Elliot Eisner’sElliot Eisner’s““Ten Lessons Ten Lessons

the Arts Teach”the Arts Teach”By: Allison McGheeBy: Allison McGhee

• For my experience with the children, I am using Lesson #7 of Elliot Eisner’s “Ten Lessons the Arts Teach”.• The words of this lesson are, ‘The arts teach students to think

through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.”• The focus is to work with a small group of four children, set a

familiar book to music, and then transfer their musical ideas onto paper.

PlanPlan

• I activated my plan by asking A,D,P, and C to join me at the reading area of the classroom to share the story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. The children are familiar with this book, as many of them have previously read it to me throughout my time at my field site. I used the picture cards I borrowed from my mentor teacher to actively engage the children while reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

• All four children knew every word in this story. I began to sing the book with the children, but stopped singing after a few pages and let the children sing on their own. This worked perfectly as they finished singing the book together.

ImplementImplement

• After we finished the story, I asked the children, “What was your favorite part of the story?” A replied, “The purple cat! Cause I like cats and my favorite color is purple.” C replied, “The teacher, the teacher!”

• Next, I explained to the children that they were going to draw a self-portrait or a picture of themselves using only a black marker on white paper. Each child created a self-portrait and signed his or her name on the drawing. My focus child, C, wrote his name sideways on what would be his stomach in his drawing.

• Next, I asked the children, “What do you see?” Then, I had each child draw what they saw using white paper and colored markers.

ImplementImplement

• The children responded:

“I see a purple cat cause purple is my favorite color!”- A

ObserveObserve

“I see you Miss Allison! We are going on a field trip to the mall!”“Can you help me write that please Miss Allison?”- C

“I see a blue horse cause I like the blue horse.”- P

“I see a gray wolf!” “Can you help me spell that please?”- D

• I began to see that the children developed an understanding of the concepts of repeated patterns and predictable text as they were able to sing the words and phrases of the book together as a group.•They understood that a book can be put to music. The children loved singing along and continued even without me. •All of the children loved the idea of drawing and writing about an idea or object that they “could see.”

InterpretInterpret

• We looked and talked about the work they did on Monday and I asked the children, “What do you like the best about your drawings?”

• A pointed to her drawing and responded by saying, “I used a yellow crayon to draw the cat and then colored it in with a purple marker.”

• Next, I asked the children, “What animal would you add to the book?”

• C responded, “A black bat!” D said, “A gray wolf!”

• Finally, I had the children use their handwriting skills to finish their musical books. On the first page, the children wrote their first name twice on the sentence strip. On the second page, the children wrote what they saw on the sentence strip.

RevisitRevisit

• Finally, C and A asked if they could add color and other details to their drawings from Monday. I said,

“Of course!” and gave them colored markers.

• Now I understand that children at this age become excited about topics for which the teacher shows enthusiasm, just as I showed interest in reading and writing about what I saw around me. Our shared enjoyment transferred to their drawings and demonstrated a conscious effort to complete the activity to the best of their ability.• Now I understand that children at this age focus on making their drawings specific

and explainable. The children recalled a “storyline” or used a “past memory” to construct a drawing that responded to the “What do you see” prompt.• Now I understand that children learn by doing, involving, and creating with the

use of their minds and bodies. The children remembered this lesson two days later because it was a story with which they were familiar and could make a personal connection. The children asked for their books back so they could share them with their families. When children want to share ideas and projects of which they are proud, it demonstrates that they feel successful in completing the lesson.

Now I UnderstandNow I Understand

• If I were using this as an observational assessment, I would be able to report in my notes that the children grasped the concept of copy change because they were able to imitate and replace the author’s ideas about what the animals in the book see with the object that they see and then transfer their ideas to images and words on paper.• Children’s literature provides opportunities for more than just reading; the

storylines often include an opportunity to incorporate rhyming and singing activities in the classroom. These activities are often better than talking as the repetitive lines and predictable text are stimulating and reinforce the visual connection between words and images in the story.• Music naturally attracts and captivates the attention of children. Teachers can

capitalize on the power of music and rhyming schemes in literature as the sequencing clues and familiarity of the words and actions provides a relevant and meaningful connection to the main idea of the story and to the children’s daily lives.

AnalyzeAnalyze