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Study Guide in Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across The Curriculum
Module No. 1

Module No. 12

Arts and Creative Literacy

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MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the unit, the pre-service teacher (PST) can:

a. display knowledge, skills and values in arts and creativity through various forms and activities
b. apply teaching strategies that promote learners’ creative thinking
LEARNING CONTENTS

Artistic Literacy is defined in the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards: A conceptual
Framework for Arts Learning (2014) as the knowledge and understanding required to participate
authentically in the arts. While individuals can learn about dance, media, music, theater, and
visual arts through reading print text, artistic literacy requires that they engage in artistic
creation processes directly through the use of materials (e.g., charcoal or paint or clay, musical
instruments or scores) and in specific spaces (e.g.,concert halls, stages, dance rehearsal
spaces, arts studios, and computer labs).
Researchers have recognized that there are significant benefits of arts learning and
engagement in schooling (Eisner, 2002; MENC, 1996; Perso, Nulton, Fraser, Silburn, & Trait,
2011).

ARTS AND CREATIVE LITERACY. Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.
Moreover, creativity is the ability to see the world in new ways. Therefore, creative individuals exhibit the
ability to switch between different modes of thinking and shift their mental focus that suggests a connection
Between creativity and dynamic interactions of brain network.

DIFFERENT MODES OF THINKING

 Convergent thinking- focuses on reaching one well-defined solution to a problem.
 Divergent thinking- is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many
possible solutions.
 Lateral thinking- the solving of a problem by an indirect and creative approach, typically through
viewing the problem in a new and unusual light.

SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY CREATIVE PEOPLENaiman (2014) Opined that If a person makes A habit
of the seven practices, He/she will be Highly creative In his/her field. Thus, These would help Teachers attain
highest possible level of creativity.

1. Prepare the ground- Creativity requires An absorbed mind, a relaxed state of Focus and attention By
giving the Self- sufficient Time and space Needed while Letting the desire To create from The
pleasure Of Creative expression and inspiration.
2. Plant seeds for creativity- It is important to put attention On what you want to create, not complaints
and set an Intention to produce the desired results. 3
3. Live in the question- Ask questions, instead of trying to find immediate answers and pay attention to
questions that other people ask.
4. Feed you brain- Get interested in something that later can provide you wisdom and ideas if you learn
to make connections between people, places and things that are not usually connected.
5. Experiment and explore- Follow your curiosity, experiment with ideas, and learn from your mistakes
therefore, he quality of your creativity will improve.

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Study Guide in Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across The Curriculum
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6. Replenish your creative stock- You must learn to be self- nourishing and translate hobbies, talents,
and skills into wonderful potentials.
7. Liberate your creativity- Your child’s play provides the clue to your creativity, potentials and passion.
In general, Creativity takes on many forms in business, art, design, education and science. When you express
your creativity in these domains, you have the ability to make life Indeed a work of art.( Naiman, 2011).EYE-

HAND COORDINATION
 Eye-hand coordination- Also known as Hand-Eye coordination Is the coordinated controlof eye
movement with hand movement And the processing of visual input to guide reaching and grosping
along with the use of proprioception of hands to guide the eyes.
 Eye-hand coordination therefore, is the ability of the vision system to coordinate the information
received through the eyes to control, guide, and direct the hands in the accomplishment of a given
task
 Hand-eye coordination Is important for child development and academic success, which is equally
Important among adults to we in countless activities daily.

EXAMPLE OF EYE-HAND COORDINATION

1. In writing- When making lines, the eye send visual information to the brain to tell where the hand
placed and if handwriting is legible.
2. Typing on a keyboard- Although the types of movement are different, but visual information Is
used to tell the brain how to guide the hand or if a mistaken needs to be corrected.
3. When driving- It uses visual information to move the hands on the wheel. Keeping the car In the
middle of the lane and avoiding accidents.
4. In sports- in any sports, the eye usually coordinate with the movement of some part’s of the body
called “ Motor coordination” depending on the sport either hand-eye coordination ( basketball,
tennis, Football etc.) or foot eye coordination (soccer, Track, etc. ) will be more dominant.

Hence, poor hand eye coordination can have variety of causes, but the following are two main
conditions for inadequate hand-eye coordination.
1. Vision impairment- It is a loss vision that makes it hard or impossible of perform daily
tasks without specialized adaptations cawed by loss of visual acuity, in which the eye does
not see objects a clearly as usual
2. Movement disorders- These are characterized by impaired body movement caused by
variety of causes, such as ataxia, which is characterized by lack of coordination white
performing voluntary movements; and hypertonia, a condition marked by an abnormal
increase in muscle tension and reduced ability muscle to stretch.

VISUAL LITERACY
It is a concept that relates to art and design and has much wider application. It is about language,
communication and interaction. Visual media is a linguistic tool, with which we communicate, exchange ideas
and navigate our highly visual digital world.
The term was first coined in 1969 by John Debes, who was the founder to International Visual literacy
Association Debes, explains: “ Visual literacy refers to a group of vision- competencies a human being can
develop by seeing, having and integrating other sensory experiences”
According to Oxford research encyclopedia, visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate and
make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the meaning of literacy, which
commonly signifies interpretation of a written or printed text. It is therefore, based on the idea that picture
can be read and the meaning can be through a process of reading.

VERBAL CREATIVITY
In view of the rapidly increasing complexity of the world. Creativity is more important now than ever
before and is even considered as a useful and effective response to evolutionary change, since it allows the
individual to flexibly respond the continuously changing conditions.

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Study Guide in Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across The Curriculum
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AESTHETIC As the philosophical study of beauty and taste. It is closely related to the philosophy
concerned with the nature of art and the concepts of which individual works of art are interpreted and
evaluated. In perspective, it is an interesting and puzzling realm of experience: the realm of the beautiful,
the ugly, the sublime and the elegant, of taste, criticism and fine art; and of contemplation, sensuous
enjoyment and charm. In all these phenomena, similar principles operate and similar interests are engaged.

THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF AESTHETIC

Aesthetics deals not only with the nature and value of arts but also with those responses to natural objects that
find expression in the language of the beautiful and the ugly. The terms beautiful and ugly are too vague in
application and too subjective in meaning. Everything on earth may be perceived as beautiful by someone
from his/her point of view while different people may use the word differently that often may have little or
nothing in common but all are simply based on judgment.

THREE APPROACHES OF AESTHETICS

1. It is the study of aesthetic concepts or the analysis of "language of criticism," in which particular judgments
are singled out and their logic and justification are presented.
2. It is a philosophical study of certain states of mind. responses, attitudes and emotions that are involved in
aesthetic experience.
3. It is the philosophical study of the aesthetic object that reflects the view that problems of aesthetics exist
because the world contains special objects toward which people react selectively as described in aesthetic
terms

INTEGRATING ARTS AND CREATIVITY LITERACY INTO THE CURRICULUM

1. Physical environment- Design a physical environment to support creativity, such as castle- designed
school building. well-architecturally designed edifice, roofs and ceilings, creative murals, beautiful garden
landscape, colorful blocks and benches in the math and science garden, structured music and arts studio, an
atelier, student lounge. amphitheater, etc.
2. Emotional environment - Take time to create and maintain a climate of respect, caring and support to
someone when making mistakes.
3. Project-based learning (PBL) - Provide students time, space and opportunity to express themselves their
ideas, emotions and insights through arts. Design and plan any projects that are relevant, rigorous and real-
world to attain motivation, engagement and learning.
4. Teach creative thinking skills - Teach students about "metacognition" or "thinking about their thinking"
even to the little ones through the process of brainstorming, reasoning, comparing and contrasting, problem-
solving, concept mapping, analyzing, evaluating and more.
5. Alternative assessments- Instead of just a worksheet or an assignment, provide different authentic
assessment like performance, systems design, product/output making, visual arts creation, task-based, project-
based, portfolio and others provided with rubrics and other forms of metrics.
6. Scheduling- Project-based curriculum and performance based assessment need ample time and proper
scheduling.
7. Student-centered and personalized learning - Provide students freedom to choose on what they will
learn, how they will learn it and how they will demonstrate what they have learned.
8. Incorporate arts- Integrate seamlessly music, art, drama and dance into the curriculum to develop
creativity.
9. Integration of technologies- Encourage students to create and utilize blogs and websites, Glogster, Voice
Thread. student publishing, video game design, coding, filmmaking. photography, global collaborative
classroom projects using Google Hangouts, etc.
10. Preparing the body and brain for creativity - Create activities that induce body-mind integration, such
as yoga, ballet, jazz. zumba, calisthenics, etc.

The flexibility of the forms comprising the arts positions students to embody a range of literate practices to:
● Use their minds in verbal and nonverbal ways;
● Communicate complex ideas in a variety of forms;

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● Understand words, sounds, or images;
● Imagine new possibilities; and
● Persevere to reach goals and make them happen.
The following are summarized by into eight Eliot Eisner valuable lessons or benefits that education can learn
from arts:
1. Form and content cannot be separated. How something is said or done shapes the content of experience. In
education, how something is taught, how curricula are organized, and how schools are designed impact upon
what students will learn. These “side effects” may be the real main effects of practice.
2. Everything interacts; there is no content without form and no form without content. When the content of a
form is changed, so too, is the form altered. Form and content are like two sides of a coin.
3. Nuance matters. To extent to which teaching is an art, attention to nuance is critical. It can also be said that
the aesthetic lives in the details that the maker can shape in the course of creation. How a word is spoken, how
a gesture is made, how a line is written, and how a melody is played, all affect the character of the whole. All
depend upon the modulation of the nuances that constitute the act.
4. Surprise is not to be seen as an intruder in the process of inquiry, but as a part of the rewards one reaps
when working artistically. No surprise, no discovery; no discovery, no progress. Educators should not resist
surprise, but create the conditions to make it happen. It is one of the most powerful sources of intrinsic
satisfaction.
5. Slowing down perception is the most promising way to see what is there. It is true that we have certain
words to designate high levels of intelligence. We describe somebody as being swift, or bright, or sharp, or
fast on the pickup. Speed in its swift state is a descriptor for those we call smart. Yet, one of the qualities we
ought to be promoting in our schools is a slowing down of perception: the ability to take one’s time, to smell
the flowers, to really perceive in the Deweyan scenes, and not merely to recognize what one looks at.
6. The limits of language are not the limits of cognition. We know more than we can tell. In common terms,
literacy refers essentially to the ability to read and to write. But literacy can be re-conceptualized as the
creation and use of a form of representation that will enable one to create meaning that will not take the
impression of language in its conventional form. In addition, literacy is associated with high-level forms of
cognition. We tend to think that in order to know, one has to be able to say. However, as Polanyi (1969)
reminds us, we know more than we can tell.
7. Somatic experience is one of the most important indicators that someone has gotten right. Related to the
multiple ways in which we represent the world through our multiple forms of literacy is the way in which we
come to know the world through the entailments of our body. Sometimes one knows a process or an event
through one’s skin.
8. Open-ended tasks permit the exercise of imagination, and an exercise of the imagination is one of the most
important of human aptitudes. It is imagination, not necessity, that is the mother of invention. Imagination is
the source of new possibilities. In the arts, imagination is a primary virtue. So, it should be in the teaching of
mathematics, in all of the sciences, in history, and, indeed, in virtually all that humans create. This
achievement would require for its realization a culture of schooling in which the imaginative aspects of the
human condition were made possible.

Characterizing Artistically Literate Individuals

Many classroom teachers regularly incorporate arts activities (music, movement and dance, drama/theater,
visual art) into their teaching. Those who describe how their students become more interested and involved
with
the learning at hand, and by doing so, markedly increase literacy skills. These teachers also report that their
students are more likely to remember the content they are learning because they are able to create and actively
express the deeper meanings of that content through drawing, painting, movement, dramatization, singing,
group projects and more. Simply put, learning with and through the arts enlivens instruction, increases student
involvement, and deepens both the meaning and memory of the learning at
hand.
How would you characterize an artistically literate student? Literature on art education and art standards in
education cited the following as common traits of artistically literate individuals:
● Use a variety of artistic media, symbols, and metaphors to communicate their own ideas and
respond to the artistic communication of others;

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Study Guide in Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across The Curriculum
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● Develop creative personal realization in at least one art form in which they continue active
involvement as an adult;
● Cultivate culture, history, and other connections through diverse forms and genres of artwork;
● Find joy, inspiration, peace, intellectual stimulation, and meaning when they participate in the arts;
and
● Seek artistic experiences and support the arts in their communities.

Issues in Teaching Creativity

The arts can function as modes of communication. Creative ideas are expressed through visual images,
sound, movement and drama and, with the assistance of technology, are presented in various forms in the
electronic media. While humans usually communicate verbally, they also use the arts to express their feelings.
On the one hand, body language, vocal inflection and graphic representation can enhance verbal interaction,
but arts expression can also present ideas and meanings that are embedded within the art form itself (Stokes,
S. 2002).
In the famous TED talks on creativity and innovation, Sir Ken Robinsin (Do schools kill creativity? 2006;
How to escape education’s death valley? 2013) stressed paradigms in the education system that hamper the
development of creative capacity among learners. He emphasized that schools stigmatize mistakes. This
primarily prevents students from trying and coming up with original ideas. Because of this painful truth.,
Robinson challenged educators to:
■ Educate the well-being of learners, and shift from the conventional leanings toward academic
ability alone;
■ Give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, and to physical education;
■ Facilitate learning and work toward stimulating curiosity among learners;
■ Awaken and develop powers of creativity among learners; and
■ Views intelligence as diverse, dinamic, and distinct, contrary to common belief that it should be
academic ability-geared.
Douriah, 2001 & Anderson, 2003 proposed four essential components to developing or designing curriculum
that cultivates students’ artistic and
creative literacy. These approaches actively encourage the creative,
constructive thinking involved in meaning which are fundamental to the
development of the systems of reading, writing, and numbering.
1. Imagination and pretense, fantasy and metaphor
A creative curriculum will not simply allow, but will actively support, play and playfulness. The
teacher will plan for learning and teaching opportunities for children to be, at once, who they are and
who they are not, transforming reality, building narratives, and mastering and manipulating signs and
symbols systems.
2. Active menu to meaning making
In a classroom where children can choose to draw, write, paint, or play in the way that suits their
purpose and/or mood, literacy learning and arts learning will inform and support each other.
3. Intentional, holistic teaching
A creative curriculum requires a creative teacher, who understands the creative processes, and
purposefully supports learners in their experiences. Intentional teaching does not mean drill and rote
learning and, indeed,
endless rate learning exercises might indicate the very opposite of intentional teaching. What makes
for intentional teachings is thoughtfulness and purpose, and this could occur in such activities as
reading a story, adding a prop, drawing children’s attention to a spider’s web, and playing with
rhythm and rhyme. Even the thoughtful and intentional imposing of constraints can lead to creativity.
4. Co-player, co-artist
Educators must be reminded of the importance of understanding children as current citizens, with
capacities and capabilities in the here and now. It is vital for teachers to know and appreciate children
and what they know by being mindful of the present and making time for conversation, interacting
with the children as they draw. Teachers must try to avoid letting the busy management work of their
days take precedence and distract them from the ‘being’.

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Name: _______________________________________ Score: _________________

Course: ______________________________________ Date: __________________

REFERENCES

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