an element of evaluation and creative imagination. It also encourages a sense of freedom from censure. The student will learn that many times evaluations of art and life are many times a matter of personal opinion and preference. He will learn that his opinion and preference has merit and worth. 2. Classroom discussion will reveal similarities in the folklore, traditio customs, historical incidents that the students select for adaptation. This will lead to generalizations concerning the basic nature of mankin worldwide. With this approach, the students have brought in their personal selection. It has not been a teachers' choice. This will encourage a sense of personal ownership and value. 3. The student will write a video-script where the emphasis is on the visual and not on grammatical structure. This will enable the student to write in an atmosphere more conducive to creativity. The second step within this aspect is towards the development of second level English skills and writing towards sound grammar usage. 4. The student will learn and develop all the theater components necessary to produce (mount) their script. This is an exercise peculiar to the mini-quality of puppetry. It will encourage an awareness of theater usually reserved for the college theater major. The student will realize that he has the insight and artistic ability to do it. His understanding of other cultures will increase as he incorporates their styles into his background, sets, and costumes. He will gain respect for other cultures. 5. The student will construct appropriate puppets for his videotape. This artistic aspect of the project is innovative in the end result of the student's efforts is not completed with the construction of the article, but rather it is used for the videotaping project. The perspective that the student gains by seeing his work on videotape will greatly enhance his self-image. He will also view others with more respect. 6.
As the student has been developing his script and puppets, he
will be relating all to the eye of the camera.
He will be visualizing or viewing his work on videotape during
each step of the preparation,
i This constant evaluation takes the critical responsibility away
from the teacher and puts it into the hands of the student himself.
This self evaluation on a constant, relaxed basis is an
innovative means for the student to form new images of himself.
Change is immediate. If the set or puppet does not look good, an
immediate change is possible This success potential opens the awareness
for changes in all areas of life.
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