art/vision/voice - Maryland Institute College of Art

98 art / vision / voice
in the teacher-education community. Shulman’s groundbreaking article,
“Toward a Pedagogy of Cases,” offers an understanding of narrative forms in
providing opportunities to examine principles, concepts, and theories,
as well as precedents for practice, morals and ethics, strategies, dispositions
and what Shulman calls “habits of mind,” and, finally, what is truly
significant for our work, visions of what may be possible.
The case method is a promising approach for community arts
education practitioners. Current leaders in education research, for
example, recognize the importance of personal reflection and social
interaction in learning. Participants in case discussions tackle problems
together, listen to other points of view, and share experiences. This
approach establishes an ethos of inquiry that encourages participants to
examine their own practices in a thoughtful and reflective manner.
What is most exciting about cases is that participants often identify very
strongly with the situations, and the discussions thus become intense
and passionate. The intellectual and emotional engagement that results
from case discussions sparks new ideas and challenges old beliefs, while
simultaneously providing support and encouragement for participants
who are making changes in their professional lives.
So, for the cap programs, what began as a sharing of stories to help
one another has now become a powerful tool for others in the fields of
higher education and community arts, who can use these cases to learn,
discuss, and hypothesize about current practices. Some of us have already
begun to use the cases to prepare students for work in community.
These cases illuminate the stories of our work in urban and rural
settings; address the ways models for community arts engagement
can be used to prepare young artists both to work in community and
to pursue their fine arts model; and cover a wide range of art forms,
community environments, intergenerational issues, and social justice
challenges. This is perhaps the first well-documented insight to the
curriculum, pedagogy, practices, and community knowledge integral
to the arts in service of communities.
the nature of the partnerships
Distinct differences can be observed in the way that partnerships have
arisen in the cap institutions that function as art schools and those that
function as universities of general education. Additional variables are
whether the settings are urban and rural or semi-rural, the ethnic and
cultural groups served, and the programs and the nature and services of
the partner organizations. Some institutions have worked directly with
community arts programs and others with schools or social service
agencies. The artistic focus of the partnerships has been mainly in the
Lee Shulman, “Toward a Pedagogy of Cases,”
Case Methods in Teacher Education, Judith Shulman,
ed. (New York: Teachers College Press) 1–30.