ABSTRACT
Art, music, drama, and dance classrooms are oen found in remote corners of school buildings. ey are not always easy to locate. We have all been lost a few times on sojourns to such rooms. One such sojourn takes us to visit Jen Deets’ visual arts classroom1. On this day, her room is being painted and so her class has relocated to a basement room, even more remote and around a few more twists and turns in the hallway. As we enter the makeshi art room we are immediately aware of student investment in their work-heart and hand. Students are deeply absorbed in their thinking and barely look up as we enter. We do not recall the specics of the assignment but purposefulness infuses the context with a serious, attentive energy that is palatable. Students are immersed in artistic process and we nd ourselves drawn in and very reluctant to leave. e arts learning context transcends the physical space. Talking with students about their artistic engagement, listening to their interactions with others, watchful of their deliberations and judgments, the artistic process is made visible as artistic forms emerge. Students negotiate the materials they are working with and respond accordingly, adapting, changing, and creating. e physical learning space is always a contributing feature, but Jen very importantly opens an imaginary space for her students, fostering student investment in process. Such invested learning reveals the power of the form to inform. Eisner (1972) writes, “What is mediated through thought are qualities, what is managed in process are qualities, and what terminates at the end is a qualitative whole; an art form that expresses something by virtue of the way in which these qualities have been created and organized” (p. 114). e act of creation precipitates these qualities. rough adapting, building, changing, and making meaning, artistic thinking is engaged in a constant organizing and reorganizing encounter. Artists have intimate knowledge of these qualities. And, these are the qualities arts educators should embed within learning opportunities for their students to experience. We see benets in language growth and comprehension for ELLs through occasioning such opportunities. ese interrelated qualities instilling artistic thinking include:
Attentiveness: Teacher and student attentiveness is a willingness to be receptive to sensory qualities and relations, perceiving possibilities. Purposefully ensuring opportunities for close observation and time to dwell with and in learning situations enables everyone to see and act on potential that might not otherwise be seen.
