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The teaching of the arts and literacy in schools is often at odds with one another. The desire for schools to improve results on high-stakes testing can lead to a narrow view of literacy rather than one that acknowledges the unique and distinct literacies that exist in other curriculum areas including the arts. With methods of communication becoming increasingly complex, it will be more and more important for students to be able to utilise all semiotic modes.
Developing Literacy and the Arts in Schools investigates this key issue in education and offers a solution to the negative relationship between the arts and literacy. Drawing on interview data and evidence from diverse classrooms, it explores the pedagogies of effective arts practitioners and teachers, and how they relate to theoretical frameworks, to unpack the key elements of effective practice related to literacy and the arts. A model of arts-literacies is provided to assist arts and literacy educators in developing a common language that acknowledges and values these distinct arts-literacies. Themes of multimodality, diversity, aesthetics and reflection in relation to the arts and literacy are foregrounded throughout.
This book will be of great value to postgraduate students of Education specialising in arts and literacy, education academics, teacher educators, and classroom and preservice teachers.
List of contents
Lists of Tables, Figures, Transcripts
Acknowledgements
SECTION I: Theorising the Arts and Literacy in Schools
Chapter 1. The State of the Arts and Literacy in Schools
Chapter 2. Being Literate in the 21st Century and Beyond
Chapter 3. Multimodality, Semiotics and Meaning-Making
Chapter 4. The Arts and Literacy Are Synchronous: Exploring a Model of Theory and Practice
Chapter 5. Literacy Demands, and Reading and Writing in the Arts
Chapter 6. How the Arts Support Diverse Learners in Literacy
SECTION II: Classroom Practice in the Arts and Literacy
Chapter 7. Dance Literacies as Embodied and Expressive Aesthetics
Chapter 8. Drama Literacies: Exploring Self, Space and Time
Chapter 9. Music Literacy: An Aural Art
Chapter 10. Visual Art Literacies: ‘Seeing’ Through the Modes
Chapter 11. Creative and Multimodal Writing Across the School Years
SECTION III: Arts-Literacies Matter
Chapter 12. Conclusion: Arts-Literacies Matter
Summary
This book highlights the important artistic-aesthetic literacies inherent in all the arts – dance, drama, literature, media arts, music and visual arts – and shows how they are critical to literacy as a whole.
