The Courage of an Artist

“When it is work, people try to figure out how to do less.  When it is art, people try to figure out how to do more.  Thus the question: Will this be on the test?”  --Seth Godin

Humor me for a minute.  I want to ask a question that may not have a good answer and may even make you mad:

How can we get students as emotionally and mentally involved in our academic final exams and projects as they are in creating art—both musical and visual?

The simple answer might be, “We can’t.”  Yet we have all seen glimpses and possibilities.

The Background:

Hamilton Southeastern Choir performing a medley from Wicked

I stood backstage several Fridays ago and watched our choir seniors perform their final song together as a class.  The performance was outstanding, and emotions ran high.  After the show, there were hugs all around.  Smiles and tears were evident in equal numbers.  The performance was a fitting conclusion to an outstanding evening of music featuring hits from Broadway musicals.  These seniors put in a tremendous amount of time, energy, and work to make the show a success.

Choir students are not the only artists pouring their energy, talents, and hearts into the end of the year performances.  HSE Wind Ensemble will soon play at the Palladium, the Orchestra students have their final concert Monday, and throughout the school student artwork is on exhibit.  All of these artists take the risk of putting themselves and their work out for public display.  It is an act of courage.

 

Self Portrait by Katherine Thomas
Used with permission 

What is school for?

This past week, I watched Seth Godin’s TED Talk on changes coming to education.  I quoted him at the top of this entry.  It might be worth reading his words again.  In his TED Talk, he asks the essential question, “What are schools for?”  He explains that during the Industrial Era, the purpose was clear:  Schools were designed to create compliant and interchangeable students who could work in factories and become consumers.  (He points out that these institutions were even called “normal” schools.)  Today, this purpose is neither what our world nor our students need.

Godin argues that an educational system designed to create compliance cannot generate creative, independent, problem-solvers.  It will not generate passion.  Who, for example, can be creative if there is only one right answer, and who can become passionate about a multiple-choice test or reading a chapter in a textbook and answering the questions at the end? 

Another Possibility?

Think of times when you have seen students do much, much more than you asked or expected.  Recall those days when students became fully engaged and invested in an assignment, when they become so interested in the doing and learning that the question “Will this be on the test?” never came into consideration.  Think of classes where students argued passionately about a topic, discussed deeply and thoroughly, or were so interested that they researched on their own and came back with new and innovative ideas. 

When this happens, students are creating and co-creating.  We have all experienced this phenomenon, and when it happens, we are every bit as energized as the students.  Together, we become part of the creative process.  It is the difference between work and art that Godin speaks of. 

The Question Again

Is it possible to get students in all classes as excited, as energized, as committed to a final exam as the choir, orchestra, band, and art students are to their final performances and products?  The answer may depend on our definition of what makes a final exam.  What if a final exam wasn’t something students took?  What if it was something students gave? 

In traditional academic classes, we don’t typically have performances or shows, nor do we often see students fully committed to the creative process associated with the arts.  I would argue that doesn’t mean we don’t try to move students in that direction.  As we continue to think about performance assessments, our definitions of what makes a final could change.

One or the Other: A False Dichotomy

Education is a wonderful profession, and one of the joys is that we don’t have to do what we have always done.  We can experiment and try new approaches.  Maybe we can’t design exams and assignments that encourage and create the emotional energy required of the students who sang and danced to the songs of Wicked last Friday night, and maybe we can’t create a traditional test that personally involves a student to the degree of the huge self-portraits we see in our hallways.

On the other hand, we can include performance assessments that give choice, involve student interests and passions, or provide authentic audiences.  It is not like we have to do one and not the other.  We can give a traditional final exam, and we can include engaging performance assessments.  The art of teaching also involves creativity, passion, and perseverance.  No artist creates a masterpiece on the first attempt, and neither will we.  We can, however, persevere on our journey to inspire excellence. 

Henri Matisse said, “Creativity takes courage.”  Do we dare, like our students, to be artists?

Have a great week, HSE.

Phil

• “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep.”  --Scott Adams
• “Every  child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”  --Pablo Picasso
• “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”  --Arthur O’Shaughnessy