The first few paragraphs of the Design chapter told a story that I knew I had heard before. A story that I would not forget, and will likely influence my future days as a teacher. The older students get, the less likely they are to believe that they are artists holding creative power. This is a problem. I want to teach my students from an early age that they are artists, and have powerful voices. The other part of the problem is driven by society's tendency to discount the value of design. I love the way that John Heskett simplifies design, "[D]esign, stripped to its essence, can be defined as the human nature to shape and make our environment in ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives." What a beautiful way to explain design. When design is considered in that context, design fills nearly every corner of our world, and shapes how we live.
L- Directed thinking - utility (logic)
R- Directed thinking - significance (creativity)
I thought the mention of L- and R- directed thinking was genius. When the two hemispheres of the mind work together, amazing things can happen. The problem is, in our current school system, we often ask students to only use these hemispheres separately. In art we have the opportunity to teach our students to use both sides of the brain. In my future classroom, I hope to develop not just the right side of the brain, but the whole brain, and everything in between.
L- Directed thinking - utility (logic)
R- Directed thinking - significance (creativity)
I thought the mention of L- and R- directed thinking was genius. When the two hemispheres of the mind work together, amazing things can happen. The problem is, in our current school system, we often ask students to only use these hemispheres separately. In art we have the opportunity to teach our students to use both sides of the brain. In my future classroom, I hope to develop not just the right side of the brain, but the whole brain, and everything in between.
I agree with you. We should be bombarding our students with the artist identity. When we play the game "That's me!" at the beginning of the year and I say, "I am an artist!" most of my 6th graders stand up. My 7th graders are quite hesitant. They will stand when I say, "I create!" but the honor of being an artist seems reserved only for a brave few. The class seems separated at first like we ask students to do with their brains. Only right, only left, when we see over and over that our community and our thought power is much stronger together!
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