Through the readings of “In Real Life” by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang and “Awakening Teachers’ Capacities for Social JusticeWith/In Arts-Based Inquiries” by Amelia M. Kraehe & Keffrelyn D. Brown, they both did a great job in attempting to show the pros of how artistic ways can be beneficial in learning. Kraehe and Brown performed a study within schools who utilized art mediums as a way of learning. The students were also able to self reflect within these artistic ways of learning. Within these ways of learning, the research showed that the students felt more comfortable expressing themselves and developed more sincere learning that they were able to truly retain. It is imperative that teachers do more artistic ways of learning because it does more good than harm for the student. In the comic book, “In Real Life” by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang, both authors did an outstanding job at making sure the reader knew that an online game is truly more than “just a game.” The book illustrates a girl as the main character who is into gaming and sci-fi. In the beginning of the book, the author addresses REAL LIFE problems such as: unfair wage in china, cyber bullying, the dangers of the internet world, child labor, and so forth. This book introduced how an online gaming lifestyle for any human being, could truly be a positive learning experience. Anda used her experience with online gaming to help another person in need. She was able to build her character in a positive way and chose not to be a cyberbully.
The way I was able to connect my personal experiences to these readings was that I would have loved to have more artistic ways of learning while I was in K-12. I have mentioned before that most of my K-12 experience was extremely book driven and curriculum based. There was rarely ever a chance that I was able to let my creative and artistic freedom let loose. I have always believed in letting children be creative through learning is important, but these readings and research proved me to be correct. Artistic ways of learning is important and should be implemented.
Why do you think most teachers stray away from artistic ways of learning in K-12? How can we change that?
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