Japanese Education and Visual Arts

Transcription

1 Japanese Education and Visual Arts This workshop will provide participants with both an overview of the Japanese model of education based on my trip to Japan with the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program, and the skills and resources to adapt and teach a variety of traditional Japanese art forms.

2 What is a JFMF anyway? was The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund (JFMF) Teacher Program, sponsored by the Government of Japan, provides American primary and secondary school teachers and administrators with fully-funded short-term study tours of Japan. The program is designed to increase understanding between the people of Japan and the United States by inviting U.S. elementary and secondary educators to visit Japan and share their experiences with fellow Americans upon their return.

3 First, some generalizations about Japanese culture: It is a very group-oriented, team-based culture that values social harmony. Politeness and indirectness drive social interactions. The US is a guilt-based culture, whereas Japan is a shame-based one. The simplest contrast between them is when someone has not done something wrong, but others believe they have. In a guilt culture, one would protest their innocence and fight the accusation. In a shame culture, what other people believe is a powerful motivator, so you strive not to bring disgrace to yourself, your family, or your social group

4 Structure of Japanese education: The Ministry of Education dictates policy, curriculum and approves textbooks nationally. At the Prefectural level, Boards of Education hire teachers, select textbooks and methodologies, and manage senior high schools. At the Municipal level, Boards of Education select textbooks, determine methodologies, and manage junior high and elementary schools. Kindergarten and Senior high school are NOT compulsory but almost all children attend Centrally administered tests determine placement in senior high schools and universities.

5 Public vs Private With the exception of some prestigious private schools, the public schools are more highly regarded. Private schools are often viewed as back-up schools for students who do not pass entrance exams. The most attended private schools are Juku, or cram schools.

6 Issues in Japanese Education Outside class time is completely student managed. During recess, lunch, and daily school clean-up, the students are not monitored by teachers or administrators.

7 Issues in Japanese Education Ijime In this environment, bullying has grown into a major problem. In a society that values similarity over difference, people who stand out in any way are often targets of bullying, especially in the high pressure atmosphere of Japanese schools. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down

8 Issues in Japanese Education Ijime Ijime takes a less physical form and has been compared to the type of bullying that girls in the US experience. Unlike the US, where bullying tends to be initiated by students with social or emotional issues, ijime is carried out by average students

9 Issues in Japanese Education Tokokyohi There are an increasing number of students who are truant from school. Called school-refusal syndrome, students skip school due to anxiety or fear. The phenomenon extends beyond school and often leads to hikikomori, or acute social withdrawl

10 Concerns expressed by Japanese educators: Many students are not motivated to prepare for learning. Over the years, test scores have maintained a steady decline in Japan. Critical and creative thinking is not encouraged in the curriculum or testing which are almost exclusively multiple choice.

11 Survey Results: Teachers: Respect for teachers declining, large class size (as much as 40 to 1), difficultly enforcing discipline, monster parents No independence in curriculum, but freedom in methods, worked within grade level or subject area teams Homeroom teachers serves as counselors, no corporal punishment, suspension, expulsion, discipline is talking to student or parents No school secretary, teachers manage school, long hours, teachers avg 2+ hours of overtime (home between 6-10 pm), teachers work during summer vacation

12 Reading, Math, Science Literacy rate 99% since the 1940 s 3 separate scripts in use: kanji (Chinese characters) 2000 in elementary hiragana (used for words not expressed by kanji) katakana (used with foreign words) Coop education, manipulatives are newer and more common in elementary, there is push for more activities and appreciation, thin textbooks Integrated lessons, required 110 hours/year, outside in environment, i.e. 6th grade study of horseshoe crab, not much lab time for science

13 Educational Practice and Policy: Arts programs being cut back, in favor of more focus on fundamentals Grading based on tests, participation, homework/ notebooks, not much performance evaluation Classes are heterogeneous groupings, but little differentiated instruction tracking starts at secondary level Textbooks chosen by Boards of Education, with strong influence of Teachers Union.

14 Culture Relatively homogenous culture, emphasis on fairness/equality, (no gifted programs, token special education) little differentiated instruction, less tolerance for outsiders (Koreans/Brazilians) Rice, fish, pork, chicken, sushi, sashimi, noodles: ramen, soba, udon, tempura, pickled veggies, seaweed, natto Traditional arts and music are being lost, Kyogen, Kabuki, Noh, are all in decline, graduation theme is Auld Lange Syne Holidays are mostly religious based festivals at Shinto/Buddhist shrines

15 Take Away or My thoughts on how this experience relates to us The policy of giving students the freedom to make choices about how they play and manage interactions with each other is compelling. At the elementary level students show high self-reliance.

16 Take Away or My thoughts on how this experience relates to us We should continue to be on guard about the emphasis we place on testing, considering it s intensity and frequency.

17 Take Away or My thoughts on how this experience relates to us Critical and creative thinking is in decline and anything we can do to reinforce or support it is vital to lifelong learning.

18 Japanese Art in a Third Grade Setting

19 Origami There are plenty of websites, I use origamiclub.com. Students go and learn a technique, then have to teach it to someone else.

20 Traditional Cicada from origami-club.com/en/ Origami The site has good diagrams and even animations that show how to fold. I force students to figure these out on their own.

21 Koinobori Koinoburi are wind socks made by drawing carp patterns on paper or cloth. They are traditionally flown in Japan on Children s Day, May 5th.

22 Koinobori The trick to this project is giving students the materials and letting them figure out how to translate a flat drawing/painting of their fish into a cylinder form.

23 Sumi-e Sumi-e is a style of monochromatic ink painting where the bold use of ink strokes and washes allow the artist to eliminate all but the essential characteristics from their subject. Hanko/Gago in: Hanko is a general term for the seals used in Japan, 'Gago in' are used by graphic artists to both decorate and sign their work. The signatures are frequently pen names or nicknames; the decorations are usually favorite slogans or other extremely short phrases.

24 Sumi-e The Four Treasures refers to the must-haves of sumi-e: an ink stone, an ink stick, a brush, and the appropriate kind of paper an ink stone - a stone with a shallow depression carved into it; it is used to prepare and hold the ink an ink stick - a black stick composed of pine soot, bound into a hardened form with resin a brush - traditionally wolf-hair in bamboo the appropriate kind of paper - rice paper is the most common paper used in sumi-e painting

25 Sumi-e The Four Gentlemen: The four basic strokes of sumi-e. Bamboo plant that is strong and upright yet supple & pliant Orchid symbolizes humility, retiring and greatly refined Chrysanthemum contemplative and retiring from political corruption Plum blossoms in cold and fall before they whither

26 Suminagashi Suminagashi, which means literally "ink-floating", is the ancient Japanese technique of decorating paper with inks. It is believed to be the oldest form of marbling, originating in China over 2,000 years ago and practiced in Japan by Shinto priests as early as the 12th century.

27 Suminagashi Japanese Sumi-e inks were originally used, dropped carefully to float on a still water surface and then blown across to form delicate swirls, after which the ink was picked up by laying a sheet of white rice paper atop the ink covered water. The process is quite simple and uses the same supplies as Sumie. The only addition is the use of a a wetting agent used to spread the ink and create blank areas. Recommended wetting agents include Kodak Photo-Flo, or just ordinary hand soap.

28 Ukioyi-e Ukioyi-e used a traditional collaborative system [hanmoto system] where the artist, carver, printer, and publisher engaged in division of labor to mass produce prints. The artist produced a master drawing in ink An assistant, called a hikko, would then create a tracing (hanshita) of the master Craftsmen glued the hanshita face-down to a block of wood and cut away the areas where the paper was white. This left the drawing, in reverse, as a relief print on the block, but destroyed the hanshita. This block was inked and printed, making near-exact copies of the original drawing.

29 A first test copy, called a kyogo-zuri, would be given to the artist for a final check. The prints were in turn glued, facedown, to blocks and those areas of the design which were to be printed in a particular color were left in relief. Each of these blocks printed at least one color in the final design. The resulting set of woodblocks were inked in different colors and sequentially impressed onto paper. The final print bore the impressions of each of the blocks, some printed more than once to obtain just the right depth of color

30 Origami Resources: Sumi-e Japanese Ink Painting, by Naomi Okamoto Suminagashi Koinobori holidays/may/song-koinobori.shtml

31 Resources: Ukiyo-e Raku Japanese paper - Japanese Name Translation