Courage in the Spotlight
Story appeared in the 2015 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.
BY MARTINA BLAKE AND LEANNE SCHULTZ, OPERATIONS & HR MANAGER
In our focus on student-centered learning, the Fine Arts Department at Queen Margaret’s School works in concert with the other departments in the school to deliver innovative and unique programs that focus on developing the whole person.
In our Junior School, specialist art and music teachers integrate fine arts into Primary and Intermediate curriculums. In our Senior School, the Fine Arts Department offers over 28 specialized courses, including Advanced Placement Studio Art 12, Orchestral Strings: Music Theory & Composition, and Acting: Theatre Performance.
In addition to helping students discover and nurture their artistic talents and creative potential, as well as develop a lifelong enjoyment and appreciation of the arts, fine arts education is essential for helping students to further develop fundamental thinking skills. In their 2007 book, Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education, Lois Hetland and Ellen Winner found that the arts help students learn to “envision,” or in other words, “think about that which they can’t see.” These skills are not only valuable in the music, visual art, or drama class-rooms, but also in other academic streams. In science, for example, the ability to envision means developing stronger hypotheses for experiments. Novel studies in English courses and history textbook descriptions are made so much richer when a student can envision the events that are described.
For Hetland and Winner, however, one of the most valuable benefits of arts programming in schools is what they call “studio habits of the mind.” Building upon how students at QMS are encouraged to think critically and challenge assumptions, students in our arts classrooms celebrate creative risk-taking. In fact, mistakes are a necessary component of the creative process. Students are taught to have the courage to fail, to examine their actions, and to try again and again in the spirit of experimentation. In addition to technical skills, students learn how to assess performances or works and provide constructive feedback with empathy. Fine arts classrooms become safe spaces for students to challenge themselves, to stretch beyond their limits, and inspire others to do the same.
This year, the QMS Fine Arts Department mounted a mainstage production that was a collaboration between the Drama, Music and the Visual Arts Departments, and spanned both Junior and Senior schools. Fame Jr. students from across the school spent six months of rehearsal time, taking risks together and demanding the best from each other. Grade 11 girls were paired up with Grade 5 boys to develop believable characters and relationships. English language learners earned themselves lead roles in the show and pushed themselves daily to speak, sing and think in English. Behind the scenes, students embraced new skills as they learned how to design and build sets, paint backdrops, design the lighting, and accompany the actors with musical performances. The result was a sold-out show that garnered much acclaim not only at the school, but throughout the com-munity. More importantly, however, by participating in this production, students collectively challenged themselves to push beyond their limits and realize excellence in them-selves and each other.