Developmental art in the low literacy classroom handout

Developmental Art in the Low Literacy Classroom LESLLA 2011, Minneapolis, MN 9/30/2011

Context
 Adult Sunday School Class

Adult Literacy Students Draw  Liberian refugees
 Senior citizens, age unknown (not tracked in
Liberia)
 M t1h
Meet hour/week f past 5 years
/ k for t

Jean Marrapodi  jmarrapodi@applestar.org  @jmarrapodi 401-440-61615

Preamble: Spring 2006 Preamble Two
 Lesson One: Palm Sunday  Lesson Two: Easter
 Draw a picture to illustrate the story  Ok, let’s copy some drawings to tell the story.
 Could not do.  We can’t do that.
 Through a translator: “We can’t do that. We haven’t
practiced like you have to be able to do that.”
that.

Preamble Three No Print Awareness
 Let’s try to copy some
symbols then.
 Could not complete Elizabeth loves Jesus
unless dots were drawn
to connect the lines.
Switched
S it h d cards:
d
 Circles were misshapen
and barely recognizable.
Jesus loves Elizabeth
Said: Elizabeth loves Jesus.

Jean Marrapodi, PhD, CPLP || jmarrapodi@applestar.org 1


Reading Art: Part One Reading Art: Part Two
Isabella Stewart Gardner Adam and Eve
Museum, Boston
C
H
A
T
T
E
R
Ho-hum !

Setting One: October 2010
 Pastor Appreciation Sunday
 Given a template with prompts:
 Pastor Berkley is ___________
 Pastor Michele is ___________
 I love my pastors!
 Learned what the prompts said. Asked to come up
with a word to fill in. They either copied the word
or had teacher spell it.
 Draw a picture of you and the pastors.



Setting Two (following week) Annie K.
 Given blank paper and markers
 Draw a picture of you with your grandchildren
 Teacher wrote names of children

Elizabeth

Martha

Kumba

Essah



Annie G. Frances
* Granddaughter came over to “help”

*

*
*
*

Martha
Setting Three (following week)
 Discussion about houses in America vs Liberia Martha lives in an
 Let’s draw pictures of your houses here and in apartment building.

Liberia.
 Given blank paper and markers
 T
Teacher wrote words as given prompts
h t d i t

Elizabeth Annie K.

America on the left. Annie lives on in a triple-
Liberia on the right. decker in RI.

Elizabeth lives in
apartment 511 in a high
rise building. She takes
an elevator to get to h
l her
apartment.



Annie G. Annie lives on in a two story single Frances
family home.

Frances lives on the first
floor of a two story
house.

Kumba Essah
Kumba lives in Essah lives in a second
townhouse type floor apartment.
apartments in a complex

Setting Four
 Kumba’s spontaneous drawings brought from
home in the subsequent weeks.



Other Projects
 Painting background for nativities – 12/2009
 Cutting snowflakes – 1/2011



Drawings of people by nursery
school children

Parallels to Children’s Work?
Does their natural development mirror emergent
literacy?

http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/890/children%27s-drawings-human-figures.html

Tadpole Figure Sarah – 3.2 to 3.4 years

l
people

By a pre- From a severely By a pre-
school child mentally school child
handicapped adult

a cat, Tyrannosaurus rex, and a leopard

http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/890/children%27s-drawings-human-figures.html http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/890/children%27s-drawings-human-figures.html

Helen, 4.5 – 5.5 years Rachel, Age 7

http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/890/children%27s-drawings-human-figures.html



Callaghan Phases of Development
Developmental Art
Development in Children

Callaghan, T.C. (2008) The origins and Development of Pictorial
Symbol Functioning. In Children’s Understanding and Production
of Pictures, Drawings, and Art: Theoretical and Empirical
Approaches. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe. P 22

Rhoda Kellogg: Gestalts
ev/kiddrawing.html
Adapted from teacher inservice training materials for early childhood,

http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDe
f
art education, and special education workshops.
Donley, S.K. 1985/1987

#anchor2470313

Kellogg, R. (1969) Analyzing children’s art. Paolo Alto, CA: National Press Books. P 109

Kellog’s Scheme
of the Evolution
of Pictorial
Work

Common House-Tree-Person/Kinetic HTP
Sequences
Measure aspects of person’s personality 3 years-adult
Common in art therapy
Q
Questionable validity
y
1948/1969




Noah, Age 6
Josiah, Age 4

Rachel, Age 8
Micah, Age 10

Annie K. Frances



Kumba
Martha

Essah

Elizabeth

Value of Using Art
Student Descriptions of House- "This adapted Kinetic-House-Tree-Person for adults with
Tree-Person Drawings developmental disabilities holds promise for providing an arts-
based assessment that assesses for growth and positive
changes in the individual in addition to negative or
downward changes. Verbal assessments are not always
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bIdrTJhXPc appropriate due to verbal limitations within the individual who
has developmental di biliti th f
h d l t l disabilities, therefore, arts th
t therapists h
i t have at
t
their disposal alternatives for assessing for change in functioning.
Because this assessment mirrored the notes of the on-site
therapists, this assessment suggests it can measure change. It also
suggests that arts based interventions do, in fact,
facilitate well-being and positive changes in interaction
and communication."
p 45 Lister & Rosales In Snow and D'Amico



Value of Using Art
"...there is evidence of a relationship
between thought and drawing that
Is It Cultural?
becomes visible through the study of
meaning-making processes. Drawing
supports the movement from simple
spontaneous concepts to more complex
concepts and plays an important role in
promoting higher mental functions. "

Brooks, Drawing to Learn in Making Meaning p. 9

Ponape
Alexander Alland, 1983 Now Pohnpie, Micronesia

 240 children’s drawings
 Six cultures
 Bali
 Ponape Male, 4 years, 19 minutes

 Taiwan
 Japan
 US Female, 5 years, 5 minutes
 France First encounter with drawing

 Definite cultural variants  Limited exposure to art
 Generally single color
 Human figures rare
 Nonconformity with Western norms Male, 5 years, 14 minutes

Taiwan
Bali

Male, 3.3 years, 30 minutes Female, 4.8 years, 10 minutes

Female, 4.6 years, 25 minutes Female, 6.8 years

 Overall density  Long heritage of art
 Polychromatic  Filling, building, touching, details
 No stories  Picture making influenced by
 Highly artistic culture Male, 2.6 years, 18 minutes relationship between pictorial Male, 5.2 years, 24 minutes
representation and writing



Japan Alexander Alland, 1983
Conclusions:
“…the two most important elements
in drawing skill among young
children are experience and
exposure to art.”
Male, 5.6years, 27 minutes P 63
"On the basis of my data I believe that
representation and symbolism are
things children are consciously or
unconsciously taught to do by adults
and other children. This leads to the
Female, 3.10 years, 14 minutes conclusion that the only safe
definition of children's drawing can
 Modern aesthetic in culture be 'playing with form.'"
p215
 Highly visual culture
 Colorful, often single subject Female, 4.11 years, 8 minutes

What we know about Liberia’s Art
Dan, Mano, Kran , Kpelle tribal art
 Known for their
carved masks Relating this to Writing
 Music and dance very
important
 Kissi make baskets
and weave on vertical
looms
 Literacy rate: 25%

http://www.mariomeneghini.com/destination%20Dan,%20Ma
no,%20Krahn,%20Kpelle/index.htm

Children Create Letters in Art Not seeing letters, but shapes
"Most of the letters of the English alphabet, both capitals and lower-
case forms, are made by young children as art Gestalts. In art, the
letters are placed or arranged to complete a Pattern or an
implied shape. In language, the letters are arranged in a
certain order within words and are put into a certain left-
right and top-bottom placement. As the child learns to read,
he must perceive the differences between the esthetic and
the linguistic positioning of letters, and as he learns to write
letters write,
he must put this perception to use.
Each child who has scribbled a
great deal will know many of the
letter Gestalts when he enters
school, but he needs to learn the
differences between their uses
for art and for language.
Otherwise, he will have serious
difficulties with language.”
Kellogg, 1970 p 262



Elizabeth did the same thing Learning to Read and Write Art
“...human artistry is viewed first and foremost as an
activity of the mind, an activity that involves the use of a
transformation of various kinds of symbols and
systems of symbols. Individuals who wish to participate
meaningfully in artistic perception must learn to decode,
to "read" the various symbolic vehicles in their
culture; individuals who which to participate in
artistic creation must learn how to manipulate how
manipulate,
to "write with" the various symbolic forms present in
their culture, and, finally, individuals who wish to engage
fully in the artistic realm must also gain mastery of certain
central artistic concepts. Just as one cannot assume that
individuals will – in the absence of support - learn to read and
write in their natural languages, so, too, it seems reasonable
to assume that individuals can benefit from assistance in
learning to "read" and "write" in the various languages of the
arts.”
Howard Gardner, Art Education and Human Development, p 9

So what? And now what?
Adult Literacy Students Draw
What have you seen here?
Have you seen this in your classroom?
Is drawing a precursor to writing?
Where do we go from here?
Jean Marrapodi
jmarrapodi@applestar.org
@jmarrapodi
401-440-61615


Developmental Art in the Low Literacy Classroom
LESLLA 2011, Minneapolis, MN

Jean Marrapodi, PhD, CPLP || jmarrapodi@applestar.org

Donley, S.K 1985/1987
K.
Adapted fro teacher inser
om rvice training ma
aterials for early childhood,
y
art educatio and special education workshops.
on, e
http://www w.learningdesign
n.com/Portfolio//DrawDev/kiddr rawing.html
#anchor24 470313

Developmental Art in the Low Literacy Classroom LESLLA 2011, Minneapolis, MN

Rhoda Kellogg: Gestalts




1. Basic Scribbles
2. Diagrams and Combines
3. Aggregates
4. Suns
5. Sun faces and figures
6. Humans with head‐top markings and with arms attached to the head
7. Humans without head‐top markings
8. Armless humans
9. Humans with varied torsos
10. Humans with arms attached to the torso
11. Relatively complete human images
Kellogg, R. (1969). Analyzing Children’s Art. Palo Alto, CA: National Press Books p
109



Kellog’s Scheme
of the Evolution
of Pictorial
Work

Common
Sequences



Sources
Alland, A. (1983). Playing with Form. New York: Columbia Universtiy Press
Brooks, M. (2002). Drawing to learn. Unpublished PhD thesis. Alberta: University of Alberta, Canada
Brooks, M. Drawing to Learn. In Narey, M. ed. (2009). Making Meaning: Constructing Multimodal
Perspectives of Language, Literacy, and Learning through Arts-based Early Childhood Education.
New York: Springer
Camnitzer, L. (2009, Feb). Art and Literacy. e-flux. http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/42
Camnitzer, L. (2009,Oct). Alphabetization, Part One: Protocal and Profieiency. http://www.e-
flux.com/journal/view/78
Freeman, N. H. (1987) Children's drawings of human figures - The Oxford Companion to Art, available,
accessible, quite, real. Online: http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/890/children's-drawings-human-
figures.html
Gardner, H. (1990). Art Education and Human Development. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust
Hagood, M.H. (2000). The Use of Art in Counselling Child and Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse. London:
Jessica Kingsley Publishing
Kellogg, R. (1969). Analyzing Children's Art. Palo Alto, CA: National Press Books
Lister, S, and Rosales, A. . The Kinetic-House-Tree-Person Adapted to Adults with Developmental
Disabilities. In Snow, S. and D'Amico, M. (2009). Assessment in the Creative Arts Therapies:
Designing and Adapting Assessment Tools for Adults with Developmental Disabilities. Springfield,
IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishers
Milbrath, C. & Trautner, H.M. eds. (2008). Children's Understanding and Production of Pictures, Drawings
& Art: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe
Vygotsky, L.G. (1970). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Edited by
Cole, M., John-Steiner, V. Scribner, S. & Souberman, E. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press


Developmental art in the low literacy classroom handout

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Developmental art in the low literacy classroom handout