Week 10: Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum

George Gadanidis was a wonderful guest speaker and brought a wealth of knowledge to our discussions about digital literacy and the arts. I was really fascinated to learn of the Math Performance Festival http://www.edu.uwo.ca/mpc/festival.html. It sounds like an excellent way to get students engaged in learning math and to be actively involved in their own learning. An activity like this would provide students that struggle with math, but are successful in the arts, a new way in which to engage with mathematics. Many of the arts are closely connected to math and many arts students have strong math skills, but they do not necessarily utilize them in the ways that a person that is strong in mathematics would. Music is math but that does not necessarily mean that a musician will be successful in math. Utilizing the arts in the design of curriculum can allow access to students whose strengths lie within a different subject area. The arts provide a place where all students can engage regardless of their abilities in math; they are an access point of entry. Allowing students to create this type of work in a group encourages collaborative learning. It was great to see that some celebrities are help to encourage and promote this type of learning. It may help to encourage more students to get involved with this type of work.

I really enjoyed the activity found at www.brainyday.ca/fairytales/bigbadwolf.html because of the interactive tools provided. This website would be a great way to explore mathematical concepts while at home using manipulatives. This could help teachers provide students with the materials they need to be successful in math, without having to loan out all of the manipulatives in a classroom. Students could then show their parents what they learned in school that day, which can help to reinforce their own learning. Essentially the students are provided with a way to bring the classroom home to their parents. I hope that as computers become more accessible to all students that more programs are offered with this type of interaction.

Coming from a very strong background in dance, it was great to see that some students have been provided the opportunity to use dance within education. However, I was slightly disappointed to not see any males in this video http://www.edu.uwo.ca/mpc/mpf2010/mpf2010-101.html. Perhaps this video was taken at an all girls school which would explain the lack of males. Hopefully all educators are able to engage both males and females in this type of activity because both sexes can benefit from this form of self expression. Dancing provides an excellent opportunity for students that are stronger in the body/kineasthetic intelligence.

Song writing is one of the oldest traditions in music. Assuming that an individual can talk, they have access to singing. The process of song writing forces individuals to think about the topic they are writing about and it also develops many literacy skills. Once a song is created, repetition is needed to learn it. Through this repetition, students learn and memorize concepts that they may have previously struggled to grasp. If it is possible to add in gestures after the music has been written then another level of engagement is possible and again you are able to access another one of the multiple intelligences.

After seeing the benefits of engagement with the arts in education, how can we get more educators on board with allowing and encouraging arts engagement and performative measures to become part of their standard practice? I think it would be great to provide schools with a Math-Art Day at school where the entire student body gathers to share their performative mathematical pieces. It would be a fantastic way to celebrate learning, promote community and engage all learners.