Appendix 2 - Ideas for Integrating the Process // Annexe 2 - Idées pour intégrer le processus

Pair up students. Have them label themselves A and B. All the As create a circle, all the Bs create and inner circle facing their partners. Ask students a series of questions (e.g. what is your initial reaction to the piece? What elements of dance/drama did you see being used? How did this piece make you feel?, etc.). Students answer the question and then teacher asks students to rotate (e.g., all As move one person to the left). In order to encourage active listening, teacher may ask students to recount what their previous partner said (e.g. Bs tell your new partner what you and your previous partner discussed)

Give a summary, judgment, response etc to a piece, but students have a character limit.

Pose a question or a comment to students. Have them imagine there is a line running down the centre of the room and ask them to place themselves on the line with one end being 1 (or not at all) and the other end being 10 (or very much). Encourage students not to stand right on dead centre. Sample prompts could be: I am comfortable using all 5 elements of dance. I really like the dance piece we just saw.

Have students write their response on a piece of loose paper without putting their name. Once all students have written their answer, have them scrunch up the paper and throw it into the centre. Mix up the papers and then have students take a paper from the pile (not their own). Students can then respond to what is written on the paper, share with the class etc. This is particularly useful when working with sensitive issues as it allows students to share ideas but remain anonymous.

Have students draw two circles that overlap slightly. In the outside circles they fill in what is different about two artworks. In the centre they fill in what is similar. In order to consolidate thinking, have students write a summary statement at the end.

Post various images around the room (e.g. a tree, a traffic jam, a buffet, a rainbow, a wave, a ship, a lion etc). Have students choose a corner and answer, for example: “This dance piece is like ____  (the image) because….”

Provide students with a variety of materials (e.g ribbon, clay, paper, pipe cleaners etc) and have them create a visual reflection of the piece they are reflecting on.

Extension: Have students create an “artist statement to reflect their piece or have them create an artist statement for another group based on their understanding of the piece

Give each student a cue card. Have them create 4 statements.

• is a reaction you think everyone had to the piece (e.g. I really noticed their use of energy)
• is a reaction you think most people had to the piece (e.g. this group reminded me of the Jaberwockies)
• is a reaction you think some people had to the piece (e.g. I noticed an element of puppetry in the piece)
• is a reaction you think just you had (e.g. this reminded me of a group of street dancers I saw in India)

Have students observe an artwork (e.g., a dance piece). Group students around chart paper (e.g. have groups, each with one piece of chart paper with an element of art on it). Each group has a different colour marker (group 1 all have red markers etc). Students have 2-3 minutes with each piece of chart paper and they write their ideas on the chart paper (e.g. how were the elements of body used?). Students do not discuss with their group members and their markers should not leave the paper until the time is up. Their goal is to write as many ideas on the paper as possible. When the time is up, students take their markers and rotate to the next paper. When groups have gone to all the papers, they return to their original paper and go through all the comments, looking for commonalities, repetitions and connections to report out to the whole class.

A tool for discussion. Put students in 6 groups and assign each group one of De Bono’s 6 hats (red, white, black, blue, green, yellow). Students observe the artwork through the “lens” of their particular hat.

White Hat

• Represents information (white paper)  
• It is applied to direct thinking into an area
• Attends to info that is present and info that is missing
• Sharing statistics, or ideas or asking for information is typical of this hat

Red Hat

• Deals with feelings, intuition and emotions (red suggests fire and warmth)
• You share feelings and intuitions and emotions without having to justify why

Black Hat

• Use caution (black like a judge’s robe)
• Stops us from doing something harmful, wrong, too expensive etc.
• Points out risks, hazards, the roadblocks
• Explains why something will not work
• Shows weaknesses and makes assessments

Green Hat

• Green suggest life (green vegetation)
• Offer suggestions, make proposals and explore alternatives
• Look outside the box for solutions
• How to add to something, or make modifications
• Creative suggestions

Blue Hat

• Thinking about our thinking (blue sky)
• Bring a sense or order and sequence to what is occurring
• Often used at beginning and end of a discussion  
• Used when things get confused
• Can be used to decide the sequence of hats, or when to exchange hats or how to summarize

Yellow Hat

• Makes an effort to find the values and benefits of an idea (sunny yellow)
• Seeks good points even if you don’t like the overall idea

When the observation is finished, students number off and jigsaw to create new groups (in each new group there should be one of each hat). Groups then discuss the artwork through each of the 6 lenses.

After observing a number of artworks, have students select one which one best represents the art (e.g., “dance”) that they would put in a time capsule for the future as a representation of that art form. They must explain their thinking. This is a good strategy when looking at artistic genres. (e.g. students must pick one dance piece that best represents ballet, tap, etc.).