The Family Album

The following paper was written by three women, each with an extensive experience in formal and non-formal educational work within different establishments. They share in common the use of texts in their teaching methods. The paper presents an attempt to develop literacy skills of different texts: visual texts, written texts and texts of body-language. It is unique in its attempt to develop these skills by combining the personal photo album of the student with the curriculum of the junior and senior high school.

The paper includes the following sections:

1. A definition of literacy as a concept, referring to visual, body-motional, and written texts, while emphasizing critical literacy skills in the post-modern age.

2. Theories about: learning and teaching, psychological theories that support humanist education, critical and creative education.

3. Integrating arts in education as an expressive tool that supports the personal and emotional development of the students while in the process of learning, and helps develop imagination and creativity.

4. Presenting the personal photo album, its characteristics and its uniqueness, as an emotional, cognitive text, that is joined in the learning process in the school.

5. A summery that includes presenting the model, which is derived from the theoretical approach.

1. A presentation of the model – goals, target population, and work principals.

2. Syllabuses for body-movement text, written text and visual text.

3. Implementation of the model – the working process in accordance with the model using the visual text in Art History. The actual process that was done, the results and conclusions of teachers and students.

The last section presents a summery and conclusion.

In this work we do not discuss grading or evaluation, which should an alternative evaluation, as derived from the spirit of the model.

A) Group introduction 5

B) Theory 10

B.1) Whole Literacy Aspects in Texts 10

B.1.1) Written Texts 11

B.1.2) Visual Texts 13

B.1.3) Body-Movement Texts 14

B.2) Theories of Learning 17

B.3) Integrating the Arts in Teaching 28

Summery 34

B.4) The Family Photo Album as Personal Text 35

B.4.1) The Emotional Aspect 35

B.4.2) The Cognitive Aspect 39

B.5) Summery 41

D) Paper Summery 44

E) Bibliography 48

The following paper is the result of the thinking process of three women with extensive experience in varies disciplines in the education field, who all share the use of texts in their teaching methods.

The dictionary definition of text is: “things written, story, poem etc., to be distinguished from the comments, drawings, pictures etc.” (Even Shushan, 1974). Today, however, many researchers and theoreticians related to text as “every form of communication and all objects that took form in a social and cultural manner, meaning everything that was named text in the traditional sense, such as: books, letters, written documents etc. but also videos and films, television programs, two- and three-dimension objects, paintings, sculpture, and more” (Libraries on Air, Between Teachers and Librarians Nurturing Literacy, Internet). In light of this concept, the present work refers to different kinds of texts: literal text, visual text, and body-language text.

“Literacy,” as a concept and a field of research, has to do with a person’s ability to understand the different texts he or she encounters. This field has many definitions and some claim that it is impossible to assign it with one non-ambivalent definition. One of the definitions of literacy common today is, “fluency in the verbal exchange of the community to which we want to belong” (Sarig 2000, p.49). In our daily life we encounter many texts of different kinds, which we need to “read”. Developing literacy skills of reading texts and understanding them, equips the person-student with learning skills, as well as living skills. Literacy is found in the everyday life of everyone. Every person, in any culture and society, exists within literacy structures from the moment of awakening and in every daily action (Barton, 1944).

The times we live in – also called “the age of science” – forces us to teach skills fitting this reality: this age is characterized by massive quantities of information, producing one of the main challenges – developing a capable reader who is able to read the “world as text,” and relate to it critically with the ability to use interpreting points of view towards verbal, visual and body-language texts (Akerman, 1995). A certain connection can be distinguished between close reading of texts and the ability to “read reality.”

Through the years, the concept of literacy had expended. The researcher Leland and Harste (Ezer, 2003), believe that it should be thought of as “whole literacy.” A literate person, according to their approach, is one who can navigate his or her world using diverse symbol systems, not just the ones belonging to verbal language. Literacy relates to the language functioning of a person. Since language touches many areas of life, one may say that literacy is at the heart of every area in which we operate in daily life, as well as in school life. “Whole literacy” includes flexible use of symbol systems such as visual systems, imaging, and not only the written language system (Ezer, 2003).

This work is based on the approach described above. The three writers practice different aspects of literacy in their fields of teaching – Orly Chen, Teacher’s Supervisor and writer of educational programs for students in Junior high school, works with the written language.

Dina Shmueli-Hinkis, Ballet teacher, teaches at the Elementary school and Junior high school levels and at Teachers’ Colleges for Dance Education.

Adi Goldshtein, high school teacher of Art History and Literature, uses visual and verbal texts in the teaching process.

Our different professional fields brought us to create a joint, interdisciplinary model, attempting to supply each one of us with an answer regarding the texts she works with, with the goal of connecting the fields and their literacy aspects. The model we suggest came out of a view common to the three of us. This view claims that as the gap between the educational system’s curriculum and the students’ interests narrows, the students’ will to read, watch and understand texts relating to their educational material will enhance, and they will be more willing and interested in study and investigate them.

Out of this general question three more specific questions are derived:

The importance of these questions is great especially in light of today’s approach in the educational system, where the student is supposed to be interested in leaning material external to him/herself. The important question that is asked about this method is Who is the student in person in the learning process? What is his/her place in the process? Does the student have a place in this great world of knowledge?

The suggested model is a reaction to the formal educational system, which, as Svidovski (1998) claims, demands acknowledgment of only one reality, and from a unified point of view, so as to create generations with linear thinking and a unified academic order of the human knowledge. Intellectual teaching, the philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1996) claims, is easier than teaching that aims to stimulate the student’s emot, teaching that connects the students with the subject. He claims that teachers should not be strict in such a method of teaching. This does not mean that a direct connection should be made between emotions and the subjects discussed, but rather to reffer to something else in order to create emotion. The importance, according to Steiner, is that emotion will build during the class – an emotional whirlpool is good for the memory. This mustn’t be forgotten, every educational subject, he reiterates, must speak to the children’s emotions (Steiner, 1996).

The learning process is of major significance, says Tzvia Valdan, literacy researcher (1996) who sees the child as an uncultivated field – a field that has not yet been plowed but that holds seeds within that in good conditions will awaken, bud, and bear fruit. Under these conditions a literate student would grow. The model we suggest deals with the learning process and tries to prevent a situation where the student is like a field that was plowed, seeded and watered but did not grow a thing (Valdan, 1996), to prevent a process that grows an illiterate student.

Relating the outside world to the individual always creates feelings, which are very important for education. In fact, the most objective subjects lead naturally to man. Inside the individual, the whole world exists. When aligning the facts that come up from the learning material to man – the facts will remain, will become a meaningful part of his/her personal experience. What was explained to man about man becomes part of man (Steiner, 1996).

In order to develop the literacy skills of the student, the model makes use of the student’s personal family album as a text in itself. In the suggested model we chose to focus on a particular kind of text – a kind that turns to the student’s emotions, a text that has a personal meaning for him or her, text that reflects that approach which sees literacy as encompassing. The picture album as text is a tool to form a bridge between the learning material in school and the world of the student, a way to bring him closer to the text and allow him/her to practice literacy skills. The photo album also serves as a guide in the learning process. “Any learning is a clime on the mountains of ignorance. It is a hike on a mountain you never seen before. When you begin to climb you do not know what you will discover on the way, but while climbing you learn to know the mountain, yourself and the climb itself. That is, you learn how to learn and equip your learning skills” (Inbar, 1999, p 12). The supposition at the base of the model says that, as the curriculum gives greater importance to the student, and as the subjects will entwine with his personal world, he will see in the curriculum a part of himself and the learning process will therefore be more meaningful, bringing him closer, move him and connect him to authentic, experiential places, and hence the student will experience personal empowerment.

We see the photo album as a text that can be used to bridge the student to different fields of knowledge. It is a bridge that will make the student motivated, interested and curious about learning processes, while sensing that in the learning process he/she connects to the world, to the human culture and to him/herself as an active participant of this culture.

Each one of us chose to bring suggestions regarding the implementation of the model within her field of teaching.

Orly shows how the picture album can be incorporated into the learning program for developing literacy skills in verbal and in written texts.

Adi shows how to incorporate the photo album in the teaching program to develop literacy skill in visual texts – and as a way to examine and analyze works of fine arts and learn art history.

Dina shows how to incorporate the photo album in the teaching program for developing literacy skills of the body-movement language and in dance.

During the thinking and writing process for this paper, we applied the suggested model in the context of visual text, in Art History classes in the 9^th to 12^th grades in high school. The students worked in coordination with the model and the activity suggested in the paper in context to this field of learning. The option of implementing the model contributed greatly to all three of us in the learning process, as well as the writing and organization of the paper, therefore we worked on these two spheres simultaneously.

The construction of the model came out of a theoretical approach that was common to the three of us, and its practical application reinforced this approach. This parallel process proved helpful to the development of the theory supporting the model. From our shared observation of integrating the model, we reached conclusions that advanced us in thinking about and understanding the benefits of the unique model we present. The fruits of the process – photographs of some of the students’ projects, the teacher’s and writers’ conclusion, the students’ evaluation of the personal and group process which they went through during this learning period, an example of a notebook and pictures of the final project of the learning period -- can be seen in chapter 3.c of this work. The great success of implementing the model in the visual text area of study, reinforced our confidence that the suggestions relating to written and body-movement texts, can be implemented and the results will prove fruitful.

We chose to give examples of possible ways to implement the model in texts relating to our own professional fields, yet in our opinion, the model is flexible and can be suited to texts from other areas of study as well. Our hope is that the suggested model will contribute in such a way that climbing the “mountains of ignorance” will become for our students (and other students) a positive experience and a starting point to “insightfulness”. In other words, during the learning process the students will learn how to learn, will shape their learning tools and will be able to absorb from the learning process, through the suggested model, a way to begin other learning processes as well.

Literacy is connected to the functions language has in a person’s life. Since language is related to everything a person does, literacy is in fact at the base of everything we do in our day to day life, as well as our academic life (Ezer, 2003). The concept “whole literacy” was coined by the researchers Lylend and Hearst (Ezer, 2003), who saw the “literate person” as one who is able to navigate though a world with varied systems of signs and symbols, and not those of language alone. Literacy, then, is the flexible use of sign and symbol systems, such as visual systems, and not only those of the written language. Literacy is defined as the ability to use the roles of language: speaking, listening, reading, writing, observing and meta-linguistic knowledge, in different contexts and according to the changing demands of circumstances. This ability is based upon knowledge that is obtained throughout life through different channels: aural, written, visual, imaging, and the spatial-active channel. Situations that are “text dependent” do not necessarily include written text. According to Ezer, any format from which we gain information is a text. There are situations that are “text dependent” where the text is verbal, written, visual or of the body language.

The critical thought of the literate person is constructed form the ability to justify things and connect them to other texts or to personal experience. The ability to argue with texts and to doubt them reflects a literate behavior. In order to understand a text and analyze it, the reader, listener or observer, uses schemes. This use of schemes is defined as referring to pervious knowledge out of memory in order to bridge gaps within the text, as well as using it to confront between the known schemes in the reader’s mind relating to similar texts, and the text before him (Sharel, 1996). To any encounter with text, one brings a world of knowledge, a previous encounter with similar types of text,and knowledge of the subjects within the text. This previous knowledge allows the reader to respond to the text in a unique and personal way.

Here, according to Ezer, appear additional literate behaviors, such as relating to personal experience, relating to texts by others, disputation of the texts, developing personal suppositions, evaluation texts and the reflection of all of these behaviors. Only on the base of previous knowledge, Ezer states, one can weigh the relevancy of the text to his or her world and criticize it. In her opinion, great importance should be given within the school system to a teacher’s acknowledgment, not only of previous knowledge students in the classroom posses, but also to the essence of this knowledge. Identifying the essence of knowledge is essential since on its trail a teacher can construct a teaching program and direct the students to exchange existing knowledge with another, and expend on it. Learning literacy through aesthetic education allows us to see a learning process where the student is involved in works of art. This experience encourages the student to create and appreciate works of art while the process of literacy develops. Art, according to Eizner (1988) is a form of literacy. Literacy of the Arts is a special cognitive activity, giving unique forms of meanings. Observing literacy, as it is expressed through aesthetic education, leads to the awareness that literacy should be a state of being. Through literacy the student can understand his/her own experience and organize it into the general concept of his/her life (Handerhan 2001).

Most of the people around us are literate people, who write and read. In pre-historic times, human beings, living in caves, transferred information about situations in their life using painted drawings. The Hartman scribe developed out of these drawings in Egypt. Writing is signs giving to the speech. As the world became more complex a need developed to reach a situation where people would be able to read and write whatever they spoke, therefore the alphabetical script developed, which is the most sophisticated script because it is possible to create with it an endless amount of words with relatively few signs. The written text is part of the complex linguistic communication, of the spoken language and the written language, and is defined as a connected verbal sequence with a meaning, such as a story, an article, etc.

The characteristics of verbal text:

The text is constructed out of written words, whose form is arbitrary. The form is not related to the object’s actual characteristics in reality (e.g. the word chair has no connection to the actual shape of a chair). The script related to the eye, and the eye is moving all the time. It dissects reality into different points of view. The written words stay in their place after the reading and the text can be preserved accurately and be read again. The written text is composed. It is made out of composed sentences that are subordinate to one another by cause, comparison, time, etc. The singularity of written text is its ability to express abstract ideas and concepts that are detached from physical objects in reality – mathematical information, for instance.

The invention of written language, like the invention of the clock, gives us the illusion of control over a world that can be defined, obtained and organized in a set structure. In addition it allows us to preserve information outside the mind and therefore cognitive efforts that were devoted previously to repetition and memory are now turned reflection, contemplation and creativity. However, written text cannot be discussed without taking into account the reading process. In this process the reader must be active, that is, read the text. Reading is the process of understanding the written language, and is performed through integrative of a number of skills: identifying, deciphering signs and phonetic codes, producing meaning from the written, thought, knowledge of the world and cultural connection. Reading is an interactive process between the reader and the text.

A different approach to the written text and the reading process is brought by Paulo Frerra, one of the originators of the critical approach that claims there is no innocent text, but that every text is designed to influence the reader. The most meaningful reading process is understanding “the spirit/mood of the text” – the bias and motives of the writer. Frerra takes this to the extreme by naming the tension between the reader and the text a “struggle,” and claims we must not surrender to the text or be submissive to it, but we must struggle with it. In this way the first connection to the text is formed – the text’s concept with the reader’s context (Shor and Frerra, 1991).

The written and spoken language contains four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The speaker in modern culture needs all four, otherwise he or she will be limited in the environment and will be pushed to the margins of social, political and economical activity. A good command of these four skills, therefore, is among other things, also a necessary condition (yet not sufficient) to a life of well-being and comfort in all of the human cycles. The knowledge and function in all four linguistic skills we will term linguistic literacy and the literate person we will define as someone who knows all of the secrets of language, that is all that he or she can know about language, and its communication processes (Ezer, 2003).

The painting as an example of visual text, “is like a language in the sense that it is a tool to transmit emotions and thoughts, and there is reason to deepen observation of it and extract its full meaning thanks to expertise in traditions where it was used” (Faipher, p. 96, 1989). In what way can this universal language be analyzed? By deconstructing the painting and examining its unique characteristics. When observing a painting one must refer to its narrative content/ the iconography aspect and simultaneously examine the artistic/stylistic tools that were used: colors, shapes, line, spot, composition, perspective, proportions, movement, point of view, light and shade – these and more will contribute to our understanding of the painting and the pleasure we take from it will be more complete. In order to understand the painting thoroughly we must relate to it as visual text and read and analyze it using the tools of the language of fine art.

The argument can be made that analyzing a work of art diminishes from the mystery that is its living essence, yet in contrast to this view, music critic Hans Keller claims that the pleasure is a result of understanding and depends on it. The more we’ll be aware of the emotional foundations of music, and art in general, the more comprehensive and deep its message will become and, as a result, also more enjoyable (Feipher, 1989). The art of painting reflects on human-cultural development as much as written texts. An observer, who can “read” the visual text/painting with all its components, can see how each era shaped the different images according to the way culture and the world was viewed at the time.

In his research about the human image development in art, the art critic Asher Barash (1992), claims that artistic forms of images are not determined mainly by factors in nature, that is, the way they look in reality, but by forces operating within the art world and culture from which these images arise. An observer, who can read the visual text closely, is able to see it as a reflection of the changing approaches and values in human cultures and historical times. The images, Barash claims, in their changing description, are symbolic of the culture’s different stages (Barash, 1992). The painting deal with all the subjects relating to the everyday lives of the artists in the present, the past and the future, and expresses them in different ways starting for a description closest to reality and up to the most abstract. The emotional and cognitive dimension of each artist are given expression though the painting as well– the style according to the time, culture and personality of the artist.

Sculpture is not considered pure visual art because it may invite the observer to use touch as well. The hand and eye are drawn to follow the sculpture’s surfaces and spaces. The relationship established between the viewer and the sculpture is essentially different from the one established with the painting because of the three-dimensional volume which the sculpture occupies in space. The sculpting language is constructed from: line, shape, light and shadow, color and texture, mass and the three-dimensional space. Sculptors must organize volumes in a three-dimensional structure with it own internal reasoning and coherence. Throughout the ages in the history of art, sculptors focused mainly on mass, or “lump.” Space as an element was not considered significant in the human body composition, and the focus was on the changing volumes of the body. Modern sculptors succeeded in detaching themselves from loyalty to the human form and expended the range of forms at their disposal. They began making use of space as a major element their work. Space became an entity/being with qualities and expression (Fiepher 1989). “Sculpture masses are defined and signed by their surfaces; our ability to comprehend their form or structure depends on our ability to understand the meaning of the clues that are given to us through qualities on their surface. The contour, outlines, color or texture are the components of meaningful expression in many sculptures” (Pfiefer, p.170, 1989).

Deciphering body language is a skill gained gradually with maturity, out of the need to complete verbal communication. This skill is acquired through intuition, and not intellectual education. We become more and more sensitive to slight changes in the facial expressions of our interlocutor and his body postures, while at the same time transmitting and receiving verbal messages (Morris, 1993).

The importance of creative dance:

At the beginning of the 20^th Century, awareness began that the body and mind are one and not separated (Dychtwald, 1992). The recognition that all emotional feelings are experienced physically by the body, brought to the belief that through expression in movement and dance one could reach personal growth and change. Words alone, unaccompanied by creative activity are not sufficient to describe the great variety of human emotions (Levy, 1995).

The Art Therapy discipline supports and reinforces Aristotle’s concept that the health of the body and well-being of the mind are essential to our existence. A play in dance and movement in the presence of another (the teacher, the group) gives validity and significance to the expression, and the process receives new interpretations from the performer (or patient) (Chodorow, 1994). Movement is a tool to reach endless possibilities of query and creation. Possible tools are the metaphor, symbols and archetypal images. The different body parts, serving us in their functional roles, are responsible for emotional aspects of our lives as well. The different body parts represent specific parts of our emotional life.

The art of dance as an example of moving text is an art form that unfolds while it disappears. It is not an easy medium to watch. There is no possibility of watching it again. It does not stay before you and cannot be looked over; it is already gone, to be continued elsewhere. Only the complex of impressions remains. Therefore, it is hard to give a description, to pass criticism. One can only try and pass on the lasting impression, the understanding that was absorbed, partial and not thorough, of what was.

Deciphering the Dancing Text:

As in the verbal text, in dance in general and specifically in Ballet, there are separated motions that become movement through the connection made between them. The artistic devices that make up the text language of motion are: connecting sentences of movement, arrangement on the stage, music, costumes, lighting, stage design and the relationship between all of these elements.

The dance text leans upon text from the history of dance, that is, it emerges from it, against it, combining styles, bringing quotes or re-enacting pieces from the past. The dance text deals with every aspect other arts deal with: human feelings, legends and fairy-tails, childhood experiences, social farce, politics, epistemology, and more. Every subject, personal or social, is alive and thrives in dance in its different styles. Dance keeps up to date constantly, using technological means such as video, laser beams, computerized lighting etc.

In this section we will present the different theories: the traditional theory, and a collection of new theories, methods and approaches that appose the traditional approach. The new methods are suitable to a time where education goals have changed, and they support the basic concept out of which the model we suggest here was developed. In a separate section we will present theories that support integrating art in education.

Concepts of education at present are influenced by many streams in the Human Science fields. This age is considered the post-modern age and post-structuralist age. A visible characteristic of this period is pluralism and disunity of opinions. Therefore, even the definition itself of the period as post-modern, is liable to argument and disputation, and many contradictions. New theories, coming out of older ones, either reinforce them or oppose them. Many researchers, some of which are educators, psychologists, and pedagogues, continue to create theories and ideas that entwine into the approach that became formal during the 20^th century, and continues to exist and receive new direction in the 21^st century. For the sociologist, education is a tool by which to transmit the cultural values of the adults to the younger generation. Skill, tradition, facts, values and moral standards, are the components making up a culture (Cultural Transmission) (Haran, 1990). For the pedagogue, education is the student’s chaperone, while he/she is growing and obtaining knowledge.

The academic approach is one of the oldest educational methods. According to this method, the field of knowledge, the discipline, is the center of learning. This academic approach fits higher education, where one studies a field of knowledge in depth, for professional use and not for general education purposes. According to Souessur, a French stucturalist, understanding the text in depth will be possible by focusing on its structure (Story, 1998). The academic method lies on the structuralism that considers the structure of the discipline as an important part in understanding it. This theory came out of the industrial revolution and follows the structure of that world. Today, many educators and parents see in this approach a method that does not fit a formal education system, where children from 6 to 18-years-old are being educated. Still, many schools and many teachers still basically use this method.

The characteristics of this method are:

0. Teaching the basic of the discipline.
1. Transmitting information in a frontal-lecture form.
2. Subjects taught are considered universal.
3. Linear studies (advancing in straight lines).
4. Repetition and memorizing of material.

This approach treats the student as a passive vessel meant to receive information. Learning is forced upon him/her unwittingly; he/she is not appreciated individually but uniformly with the whole class. The class is a collection of individuals, and this creates social isolation for the student, competition and judgment (Cohen, 1995). The roots of this approach are in the industrial revolution, and its structure, was influenced by a hierarchical structure, where hegemony was without question. There where those who knew what was right and what was wrong, and they decided which material would be taught, who will learn, and how. Since hegemony is a system of meanings and values experienced as practices, it seems they mutually reinforce each other (Appel, 1990). What derives from this is that the education system, one the most hegemonic establishments, practices formal teaching that aspires to achieve maximum precision of details and uniformity among all students. This type of learning can only be superficial, lacking the student’s own involvement (Inbar, 1999).

The humanist approach places the student at the center of learning. It advocates the non-frontal method of relating to the student, and allows diverse teaching ideas. This approach contains relaying on convention and trials of previous generations combined with the student’s own personal experience. Small leaning groups allow each individual to express him/herself, and a partner in the leaning process (Cohen, 1995). This way of leaning enhances the feeling of self-worth as a learning tool. In addition, a way of learning develops that incorporates freedom and spontaneity (Aloni, 1998).

The principles of this method are:

5. Teaching the discipline according to individual needs.
6. The student decides, and is responsible for his/her actions.
7. Leaning morality and human respect.
8. Enhancing self-worth as a tool for leaning.
9. Leaning that incorporates freedom and spontaneity.

Today this approach gains more and more popularity. According to it, the student is not a vessel which needs to be filled with the learning material, and the material itself is not complete or known completely, but a source of active discovery. Considering the fact that sense-motor ability is the base of cognitive growth, leaning through direct experience and involvement, develops in the students the ability to repeat an experience they had in school to their lives in the real, adult world (Akerman, 1995).

Still, many times teachers tend to busy their students and not act as agents, which might make the students busy, but not necessarily fruitful. Our students’ activity should come out of involvement and not be activity for its own sake. Active learning involvement, through correct guidance is meant to acquire the students with tools for evaluating activity and results. Being active is not enough. The students should be directed into an activity that will examine its results, and teach them to approach and ménage information. Their activity should be cyclical and include evaluating results and repeated action in light of the results reached.

Aesthetic education that integrates art in the learning process, springs out of the awareness that the aesthetic experience exists naturally and spontaneously in every person. Even when a man knows the biological details of a flower’s structure, he/she may still wonder at its unique beauty. If we save the flower from routine, generalization and categorizing treatment, we might be able to develop sensitivity and interest. The aesthetic education is meant to allow aesthetic experimentation that becomes knowledge. This type of knowledge will complete other types, such as scientific knowledge or technical knowledge of manufacturing a particular product, and will enhance the spiritual experience.

The aesthetic education is a combination of education of art and education through art. Movement, in the Humanist education, advocates for recruiting education in developing the personality of the child and in answering his/her needs, using art as a tool. According to Sheinman (1995) the instrumental use of the arts in the general education program in school will not last since those teachers who use arts do not speak its language. Only placing the arts at center as disciplines in themselves will bring to an aesthetic understanding that will benefit completely from education’s potential (Sheinman, 1995). In our opinion, though her statements are well founded, instead of a death sentence on education using art, teachers should be taught how to use art as a tool in their teaching. They need not be artists themselves, but instead understand and experiment with it themselves.

The social/constructive approach advocated ideas of group assignments, where group decisions and learning happen in different directions. This approach serves the purpose of certain social groups, and enhances a scholarly and social narrative.

The principles of this method are:

10. The discipline diverted to social needs
11. The leaned subjects change according to the group and leadership’s needs
12. Group assignments – group decisions
13. Learning takes place in different directions

Methods of Learning

Through cooperative learning, in small groups or in pairs, the students learn from each other. They interest one another in information about themselves and in reflecting each other’s ideas, and even learn to know each other from new points of view. This allows for social unity… in the classroom, and to a stronger sense of belonging among the group of students. The main goal in the group method is exchanging ideas between students, cooperative planning, mutual help and encouragement toward action and activity. The goal of gaining knowledge takes second place, but is clearly achieved in this way. No differences where found in the level of knowledge between students who were taught though a frontal lecture and those taught in groups. However, the ability to perform assignments that required more thinking was higher among the groups (Cohen, 1995). The method of learning in groups is implemented in different teaching methods, and not only the social/constructive.

Postman (1996) brings an example of this method, suggesting a narrative that would lead education to protecting our planet. The idea is that humans are hosts on the deck of the ship “Earth,” and are responsible for maintaining all of our existence. We are all in the same boat, and we must cooperate. Postman’s suggestion, noble as it may be, seems an ideal that can doubtfully be applicable. As long as consumerism and separatism penetrates through commercials and the media as an existing reality allowing some people to have high living standards, this narrative will be the one that dominates. Since the world of advertising relays on simple, catchy text, it immediately influences the general population that chooses the school’s narrative and the desired education for its children. The schools, dependent on economical profits, will aspire to fulfill the publics desire to educate the children to strive for monetary success. Frerra (1990), the Brazilian educator, encourages teachers to get to know their students’ world, and know the “pedagogy of the situation” as a practical principle of an approach called “the ideological pedagogy.”

In his statements, Frerra (1990) calls for a recognition in the importance of the students’ world of meanings, without the teachers’ condescending. Their system of codes and signs must be known, and material that does not connect to their world should not be taught. Furthermore, factual and finite information should not be given, but instead their teachers should bring them to discover this information, so that they are excited by it. Frerra speaks of learning in dialogue, in which a mutual “blood transfusion” (Gover, 2002) takes place. The principle of criticism in this pedagogy allows ‘knowing’ that emerges from the dialogue between the students and the teacher, which can bring the teacher to a renewed learning experience as well. Idan (2000), goes against the hierarchical pyramid of the education system, which is headed by the office of education with its principals and supervisors, who dictate an inflexible program, lacking consideration of students’ needs and without adjustment to fit different settlement and communities. Peperatt, in referring to the process of learning, relates to natural learning (the reverse of artificial learning) which is based on knowledge that is not hierarchical but rather concrete. Peperatt refers to natural leaning that takes place in a natural process like learning a language (Idan, 2000). The Anthroposophic approach to education, as given by the education philosopher Rudolf Steiner in his lectures as early as 1921, believes that the teachers should make sure that their teaching does not become static, stuck, but grow along with the students according to their development, and as a result develop as their organs do, so that they will enjoy at thirty or forty the fruits of what they learned at seven or eight. Teaching must, according to Steiner, penetrate the depth of the children’s being so that it continues to develop with them and lives within them.

The most meaningful connection that must be made in any subject taught is to the person. We should not miss an opportunity to point out this connection. Relating the outside world to man, always creates emotions that are very important in education. In fact, the most objective subjects lead naturally to man. In man, the whole world can be found. When we connect facts that come up from the studied material to man, the facts will remain, become an important part of the students’ personal experience. Teaching should make the studied material live inside them through time, be a part of their being, as our most special experiences are preserved (Steiner, 1996).

The Techno-Logistic approach corresponds in great measure to the constructive approach.

The principles of this method are:

14. Teaching the discipline in a multi-disciplinary direction.
15. Encouraging investigation and discovery
16. The subjects correspond to developing technology
17. Learning takes place in different directions
18. Opening the mind/thought to future destinations

The constructive method, Kaspi’s approach (Inbar, 1999), strives for a transition from obtaining knowledge to construction of the knowledge. That is, the process is based on the student’s involvement in activity of experimentation with the senses, feelings and intuitions. This approach speaks of taking into account the difference between students, and even between teachers, as a part of the educational plan and activity in the school (Inbar, 1999). Kaspi claims that every person is curious and inquisitive. He/she is interested in touching every aspect of life, learning and having fun, planning and executing, renew and preserve, respond, appreciate, give, receive, realize him/herself and design the environment. The educator’s role is to allow the students the opportunity for all this by initiating activity.

Our students’ activity should happen out of real involvement and not for the sake of doing alone. Active involvement in learning, along with correct guidance and direction, is supposed to give the students tools to reevaluate the results of their actions. Being active is not enough, the students must be directed to an activity that will examine its results and teach them to approach information and manage it. Their activity should be cyclical and include evaluation of results and a repeated action in light of these results (Akerman, 1995).

Constructive learning can only exist with mutual sensitivity, motivation, basic knowledge, a realistic self-image of the student, enjoyment out of the activity itself, humor, love of play and love of man. “Learning can serve as a magical mirror, reflecting the outside as well as the inside for the student. Learning at its best is based on a reflective ability of the student” (Inbar, 1999). Learning that takes place among the students should be recognized and encouraged. Traditionally and in most cases is our culture, teaching is done with/through a teacher or a text. Surprises and learning from the students’ responses are mostly neglected and therefore miss an important element in learning. “Man to man, teacher” is an important principle in the constructive approach, and negates the conventional method in which the teaching is based on a frontal lecture and strives for uniformity (Inbar, 1999). According to Piaget, the adolescent in high school reached a stage of thought where he/she likes to participate in long philosophical discussions in which he/she considers for the first time assumption he/she did not think of before. The student is able to continue building new assumptions over previous ones, layer upon layer (Tyano, 1999).

When we are faced with a subject we must learn, we need motivation in order to start “climbing the mountains of ignorance” (Inbar, 1999). Many times there is a need to arise curiosity somehow, so that the student becomes curious and agrees to begin the journey out of a desire to expand his/her horizons while facing the difficulties on the ay. The constructive approach of teaching believes in a gradual reduction of dependency in the teacher and the given material, simultaneously with expansion of joined activity among the students, to the point of natural learning for each of them. Natural curiosity strives for expansion of consciousness. Without enhancing our autonomy, learning that comes out of the student’s ability to navigate and advance choices and decision will not develop (Inbar, 1999).

Education for Diversity is an education narrative that is most essential in countries with a lot of immigration, where many different cultures are present in the same place. The source of most serious narratives is spiritual or metaphysical. Even the idea of the hosts on the ship “Earth” sounds like a spiritual or religious narrative, and the subject derived from it is humanity, me as a participant, those who came before me and those who will come after me. What do I do here and now for the sake of this narrative? This idea clarifies that there is no meaning in differences between humans, in division into races, classes, and social contrasts (Postman, 1996). When we recognize difference and experience it as enrichment, we will find that diversity expands our knowledge of the world. In education there is a need for recognition of differences that leads to growth beyond time and space. The diversity creates a unique social fabric in a group. This growth comes into being from the strength that is in gender differences, religion differences and all the other categories of human nature.

The Multiple Intelligences Theory sees the individual student along with his/her unique talents and abilities. The learning program and best teaching approach must consider the student’s thinking and conceptualizing paradigm. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (1993), describing seven main intelligences with unique characteristics, includes different abilities and focus points for different students. But metaphoric thinking is what creates, or ties-up, analogies between elements from different learned subjects, and therefore creates meaning form the information that then turns into knowledge. Discussions that develop on the learned subject enable the use of metaphors from the world of art to be taken into the world of verbal text. A possibility of acquiring the skill for asking questions can expand the subject to any given direction. Learning, Kaspi writes (1999), is an event in which different intelligences and different integrating points operate. When wanting to clarify and examine the processes and details of the learned material, one may separate and discuss each of the components of information. Teacher and school program designers will also benefit from separating and analyzing the material in order to reach a better understanding of the different possibilities to integrate this information (Inbar, 1999).

Personal Empowerment is a tool for enhancing the motivation to learn. There is a theory about the different factors that develop within the student a concept of his/her own ability that contributes to personal empowerment. When a person – in our case, the student – finds him/herself able to successfully perform different tasks, he/she will not have a problem being motivated and taking on challenges. That is why the teacher should choose assignments that will be compatible with the student’s ability, and not beyond his/her reach. The quality of performing the task is more important than the duration it takes to perform it. The student should be allowed to perform the task according to his/her understanding and taste, rather than be expected to do it according to our expectations (Aimes, 2001). If the tasks are too easy, motivation will drop. According to researches published in 1991, the concept of personal ability strengthens the choice of task and persistence in performing it. The task is also experienced as fun and important and contributes again to feeling of personal ability (Kaplan, 2001).

The Teacher’s Profile

It is vital that the teacher projects a personality that does not restrict, that trusts the students and respects their life experience and their world of knowledge. This should be expressed in encouraging the students, in giving them space to grow and in supporting their words and deeds (Sarig, 2000).

The teacher’s part in enhancing the student’s personal empowerment and reinforcing it, will determine the success of this program. The Adlerian theory points out that a child feels incompetent because of a comparison he/she creates between himself and the rest of the group. Out of this sense of incompetence, which often relies on real failures, he cancels out the importance of successful actions (Draikurs, 1994). Meaningful learning involves many inner processes. These are psychological processes in the emotional and cognitive aspect, and do not remain as learning mechanisms inside a particular student. Here the student regulates herself and redefines herself in the learning process while giving personal critic and building a self-image.

Upon us, the teachers, lies the responsibility to bring the student to a place were he/she can evaluate the learning process and improvement of skill that was acquired during the process. We must not evaluate them only according to their achievements, because then we become detached from other educational values, such as devoting efforts into developing skills and implementing them out of enjoyment and will. We must make sure that the student’s efforts will not be exalted only when he is sure to succeed in the task. Since the self-regulating mechanism is essential to life in general and not just to study in school, it should be encouraged. Unfortunately, in the conventional method of evaluating students the teachers regulate them externally. This external regulation is not useful, and in fact blurs the natural ability to self-regulate, not allowing the student to strengthen this essential part of his/her life. Correct learning helps the natural, spontaneous ripening process of learning in which imptail takes place – improvement and detail, according to Kaspi (Inbar, 1999).

Learning for the sake of understanding is a subject that occupies pedagogues and is not in the least simple. We are interested in the student’s learning for the sake of understanding. The means for such a teaching can be specified. In his essay, Perkins (1992), specifies six prerequisites for teachers, but we wish to note that a first condition for teaching for the sake of understanding is that the teacher understands the subject him/herself. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who know the material but do not sufficiently understand it. Some subjects and skills can be preformed without understanding and taught without understanding. These teachers are sometimes a product of the education system where they were taught, that used different teaching methods than the ones recommended by this paper. In cases like this, even if the teacher use the tools specified by Perkins, he/she will not be able to guide the students into understanding. Some of the students might understand the subject better than the teacher. In more successful cases, the teacher will learn the subject and understand it along with the students.

In order to teach in a way that guides towards understanding, one must ask the following questions: what are the subjects being taught? What should be understood about them? How can we evaluate the students’ understanding (Stone, 1997)? Akerman believes that both a “dive in” and a “pulling out” are important in obtaining deep understanding. During the learning process, the students sink into the material, diving in deep. This is an important part of the process, which leads to pulling out of it, and then taking the role of the observer from a distance, describe it and learn from it (Akerman, 1997). Learning that arouses joy of life and humor improves the learning processes. Instead of coming home tired and beat from the effort of learning in a way that strangles any spark of joy (Inbar, 1999), the students reveal a strong will to continue the process they began at school. This enthusiasm should be well taken advantage of for teaching the subjects in the curriculum. Through cooperation between the students and a general dialogue, a learning that contains meanings and understandings emerges. During exercises, the student can pay attention and focus his/her awareness on the way she understands, and can use her advantages and track her weakness (perhaps with the help of a teacher). Acquiring this ability to observe, can be useful in the student’s mature life, when using understanding and judgment (Perkins, 1992).

The constructive approach in teaching and learning concentrates most of its efforts to constructing knowledge and understanding in an active way. The main claim of this method is that the information builds up inside the student according to his own cognitive and subjective repertoire, and in the immediate context of the activity. Therefore, attention is diverted from a method emphasizing personal achievement towards dispersed activities based on participation and dependent on context. In this way planning moves away from activity meant to lead to a specific result and towards an activity that leads to social, inter-personal processes. Referring to the implementation section of this paper (parts C.1, C.2, C.3, D), which deals with implementing the model, will give a detailed series of directions for performing activities that work well with the constructive approach and method. This approach, in which use of different technologies for collection and managing information is possible, also corresponds to the techno-logistic as well as the humanist approaches and methods.

The next chapter is dedicated to an educational approach that advocated integrating art in teaching.

B.3. Integrating the Arts in Teaching

The concept of art is wide and includes many fields and points of view.

The idea of art in teaching also contains different views, of which the major ones are:

1. Education for the arts – teaching art as a subject in itself with the goal of developing a future audience for works of art.

2. Education in the arts – teaching the skills and language of art with the goal of training future artists.

3. Education using the arts – use of art as a tool for advancing and enriching subjects out of the regular education program; art used as an expressive tool developing personality, creativity and imagination.

In this paper we refer to the arts as a tool and not a goal in itself. We wish to show a way to teach the arts during regular classes in the education system and strengthen the connection between the student and the subject taught. The arts are an expressive tool through which the maximum ability of the student can be reached. While involved in learning, the student could turn information into knowledge, as described in chapter C2.

When we suggest incorporating fields of art in education, we must recognize the different meanings and opinions of art in education that existed in the late 20^th century. Marxism is one example of an aesthetic theory that makes use of the arts in order to educate the public to the regime’s political ideology. The Marxist aesthetic theory sees the ends of art as education alone. In the Cubist period, Plakanov spoke against cubism, since he saw it as “art for the sake of art”, which went against his belief that art should reflect, exactly and realistically, social reality. Jdanov, another Marxist, taking a stand in favor of social-realism, called for a redesign and an ideological education through the arts, following Stalin. It is important to note that Plato claimed that art is a kind of social engineering, but in the sense of channeling difficult feelings and creating a catharsis, and not for the propaganda of a small regime, trying to preserve and empower itself (Sim, 1999). This model is offered to education for different, and even contrasting, reasons. Its primary goal is to bring the individual to know and connect to him/herand feel empowered in his/her role as part of human society.

The specific contributions of integrating arts in learning are as follows:

1. On the Personal Level

1.A) Personal Expression: The need to achieve expression and appreciation is in the human nature from birth. According to Freud, as stated in Storr’s essay (1972), art satisfies wishes that were never realized. Discovering a talent in a specific field will lead a man to bring his talent into some form of expression, even if only for the sake of receiving attention and encouragement from the close environment (Storr, 1972). Every creation brings an element of self-revelation (Epstein, 2000) and therefore the student must create in order to know him/herself. Integrating arts in learning allows the child to express his/her inner world and get to know the worlds of those around him.

1.B) Developing Self-Awareness: In the creative process we learn to get to know ourselves and the parts we are made of, and with the different arts express them and give them a place. “Expressing things in worlds, music and painting turns conscious what was not fully conscious; by transferring what is in our soul to the ‘outside’ we change our relationship with these characteristics. But it is not only because once things have been written or said they can be shared with other people, but not less important is the fact that these inner narratives turned into an object separated form the individual, an object man can ponder upon, and study. Discovery of what we really think and feel is part of polishing our unique identity” (Epstein, 2000). When the materials created are outside of them, they will be able to meet them and develop their awareness of them, as well as observe them from a perspective of physical distance and time. All this allows for contemplation, criticism, correcting and reediting.

1.C) Heightening the Self-Image and Enhancing the Sense of Ability: Sensitivity, curiosity, openness and imagination, are dominant characteristics in a creative person’s personality (Landau, 1990). Even if this statement is not always correct, still the student experiencing a creative ability on any level will feel his sense of ability grow. When a student is empowered her level of involvement and participation rises and the level of detachment falls, her self-esteem rises and she dares to express herself more. “Education using creative arts and imagination gives joy, replaces the estrangement between the student and the school, causes more identification and trust, and as a result motivation grows as do academic achievements” (Al-Hajj, 2000). In the creative process, the student working with art, is required to have an inner dialogue and so enhances the experience of making decisions. From this process a higher self-esteem will emerge (Landau, 1970).

1.D) Developing Imagination and Creativity: In a world where the only sure thing is change, there is, no doubt, a need to develop imagination and creativity that eventually contribute to flexible thinking. Developing the ability to change previously set thinking patterns into new and original patterns are a most important adapting tools. Engaging in any kind of art encourages alternative thinking and choosing a variety of solutions to artistic creation. Creativity in education in its wider sense, according to Winikott is the ability to answer life’s needs with the help of solutions different then those studied before, which is therefore essence of adaptation. There is an element of play in the creative process in which the participant knows the rules and restrictions, and maneuvers within them as in a virtual reality (Storr, 1972). In education and learning, a certain amount of play should be allowed to enter the materials in order to bring higher involvement in it. In this way, the use of all abilities and strengths of the brain will come forward and learning will become fuller and livelier (Beetlestone, 1998).

1.E) Developing the Ability to be in Dialogue: A work of art is necessarily a dialogue between the material and the artist. In this process we respond, observe, change, listen, take apart and reconstruct. We channel something from the inside out. In the creative process the student always chooses the materials and the way they will be worked with. This experience introduces the student with his/her preferences and improves his/her ability to choose. This process makes the student active, rather than passive, and increases his responsibility and involvement in the learning process. The aesthetic approach contributes to advancing the student’s literacy (Handerhan, 2001).

In addition, the products/works/results achieved serve as an opportunity for the student and teacher to get to know each other better, and for the student to know him/herself and his/her classmates through the discussion that comes out of the work. Since spoken language -- an effective tool but not always genuine -- cannot describe something that is meaningful for us in precision, when we want to give a precise description of a special and elusive moment, art will be the best tool, and will also contribute to the dialogue. Words, colors, sounds and movements will give additional meanings, and the listen or observer will be able to grasp the intuitive substance of this singular/elusive creation. A work of art has a cognitive value. Since there are no two identical works, they always change and renew, just like reality, and therefore the subjects/contents of art are more real than scientific facts that are processed with the language of terms and definitions alone (Lorend, 1991).

Learning through experience and personal experimentation: art is a bridge between mind and emotion and allows exposure and connectedness to the inner world of the artist. The different senses work as complex mechanisms that are able to tie-up a man’s inner world to the world that surrounds him (Kara, 1976). Sight and hearing are the most active senses and are partners in the sense perception. Although it wasn’t proven without question that studying the arts improved students’ grades and elevate their achievements (Gill, 1990), it clearly influences them by enriching their lives and improving their learning skills and allowing a real encounter between the student and the subjects taught. The importance of experience in the learning process is turning learning and knowledge into an integral part of a whole system of knowing and absorbing. In this way the emotional experience that accompanies the learning process will bring to absorbing the material and remembering it better. The photograph as a tool in teaching arouses a multi-sensual experience, using the optical image. Verbal explanations and discussions are no doubt important. But visualizations that turn to different senses assist in organizing the material into signs and concepts in one’s mind. A picture can stimulate the imagination. It creates stimulation and deep impression. It creates openness to learn, but might cause too much stimulus and should be used wisely (Kara, 1976).

1.F) Connecting to Our Creative Part: Creativity it the ability to change ideas; an ability that comes out of new inner insight about previously known information. Art connects us to our creative par that is the source of strength and activity. A man in the process of creating will feel joy and release. Art is seen as a creative activity that every student can participate in. An activity of creation can release strengths and talents from within the student (Cohen, 1985). Vertical thinking chooses materials for the artistic work and decides what is relevant. Horizontal thinking, guided by intuition, the creative sense and humor, guides the person creating the art into decisions and changes that come out from the creation process (De Bono, 1988).

Integrating arts in the classroom gives the students a chance to activate their full range of ability, and not relate only to a small part of intelligences. The fact that personal compatibility of the manner in which a student gains and processes information is possible, allows compatibility with a greater range of students with different aband intelligences. It is vital, according to Gardner, that we accept and develop all human intelligences, with their different possible combinations. (Gardner, 1993).

2. On the Group Level

2.A) Creating a Supportive Environment and Positive Class Climate: Working with the arts focuses on the personal process rather than on the final result, which creates an environment that is not competitive but encourages cooperation. Each student brings him/herself in his/her special way. Along with correct guidance from an understanding teaching who is familiar with the values of pluralism and difference, this experience of revelation and exposure creates greater closeness and intimacy and a non-judgmental environment.

Education for diversity and multi-culturalism: In working with the arts we experience the great difference between us (many variations on the same subject, a different interpretation to the same experience). In this process we learn to internalize the difference among people, respect it and see it as a rich source of learning and developing tolerance. Expanding this approach to different cultures teaches us that an encounter with the different can be illuminating, can expand our knowledge and enrich our experience, when it does not emanate from a comparative-competitive place (of higher or lower culture). This approach develops a pluralistic world-view. Lau sees works of art in children, claiming that they do not absorb information in a passive way, but actively process knowledge that is meaningful for them, combining intellect with the senses, exactly as in the process of creating art (Lau, 1995).

2.B) A Way of Dealing Differently with Assignments in Class: “The creative process rearranges things and therefore assists us in adjusting to the external world and not escape from it” (Storr, 1972, p,81). Although working with art gives a feeling of freedom, it contains an internal framework of rules, therefore, in order to create, a person will abide by the values and framework of the field of art in which he wishes to express himself. This does not assure that he will follow the rules of other frameworks, but he will be more creative about them. The fact of dealing with artistic materials itself contributes to empowerment, while developing self-awareness, increasing motivation and the ability to make out-of-the-ordinary decisions, will enable the student to deal better with the assignments in class. In addition, there is evidence that students from art programs reach personal satisfaction in those fields and therefore are willing to invest effort in subjects that are less interesting to them and do not bring them pleasure. The use of different arts is a basis for stimulating thought, solving problems, encouraging diverse thinking, and seeing different points of view and perspectives. Many things that are difficult to deal with or find solutions for in the material world, can receive a fresher view as well as paths to solutions through the imagination (Cohen, 1995).

Summery

Integrating the arts in education is not only a tool for better learning, but a world view that sees the student holistically, on all his or her parts. In this view, learning is a process that affects the child through all his part, his emotion, imagination, his body as well as through the mind, and each part support and enriches all others. Integrating arts in the learning process allows the student to encounter her own creative forces; these forces construct her self-esteem and imprint their mark on all her future activity.

This paper recommends incorporating the child’s world (using the photo album) in the learning program, and integrating the arts as an expressive, experiential tool. The arts add an additional layer to the studies. Being a bridge from the internal to the external, they allow the student to get to know his inner world as a place of growth. Integrating the arts in the learning process helps the child and teacher on the personal, professional and group levels in developing curiosity to learn and teach differently, courage to think differently, and freedom for personal expression using different elements in art.

“Everything – human beings, animals, trees, stars – we are all made of one substance mixes in the same terrible struggle. What is that struggle?…turning matter into spirit.

Zorba scratched his head and said, I have a thick scull, sir, I do not understand these things easily. Ah, if only you could dance all the things you said, I would understand…or if you could tell them to me in a story, sir.”

Nicholas Kazantzkis, Greek Zorba.

B.4. The Fmily Photo Album as Personal Text

B.4.1. The Emotional Aspect

“Photography is a way to supply most of the information about the world – collecting photographs is really collecting the world” (Sontag, 1977, p. 7). The personal photo album of each one of us is a source of information in which the photographs collected serve as meaningful text for the individual. The personal photo album curates the “story” of life: characters, places, events, and situations during the different periods of a person’s life. “In the photographs there is visual evident of a narrow section of space and time” (Sontag, 1977, p.7). “The photograph captures the moment, preserves it and presents it” (Monk, 1989), and it can be relived in thought and emotion when looking at the photograph. Observing photographs, it is unavoidable that we find ourselves face to face with our own history. Moments from the past may come to life while observing the photographs and take us back in memory to who we used to be. The photographs remove, according to Berman, a photo-therapist (1997), memory blocks that cause us to be set in the present, and so when looking at our past selves, we are sent backwards through our lives. People often save their photographs after understanding the transient nature of life, as a defense mechanism against the threat of change and lost, or as a way to hold on to certainties of the past. And yet, the photograph presents a passing moment. The very fact of documenting it with a camera emphasizes the temporary existence of humanity and nature captured in the frame (Sontag, 1997).

Someone observing her own photographs usually causes her great excitement, both because of painful and happy emotions. The photographs can be deciphered, they are taken from life and therefore their many meanings are charged. Many people give great importance to photographs and invest much of their attention in them: collecting, organizing and preserving them as treasures. “Many state that if a fire broke in their house, after taking care of their family they would try to save their photographs. You can buy new objects and furniture, but not the memories of a lifetime” (Berman, 1997, p.8). Photography is a non-verbal language and therefore understood by all (Monk, 1989).

Each individual sees in the photograph the details and subjects that are closest to him from his own personal world, those things that cause him excitement, drew him attention and interest. The photo album can be read through as the history of one person’s development, or one photo can be looked at as a window to a certain time in life. According to Berman (1997), in the first stages of development there is great importance to photographs as part of the definition of the self. In order for a person to develop and reach deep consciousness, she must know herself. Since the “self” we are discussing is in constant change and is divided into many parts, an understanding must be reached regarding its complex and changing nature. This recognition is internal, and the person knowing it becomes an authority of him/herself. He becomes aware about himself and lives peacefully. If we do not reach this high understanding, we will not be able to take advantage of even a small part of the powers within us (Ospanski, 1993).

Our mind tries to take a permanent picture of reality, but it is impossible - reality is constantly changing, as does actuality, while ideologies that are not reality, but a result of generalizations and actual events, are usually more stable (Lorand, 1991). Children love at their own photographs, apparently because they enjoy seeing themselves reflect from the picture. They are excited when finding themselves and other family members in a picture. This reflection verifies their existence and identity (Berman, 1997). The children’s reflection in someone else’s eyes can teach them about themselves and their identity; therefore, identifying their image in a photograph excites children in search of recognition and awareness. Their reflection also gives validity to their individuality, and verifies both their separation and connection to the world and to others. The opportunity to gain the adult’s admiration from the photographs is a strengthening experience for children since the message they receive is “this is me” (Berman, 1977).

Teenagers in junior-high and high school are at the stage in which they construct their personal and social identity. After all the balances they reached as children are shaken, they do not feel responsible to them anymore. According to Erikson, this psycho-social stage has a role of delaying the search for a partner with which to start a family. This period is dedicated mainly to discovering and constructing an identity so that the young person can then bring him/herself to the stage of intimacy with a fuller identity, a higher sense of self, and confidence.

The adolescence’s identity is achieved through integration of identities experienced in childhood, the changes that occurred during previous growing stages, innate skills and talents and an inner sense of value and continued existence. The adolescence’s sense of identity should match the way others see him/her. Teenagers tend to reach a definition of their identity out of mutually projecting the ‘I’/ ego and observing them as a reflection (Tyano, 1999).

Pictures of ourselves supply us all, young and old, with another way of seeing and being seen. They help make others notice us. When choosing our photographs, we often show ourselves in ways we want to be see, ways that correspond our desired image. When we show out picture to someone, it is usually important to us to see and hear the reaction of seeing our photographic image. We examine the viewers’ level of interest and empathy towards us and seek recognition and appreciation on their faces. Most of us feel the need to show our picture to people who are important to us, and gain respect and acceptance. Photos are like souvenirs, preserving memories without which it would be difficult to remember the sight, event, place, from many years before and relive the moment. Older people show the pictures of their loved ones perhaps as a testament of their life’s achievements and of what they would leave behind. In the process of observing the photo album, memories come up along with the senses.

In exercises of autobiographical writing, as the instructor describes, the writers use pictures in order to bring back early memories. The instructor asks them to focus on the photo, go into it, and ask themselves: what am I seeing? What am I hearing? What smells do I smell? What tastes do I taste? What do objects feel like? The instructor encourages them to close their eyes for a while, fall back into memory, expand it using imagination and feel what it makes them feel, or in other words – focus on the emotional element in memory (Hunt, 1998). “The photographs, being secret codes, inspire us to poetry, prose, artistic academic research, philosophical debate and psychological investigation. Above all they can stimulate memory and emotion, being flashing sights of reality, the photograph as a frozen moment serves as documents for future generations” (Berman, 1997, p. 299).

Virginia Wolf refers in her writing to the subject of early memories and sees them at first as “pictures/images in her head.” She refers to the past as a procession stretching behind her; a long line of images and feelings (Wolf, 1989). “She would have liked to have the ability to plug in and listen to the past, not just capture these isolated moments, but be able to ‘live our lives over again’” (Wolf, 1989, p.76). “This is not possible, but instead she returns to old memories and pulls them into the present, using imagination” (Hunt, 1998, p. 26). Old photos have the power to assist the imagination by pulling memories to the present.

B. 4.2. The Cognitive Aspect

According to Berman, photo albums have different dimensions: the material dimension and the dimension of memory which beings the past into the present. In an additional dimension they can expose something out of our inner, subconscious tradition, in terms of personal patterns and familial relationship. The photos present us the past in the present, so that we can find connections that might help us in the future. In fact, the photograph can assist memory and also ease awareness in the present. Looking at the pictures invites interpretation of past events from the point-of-view of the present. The memories that come up from the photograph create knowledge as a result of observation that brings up thoughts, desires, motives, faiths and understanding in the present of the observer - rememberer (Berman, 1997). In autobiographical writing which uses photographs to bring up memories, there is a reference to matters of the past being shaped by memory and imagination, that works to serve the needs of consciousness in the present (Eakin, 1985).

If we observe the photo in depth and read it as “text” with layers – the revealed layer and the hidden one – we might be able to discover the hidden message within. We can grasp it in two ways. On the factual level, the photograph is seen as an arrangement of light and shadow on a flat surface, and an efficient way to visually represent reality. On a deeper level, we may refer meaning to the same photograph: it can be used as a metaphor to many inner feelings and can be rich with meaning. “With the camera we create pictures that metaphorically express our inner landscape” (Berman, 1997, p.32). Thanks to the camera, we have an instrument to compare past and present with, we can place the two side by side, see the differences and contrasts as well as find connections. Observation that is deep and uses comparison, allows us to examine things along a time-line and track things and events that repeats in our lives. When we think about chance, similar and parallel lines, we witness history that repeats itself before our eyes and this way learn to know ourselves. To the individual photographic moment an additional significance is given in reference to the time-line – it becomes part of a continuum, of context, of a development process with reason in its presence. The photographed moment is a flash in a colorful life-story with a specific meaning, a theme that evolves up to the photographed moment, and past it. The photo album encourages us to contemplate repeated events in our lives. We might identify repeated subjects and images, cycles of life, birth, marriage and death, family resemblance, behavioral patterns and seemingly cyclical relationships. If we pay attention to what the photograph reflects, we can learn to understand ourselves. The photographs “might teach us much about our lives in general, if we are able to adapt a more creative point-of-view, this way our potential awareness can broaden” (Berman, 1997, p.299).

In Matalon’s book, telling her family’s history, the photograph receives central place by moving from portrait to portrait of family members and through them weaving the family story: “This is the place where the photograph opens: the exact place where the weak thread paces through the real and unreal, flickers for a moment, reveals itself, the place where the photograph announces not only its being evidence of reality, but also of its possibilities…” (Matalon, 1995, p.10).

The photographs can be seen as a powerful language. The questions Berman (1997) raises about them are: What is the nature of this language? How do photos express their message? In what ways can images without sound talk to us? What are the limitations of this language? The photos give us a kind of theoretical information in detail, they showus many things about the world we live in. when we examine a photograph open-mindedly, using imagination, deduction and identification, and implement our literary skills of reading the photograph as text, we are able to receive from these visual images strong messages and understandings that cannot be ignored.

B. 5. Summery

The model we present is supported by the humanist approach in education, and stands in contrast to frontal teaching. Its purpose is to develop the student’s motivation to learn in depth. The student’s willingness to expand his/her knowledge will open a vast world of concepts, and the deeper he/she learns the different texts, the better use he/she would make of the knowledge acquired in the different literacy process. The model suggested here puts the student at the heart of the learning proves. The materials studied will connect to the student’s personal world, while examining the analogy between his personal world and that which surrounds him.

The first circle of reference is the student and, as the analogy widens, more reference circles are added, tied to the learning materials, while keeping the connection to his world continuously. The starting point of the learning process is the student’s personal photo album – pictures from his own biography. The photos will accompany him physically and mentally in the classroom and will form a bridge between him and the curriculum. The model relates to the photo album as a text in itself. With the teacher’s guidance, the student will learn and analyze this text, and doing that will be exposed to ways of observation and analyzing tools used on texts. With these tools he will be able to analyze first and foremost the text that is closest to his heart – his photo album – and will understand it better as a result of the learning process. After this stage is concluded, or during this stage, the student will create analogies between the photo album and additional subjects in the curriculum; for example: analyzing verbal texts and reading comprehension as part of Grammar classes, analyzing literature in Literature classes, analyzing works of art in Art History classes, analyzing dance pieces in Dance classes. This skill will also allow him to create his own texts in these and other fields.

The previous chapters had brought together a number of theories and methods in the literacy fields, teaching fields, integrating the arts in education, and the meaning of the photo album to an individual. These theories support the idea of incorporating the student’s photo album in the curriculum. The photo album is a tool to bring the student closer to herself and, from this personal place, towards the curriculum’s subjects. The family pictures found in the album, stir the student’s curiosity and, using the teacher’s guidance, curiosity and motivation will be used to being the student closer to examining the taught subjects. The learning process using the photo album presented in this paper is related to theories of learning that see the student holistically, believing she should be prepared for adult life, with skills to make correct choices, responsibility, respect for others, and the ability to make decisions out of understanding the situation. In order to reach the right choice, one needs to read correctly the reality facing her. There is room, therefore, to develop literacy as a tool of coping with the subjects learned in school as an intermediate to coping with life in the post-modern age, where the world of information is so vast and frequently changing.

The humanist approach in education sees the individual student inside his complete world. This approach sees the significance of combining cognitive elements (which are the intellectual functions of the individual) with effective elements, that is: emotional intelligences, creative intelligences, and the sense of self. The better the combination between the two, the higher emotional intelligence will rise and the intellectual ability will increase. This approach advocates using subjects that are relevant and meaningful to the student. These will join to empower the student, and will add to his/her grown as an adult with strengths and creativity in running his/her life. The humanist education’s goal is to shape the student as a self-fulfilling individual. Such a person will be a member of society involved in human cultural achievements (Aloni, 1998).

The photo album is also related to integrating the arts in the learning process, allowing the student to encounter the artistic forces inside him. These forces imprint their mark on any future activity. The sense of self, the question ‘who am I?’ his self-awareness, values and concepts on any level, the inner sense of reality, his concept of meaning, these all depend on actual life and move through the creative parts in him.

Integrating arts in learning connects the student to her inner world, while the photo album connects her to sights outside herself, her external world. These two parts, the external – the photographs, and the internal – the artistic expression emanating from it, comprise the whole. Integrating the arts in education along with personal creation demonstrates each individual’s ability to choose different ways and make different decisions. Learning to understand the different texts from the photographs will turn the student into a multi-literate person who will be able to identify and decipher different forms of expression throughout his life.

Literacy has to do with having the skills to understand texts. The skills of understanding texts and human communication are needed in a person’s existence and they develop naturally and spontaneously on a basic level. But understanding texts in depth, in different dimensions and media, is an acquired skill. It is important for the school to equip the student with this skill of acquiring basic tools that can serve the young person in his/her life in reading texts in the reality that surrounds him/her. Written texts accompany man in the Western World each moment of his life. The student, who knows how to be critical in reading and listening, will be able to use the different media to experience learning and enriching throughout life.

Texts of body-language texts also accompany us in each moment, since every person moves and is surrounded by moving people. Reading the body movement text is essential for competing communication. A person aware of her body’s expression will be able to use it better. A student who learns to understand the moving text will also be able to create dance-motion text in order to express herself. Out of understanding the importance of physical messages, she will know how to complete verbal communication using the body-language text. Visual texts are also present throughout our life. In learning visual texts the student can value art’s contribution to humanity, and humanity’s contribution (himself included) to art.

The skill of reading a variety of texts using the personal photo album, allows the student to be introduced into a world full of texts and understand that there is reason to look closely into them and become literate.

The leading ideas in the theories presented in this section are:

19. Personal experience and involvement in learning
20. Cooperative learning in small groups.
21. Constructing knowledge within the groups of students.
22. Developing imagination and curiosity.
23. Integrating arts in teaching, as a tool of personal expression and a way to develop awareness.
24. Learning in dialogue.
25. Gradual decreasing of dependence on the teacher and the given material
26. Working in accordance with Gardner’s multi-intelligences theory.
27. Teaching that contributes to the sense of empowerment and strengthens the concept of ability.
28. A learning process that creates criticism of oneself while constructing a realistic image of self.
29. Learning that enables the student to evaluate the process and improve on it.
30. Learning that connects the student to him, springs out of himself and allows him to grow in new directions.
31. Learning for the sake of understanding, and not of memorizing and skill alone.
32. Learning that makes the person literin all fields of life.

It appears that the theoretical background of this paper give theoretical answers to the questions: how can the student in the school system be taught to become literate, critical and creative, and that the texts she encounters within the curriculum be meaningful for her; how to improve her literacy skills so that she will understand the different texts that are relevant for her life.

The implementation/application section in the following chapters tries to give a practical answer to these central questions.

The process of writing this paper began with choosing the photo album as a learning tool at school. The three writers saw the photo album as a means to bring the students closer to the learned subjects, and as an agent between the student’s inner world and the learned subjects.

For the three of us, the personal photo album is rich with meaning and we make sure to organize it and treasure it emotionally and cognitively. The point of encounter between the three of us was our work with texts and the skills needed to read them. The different texts from our field of work distinguish between verbal and written texts and visual and body-language texts.

While writing the paper we acted in parallel processes: we created the model first and then began to implement parts of it in class, while examining closely the connection between our separate fields of teaching and the model. Slowly, we reached the understanding that the model answers questions regarding literacy and from that point we focused on this subject. The process exposed us to the concept of “encompassing literacy,” a concept that by definition connects the professional texts of each of us and highlights the importance point of encounter between them. In this way we understand the function of the model in developing literacy skills.

The right way of implementing the model was clarified during the work in class, and observing the implementation process made us search and reinforce our method in existing learning theories. The fact that each of us works with a different kind of text, with different characteristics and language, led us to deal with “encompassing literacy,” so that while looking for a way to equip our students with multi-literacy skills we experienced in it ourselves. Each of us learned the different languages of the texts while finding the common grounds between them, which was expressed in the model we created. The possibility of implementing the model during the thinking and writing process, and the evaluation of the teacher and students reinforced our opinion that integrating the photo album as a part of the curriculum is of great value. This integration caused the students to show interest and responsibility towards the learning process, excitement and in-depth understanding. Integrating personal pictures in the learning process brings up cognitive and emotional aspects and opens a dialogue between teacher and student as well as between the students themselves. A positive atmosphere can be felt in the classroom, both in the personal feeling of each student and in the class as a whole. This atmosphere is fertile grounds to meaningful learning and creating processes and the results of this are most fruitful. The photo album is indeed a guide in literacy processes.

The change in the paper’s aims during the writing process happened as a result of the road we took that brought us to expand our goals and our own borders. A process of asking questions, classifying materials, critical reading in light of the goal, connection to personal knowledge, and reflection through each stage in the process took place. This last stage seems to us as the heart of the process. Choosing a subject close to our hearts, reading theoretical sources and many researches, classifying materials and integrating them with our educational approach and our fields of work, we in fact combines our “personal experience” with “generational experience” – the academic materials to which we are exposed. This is the kind of process we wish the student to go through with the help of the model we suggest in this paper. The extensive reading about this field, the personal and group clarification of central questions, debating, processing, summarizing and expressing things in writing – these make up a process that enriched us professionally and helped us construct the principles of our educational concept.

In the group process we discovered the difficulties, disadvantages and advantages of a cooperative project. It is necessary to compromise and adjust to the group’s direction, which forced each of us to change her way of thought, her writing style and personal emphasizes. However, the cooperation was worthwhile, since it enriched us, and the result is an inter-disciplinary paper by three women who each brought her own world of personal-professional knowledge into the process. This point of encounter created within each of us new knowledge and together we created this paper.

As we mentioned before – “knowledge encounters knowledge, world with world, text penetrates a given context” (Gover, 2002).

It is important also to state the model’s weakness. Since the materials in this model are very personal and emotionally charged, it is important that the work done with it takes place in circumstances that allow personal attention to be given to each student. Study groups should be small, the teacher must be sensitive to emotional processes that the students go through. The atmosphere in the classroom must be supportive and must allow emotional expression and exposure. Not every student has many photographs, if any at all, and the teacher has to know how to respond to instances that reveal problematic familial situations or sensitive issues, be prepared for that possibility, and be prepared to allow the student to work without photographs, or allowing him/her to work with other visual texts. The teacher must be ready for the chance that some students will find it very difficult emotionally to deeply observe and experience what the pictures bring up. Some difficult behaviors and emotional responses are likely to come up. In addition, not every student will be willing to share his/her feelings or experiences with the class.

We hope that this model will continue to be useful to each of us in her own field of work, and that it will be of use to other teachers who will incorporate it in many different fields within the education system. We intend to circulate it among inspectors and teacher and show its productive results.

“Climbing the mountains of ignorance could be a positive experience, but not everyone achieves it in his personal experience” (Kaspi, 1999 p. 16).

This paper presented the theoretical aspects, suggestions for implementation and the fruits of implementing the model, which allows the “climb on the mountains of ignorance to become especially fruitful and positive to anyone who tries it.

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