STAR-POST (Art) January 2020 FINAL_STAR Post Art Jan 2020 | Page 16

My first lesson served to diagnose my students’ learning needs.
Thereafter, I decided to continue with this approach -- to diagnose
as the lessons unfolded. I proactively adopted students’ feedback
to modify and craft subsequent lessons so that I knew what they had
learnt and which areas they needed more guidance. Adopting the
Differentiated Instruction (DI) approach enabled me to focus mainly
on:
• How my students might learn (process) and,
• How they might demonstrate their learning (product)
Process - Supportive and Safe Learning Environment
It is paramount to create a supportive and safe learning space where
students feel assured and have no fear of being ridiculed. With a
safe learning space, students are able to fully immerse, engage and
contribute to the learning experience. As articulated by Clapper
(2010),
“If the learning environment is not
physically and psychologically safe,
learners may not fully engage with
the activities in the lesson.”
In the second lesson, I created
a shared learning experience by
using the Non-Dominant Hand
Drawing strategy. Understandably,
throughout this exercise, all
my students lamented on the
challenge of producing ‘good’
drawings. This activity was done to
put everyone on an equal learning
platform in terms of their drawing
abilities. No student would feel
superior to another in terms of
skills. The drawing outcomes from
this lesson were used by students
as a starting point to develop their
subsequent drawings.
For the third lesson, I decided to challenge them about
their perception of aesthetics. Using the Karen ethnic
minority tribe as an example, students discussed and
questioned -- what and who determines beauty? It was
interesting to observe the engaging discourse amongst
the students. They paused to think and rethink their
preconceived notions of what beauty meant to them. This
led them to reflect how their drawings from the second
lesson could be appreciated from alternative perspectives.
When students are aware and are able to understand
diverse viewpoints, they would feel more comfortable and
be encouraged to articulate their opinions and value their
work.
As a follow-up, I weaved in some questions for a drawing
exercise -- What if you are the leader of the country and you
get to determine the standards of beauty? What if all things
oval (shape) are considered beautiful? Students created
a series of drawings of animals using different shapes. In
the midst of their own creation, they made decisions on
what shape they, as the ‘leader of the country’ wanted their
animals to be. They were at ease with their own creation;
they did not have to worry about being ridiculed. By sharing
with them awareness of different cultures and perspectives,
students are then equipped with the belief that everyone
can be different and unique, thus helping them to embrace
their own unique drawing abilities as well.
Non-Dominant Hand Drawing which subsequently became the basis for stu-
dents to develop further.
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