STAR-POST (Art) January 2020 FINAL_STAR Post Art Jan 2020 | Page 42

The questions that I input differed and
varied with each selected artwork.
Students took turns to spin the wheel,
and they had to answer the questions
highlighted. Since it was done in
groups, every member of the group,
even the quiet ones would have to spin
and answer the questions. In this way,
the less outspoken students also got
opportunities to share their views and
opinions.
The artworks for discussions could be
selected according to the theme of
the art module. Alternatively, consider
choosing compelling artworks that might
interest and intrigue your students for the
purpose of challenging them to think and
exercise their creativity!
After trying this out with a few groups
of students & classes, I realised that
students became more engaged and
self-directed. They were able to facilitate
their own art discussions and were very
excited to spin the wheel to answer the
questions!
(Top) P6 students: Project Articulate pilot group
(Top left) P4 class: Tuning-in Art discussion
However, I noticed that not all groups
had meaningful or rich discussions. Some
students were unable to give quality
responses. Instead they gave superficial
answers lacking in-depth analysis. Some
students just wanted to be quick to
answer so as to spin the wheel again.
Therefore, to ensure quality responses
and effective use of this platform, I
realised that I should first demonstrate
how an art discussion should look like.
MY LEARNING
P2 class: Tuning-in Art discussion about Liu Kang’s Life By The
River.
As teachers, we should encourage ‘Think
Time’ where students first look intently
and make careful observations of the
artwork given. Teachers can also reiterate
that there are no “right” answers and that
every child is to celebrate differences in
opinion and ideas.
Alternatively, I would recommend that
art teachers provide sentence openers or
art vocabulary to help students articulate
their thoughts or views when looking
at an artwork. In addition, it might be
difficult for the teacher to go around
to listen to every group’s discussion. A
suggestion I have would be to appoint
a group member to be the scribe or
videographer to document their group’s
responses.
Through this CI Project journey, I learnt
that children enjoy looking at and talking
about works of art. They just lack the
opportunities to do so. Moreover, the
children’s responses to artworks are
interesting and unpredictable. They are
story-tellers by nature! Just by changing
the mode of delivery, students are able
to facilitate their own art discussions and
conversations. Effective communication
is a vital life skills and we as teachers
need to help our students develop this
valuable skill.
FELLOW ART TEACHERS, TRY THIS!
1. Make it a routine for your students
to talk about art. Try this out for
Tuning-In as a group activity for
about 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Use this idea to facilitate art field
trips or museum visits.
3. For upper primary students,
consider getting them to craft
and customise questions for their
friends to answer. This can help to
challenge their thinking.
SET UP: 1 iPad and art work for each group
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