Texas Trends in Art Education, 2001-2002 Page: 22
36 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Art Educator As Storyteller
J. Ulbricht circa 1960s with students.
By J. Ulbricht
Everyone has a story to tell and sto-
ries that are retold time after time (a)
often portray significant events, (b)
take on a life of their own, (c) make
us feel human,and (d) can shape
future objectives and directions.
Good teachers often have students
tell stories about their experiences
as a means of personalizing instruc-
tion (Zurmuehlen, 1987, 1991). The
stories that children tell are often
very funny (Art Linkletter) and
reveal significant events not easily
recognized by teachers or students
if questioned directly. The intellec-
tual and personal concerns revealed
in student stories can be the basis of
subsequent actions.
Art education majors are often
encouraged to reflect on journal
entry stories resulting from observa-
tion and student teaching experi-
ences (Henry, 1999). Reflection on
such stories can provide personal
insights for pre-service and begin-
ning teachers as they combine theory
and practice in educational settings.
Experienced teachers too can gain
insights from stories derived from
past experiences (Jalongo &
Isenberg, 1995). As with younger
teachers and students, mature teach-ers sometimes reflect on a lifetime
of teaching through a review of
their often-repeated recollections.
Periodically, experienced teachers
need to evaluate past experiences
for personal growth and to fully
comprehend and validate their most
significant endeavors.
In addition teacher educators can
use stories to enhance classroom
teaching at the university level.
Professors often use stories to show
pre-service teachers the human side
of teaching and illustrate important
points. While some students frown
on too much digression, teachers
often use personal stories to high-
light important points for their stu-
dents in a manner that is not pre-
scriptive and preachy. Further,
teachers can make instruction enter-
taining and interesting with personal
reflections.
Since stories can play important
roles in the teaching and learning
process, it is the purpose of this
paper to reveal some of the experi-
ences that shaped my teaching and
publications. In addition, I would
like to show how my experiences in
story form have been useful in the
preparation of pre-service art teach-
ers. Because I have experienced the
usefulness of this method I havechosen to retell a few of my stories
followed by questions that I would
pose to students. Hopefully you
have not heard my stories before!
Before I begin I'd like to say that
the inspiration to write this article
came from Marilyn Zurmuehlen
(1987, 1991) whose early work out-
lined the significance of stories for
art education. I found the format for
this article in the work of Paul
Auster (1995/96) who wrote numer-
ous fictional and autobiographical
stories. I have elaborated on several
of the following stories in previous
publications as noted.
1. My kindergarten teacher pre-
sented a unit on Eskimos. She said
that Eskimos lived in igloos that
were dome shaped homes made
from cut blocks of ice. After a short
introduction, the teacher gave direc-
tions on how to draw igloos and she
provided each student with a piece
of white drawing paper. For the
assignment the teacher asked stu-
dents to use a white crayon to draw
their igloos since igloos were made
of white blocks of ice.
I pondered the assignment and
wondered how an igloo drawn with
white crayon on a white sheet of
paper could be visible. I wondered
about the use of other colors such as
black, blue, gray, and yellow. Each
had certain advantages.
Remembering that the teacher sug-
gested white, I thought that yellow
might be a better color since it was
close in value to white but had the
added benefit of showing up on the
paper. Besides, I thought that the sun
could have been out and the igloo
might have a slight yellow glow.
When everyone finished their
drawings the teacher complemented
the students on their ability to ren-
der igloos. She further noted that
there was one student who did not
listen when she said that igloos
were white.
Class questions: Was the teacher
insightful in limiting the students to
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Texas Art Education Association. Texas Trends in Art Education, 2001-2002, periodical, 2001; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279689/m1/24/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Art Education Association.