Part One: Theoretical Perspectives on Artistic Literacies
The first part of this book explores the theoretical perspectives of Artistic Ways of Knowing (AWOK). The ideas are drawn from educational psychology and philosophy, art history, creativity theory, emotional intelligence theory, critical literacies, transcultural literacies, and transformative theories of learning. Teachers’ perspectives on teaching English language arts from a multimodal and creative way are also integrated throughout these chapters in Part One. A rationale for encouraging artistic literacies is provided and different art images along with poems and related texts are used to exemplify different points. The evolving areas of eco-literacies and environmental art, for example, exemplifies the power of visual images to encourage active exploration and critical thinking about ways we can work more effectively and urgently to restore the grandeur of nature as well as protect and honour the Earth. Flexibility, freedom to learn in new ways, and creative expression can be connected to artistic literacies.
Part One provides a foundation for applying artistic literacies in the classroom. Specific teaching and learning strategies are explored and examples of research and inquiry questions for further learning are presented. The Appendix provides more in-depth questions for research. Artistic Literacies: Creative and Imaginative Learning in a Global Era is Book One of two volumes. While Book One is the core foundational and theoretical text, Book Two (Myths, Legends, and Folklore; A Close Look at the Sea, and Fantastical Creatures, Mythic Monsters, and Heavenly Inspirations) is meant to provide a theme based art image-literary text resource for educators who wish to delve more deeply into a particular theme that is linked to the Senior High English language arts (and related disciplines) curriculum (e.g. Myths and Legends, Sustainability, etc.).
