News source: University News/Comprehensive reporting by Xie Yizhen, Ruan Yiting, Liu Lanchen, and Xue Weizhong

"What are the art classes in junior high schools doing?" "Aren't the art classes in junior high schools all Chinese language classes?" Zhang Chengyun, who is currently studying at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls' Senior High School, was discussing his impressions of art classes with his classmates. Art classes, visual arts classes, and art life classes, no matter what the class names are, at the junior high school level, it is not uncommon for class time to be borrowed by other so-called main subjects, Chinese, English, and mathematics. "If you borrow something, you have to repay it. If you don't repay it, it's just taking the class!" Chen Yuxiang, executive secretary of the Art Subject Center for General High School Curriculum of the Ministry of Education, emphasized that whether the art class will become a minor subject or even be borrowed from other subjects mainly depends on the teacher. The teacher's own attitude is that "the term "minor subject" seems to be a kind of discrimination or label." But how to remove this label?

Connecting aesthetics and disciplines Government encourages teachers to collaborate across disciplines
Art education includes performing arts, music, fine arts, etc. In order to improve art education and improve the aesthetic literacy of Chinese people, the Ministry of Education has implemented the "Medium and Long-term Plan for Aesthetic Education" since 103 of the Republic of China. The first phase of the plan will last for five years and will be Expires at the end of this year. Among them, the "Interdisciplinary Aesthetic Education Experimental Curriculum Development Plan for Secondary Schools and Elementary Schools" (hereinafter referred to as the Cross-disciplinary Aesthetic Curriculum Plan) is one of the sub-projects of the medium and long-term plan, with the purpose of promoting high schools and junior high schools. Combine art with elementary school curriculum to conduct cross-field cooperative teaching.

"We feel that art can be the core of the school curriculum and connected with other subjects." Zhao Huiling, one of the hosts of the cross-disciplinary aesthetic curriculum project and professor of the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University, explained that this project encourages teachers in the art field to collaborate with subject teachers , find out the elements that can be combined with art in each discipline, and develop more possible teaching methods. She gave the example of mathematics, where a teacher combined the mathematical concept of "golden ratio" with visual art to teach students how to take selfies with the golden ratio, which was well received by students. "Crossing fields will definitely lead to better learning motivation among students." Zhao Huiling said with certainty.

Chen Yuxiang said that while the sub-project promotes courses across art fields, it also seeks assistance from the art subject center. The center itself has more than 30 seed teachers, one-third of whom have joined the cross-domain aesthetics course plan to assist in the implementation of the plan. “Promoting aesthetics education or promoting new curriculum requires on-site practical experience. Curriculum development." He explained that the project conveners are mainly university professors, and the subject center representing high school can provide an experienced teacher team in the education field, making the implementation of the project more concrete and improving the feasibility.

The first phase of the mid- to long-term aesthetic education plan is coming to an end. Chen Yuxiang said that during the project period, in addition to developing course modules, he also established an exclusive website and published e-books. The content of the book is mainly about the practice of aesthetics in life.

The number of teaching hours devoted to cultivating art appreciation will be adjusted
With the expansion and implementation of the concept of aesthetic education and cross-field teaching, teachers in various fields other than the art field have begun to try different types of teaching methods in response to the 12-year National Basic Education concept of adaptive talent promotion and diversified electives. Therefore, it is necessary to spend time More time is spent on reforming and improving teaching, but art teachers have more teaching hours than other subjects, which reduces lesson preparation time. Fu Binhui, an art teacher at Sun Yat-sen Girls' High School, said: "In the early days, it was believed that art teachers with the lightest responsibilities would have the most teaching sessions." Therefore, the "Standards for Weekly Teaching Sessions for Senior Secondary School Teachers" regulate the weekly teaching hours of full-time teachers in the art field. The number is 18 periods, which is two more than the 16 periods in mathematics, social studies and other fields. However, when the total number of hours in a week is large, the preparation time is relatively less.

In July last year, Chu Tianan, an art teacher at Xiufeng Senior High School in New Taipei City, Lian Senyu, a teacher at National Zhunan High School, Zhang Ciwei, a teacher at the Senior High School Affiliated to National Taiwan Normal University, Huang Lifang, a teacher at Taipei Municipal No. 1 Girls' Senior High School, Huang Zhaoshen, a teacher at Hualien High School, etc. Teachers in the art field formed the "Subject Equivalency" working group and proposed on the "National Development Council Public Policy Online Participation Platform" that the government should make the basic number of teaching periods consistent for teachers in various subject areas in high school vocational and junior high schools across the country. . "Art education is not about cultivating artists, but is committed to equipping students with the basic ability of art appreciation, which is very laborious." Chu Tian'an, one of the members of the Keke Equivalency Working Group, emphasized that art is "literacy education" and requires Spend time cultivating, but the difference in hours will affect the quality of teaching and reduce the time and space for art teachers and other subject teachers to jointly prepare cross-field courses. In December last year, the Department of National and Preschool Education of the Ministry of Education held a meeting to discuss and decided that the number of basic teaching periods per week for high school vocational full-time teachers, regardless of field, would be adjusted to 16. The draft amendment was included in the draft in January this year. Announcement of the Executive Yuan and will be implemented in August this year.

It turns out that this is also called art class to help children regain the value of aesthetic education.
"The mid- to long-term project on aesthetics has given frontline teachers a lot of resources." Fu Binhui said that the project has invested heavily in the field of art, but the art department still faces many challenges in the current teaching environment. Sun Jujun and Fu Binhui, art teachers at New Taipei City Municipal High School and Junior High School, both introduced Xuesida (Note 1) teaching design in an attempt to change the impression of art classes as a "minor subject".

(Note 1: Xuesida was proposed by Zhang Huicheng, a Chinese language teacher at Sun Yat-sen Women's High School. It uses self-compiled handouts, question design, group discussions, etc. to train students in self-learning, thinking, expressing and other abilities that can be used throughout their lives. )
Walking into Fu Binhui's art classroom, the spacious space is divided into groups with desks and chairs for learning. Some students stay in the group, while others are making Ema in the electric pen area by the window (Note 2). The room is full of rich colors. Strong wood aroma. The back of the classroom is covered with student works and various art news; the other three walls are covered with blackboard walls so that students can use chalk to graffiti anytime and anywhere. "Both creation and discussion are very rare. This is the only class in the senior year where you can relax." Fu Binhui's student Tong Yuling said. Yang Zirong, a classmate on the side, also said that although it is an art class for the senior year, most students in the class cherish it very much. Under the pressure of entering higher education, few people bring test papers to write. (Note 2: Ema is a kind of prayer board used in Japanese shrines and temples.)

Fu Binhui believes that high school art classes cannot only be hands-on without thinking. He recalled that he once heard that first-year high school students were afraid of art classes because they were worried about insufficient painting skills. However, Fu Binhui believes that in addition to skills, art classes are more important. It is necessary to first lead students to understand the motivation behind creation, because art is all based on ideas, so that they can appreciate the true value of art and then exert its influence.

He took the film course that just ended in the third year of high school as an example. He used questions to guide students through group discussions. They observed the detailed shots, plots, character relationships, etc. of "Dancing Life" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to discover the director's film language. Hidden message. "I revised the teaching materials for this course three times in total before finalizing it." Fu Binhui said that during the teaching process, the direction of questions, the order of questions, and the number of handouts must be constantly adjusted so that students can smoothly enter the teaching situation. "The first time I took the students to fill in the handouts, and when I analyzed the second movie, I could answer them with just the briefing notes." Fu Binhui said with a smile. Not only did the students become familiar with this analysis method, but they were also able to analyze the two films separately. The film considers the self-realization issues of pursuing dreams and love.

Also flipping art teaching is Zhonghe Junior High School. The 24 students in the class were divided into six groups. The slightly narrow classroom space seemed a bit crowded for the active bodies of 14 and 15 years old. However, under the careful design of teacher Sun Jujun, it was enhanced. To enhance the centripetalness and rhythm of the course, the surrounding walls are painted in goose yellow and have student works and post-it notes used during discussions. The blackboard has drawings of extra-point competitions for each group. There are also two long boards at the back of the classroom. table for other art teachers or those who are interested in learning Sida teaching to observe.

Sun Jujun said that she continued the theme of visual image production last semester and used the Thai charter house advertisement that went viral on the Internet to guide students to create information graphics in this "Advertising Language" class. He mentioned that this advertisement is mostly used as a teaching material for social science media literacy. “But in art class, I have to teach children to think about it. If you were a different person in an advertising company, how would you view this advertisement and operate it? Why do you do this?" Sun Jujun pointed out in surprise that the students' observation ability has been very good after several exercises. Concepts such as not judging people by their appearance, being yourself, and opposing online bullying can be quickly judged after group discussions.

In order to stimulate students' understanding of advertising techniques, Sun Jujun specially selected three 7-11 beverage advertisements from different periods, allowing students to play various positions in advertising production, simulating the process of advertising production, with team members playing business directors and copywriters. Moderate the discussion and share with the class after three minutes. Students first write down their opinions on sticky notes, then communicate with the group and paste them on the same piece of paper to complete the study sheet. Sun Jujun emphasized that in order to enhance each child's sense of accomplishment, students in the same group have different tasks so that they can each have their own abilities. Performance opportunities. "I hope that what I teach is related to their lives and future, rather than just traditional media such as pure watercolor and watercolor painting."

Internal empowerment of teachers with great community power in Xuesta
Sun Jujun has been teaching for 15 years. During the 11 years when he had not yet practiced Sida, he not only worked hard to deal with difficulties such as borrowing exams for other subjects and incomplete submission of student homework, but also devoted a lot of effort to designing handouts, but found that there were two problems in teaching. Fang was not on the channel at all, and the students in the audience were completely unable to receive the teaching content he carefully prepared. "I cut off the teaching materials and practiced again." Sun Jujun said that he gave up the sketching handouts that he had used for more than ten years and redesigned his teaching methods from scratch based on the concept of "Xue Sida". The response from students in the classroom has become a new direction for his continuous development. The biggest motivation for lesson plans.

Sun Jujun was the first person to introduce Sida into the art department. Whenever he had an inspiration, he would share his teaching methods and experiences in the Facebook group "Visual Arts Sida Community" and on his personal page. Art teachers from all over the world gather in the community. In addition to inspiring each other to think about teaching methods, teachers also open up to each other to observe classes. "It provides a platform that can help teachers connect the dots." He affirmed that Xuesida has started from The teaching philosophy of a Chinese language teacher has developed into communities for other subjects, and has become a platform that teachers are attracted to. In just four years, Xuesida has gathered a community force after another, providing services to various fields. The group of teachers injects new perspectives.

In addition, Fu Binhui mentioned that in addition to regular exchanges with other high school art subjects and the Xue Sida curriculum development team, he also cooperated with geography and biology teachers within the school to develop cross-field courses. He said that teachers have developed a "Campus Treasure Hunt" course for students by combining practical observations in geography classes, plant understanding in biology classes, and historical tours in art classes. "This allows teachers from different fields to get to know each other's courses." He believes that this collaborative approach allows art classes to bring a different technology-oriented learning experience in the past.

Aesthetic education focuses on designers calling for diversified development of art
"Art courses are not the main subject for high school entrance. Teachers are more flexible in teaching methods, making art very possible." Zhao Huiling believes that any teacher will hope that the content he teaches is meaningful to students, although the role of art is Compared with other subjects, there is less pressure from major exams, but the total number of teachers’ teaching hours per week is no less than that of other subjects; in addition, the field for implementing cross-field courses is in the classroom of cooperative subjects such as mathematics and Chinese language. Teachers in the art field It is necessary to spend time other than the original teaching hours to implement cross-field teaching, and teachers of cooperative subjects may also worry that the introduction of art courses will affect the original teaching progress, so the planning team and the Ministry of Education will try their best to provide expert talents and other resources to assist. Zhao Huiling also believes , teachers participating in the project have a moderate amount of teaching burden, so they are happy and willing to adjust and activate their teaching methods.

The mid- and long-term aesthetic education project is about to enter its second phase. Sun Jujun joined the seed teacher team in the project at the beginning of the 2016 school year. As a new member of the seed teacher group, he said that the seminars organized by the project are of high enough standards, such as China Metropolis invites first-class designers to give speeches, and even the suspenders of famous brands attending are designed with leather, showing the organizers' prudence and care in this project.

However, based on his participation experience in the past year, he believes that the aesthetic education currently promoted by the Ministry of Education is biased towards the "design" level. However, the teaching objectives of design education and art education are different. The purpose of design is usually to solve problems, and the method is usually modeling. Organization. He used street scenes as an example to explain that the styles of street signboards in Taiwan are diverse, while Japanese street signs are designed to appear uniform. Compared with design education, art education also talks about artistic creation, and creation is sometimes very personal and random.

Although the main focus of his studies is in the field of design, Sun Jujun still plans to provide design thinking resources to art teachers. He even applies the concept of design thinking back to his classroom teaching. For example, he applies the concepts of creative idea generation and prototype making. In terms of course design, students are asked to think divergently and create a poster to help students summarize and integrate different opinions.

At present, except for the 200 seed teachers in the project, other teachers in the art education field are less likely to receive study-related information, which shows that the information circulation of the project itself is still insufficient. As the second phase of the medium- and long-term aesthetic education project is approaching, Sun Jujun hopes that the project itself can be liberated from design thinking, accept the diverse aspects of art education, and continue to seek resource consultation in various fields.

When Fu Binhui talked about his educational philosophy, he said sincerely: "Art classes should not be confined to the classroom and should not be studied at a fixed point. You should try to leave and try many different ways." Breaking away from the stereotype of art as a minor subject, art Classes can exert influence and open up students’ unlimited aesthetic horizons.

◎The original seventh paragraph of this article, "Teaching hours devoted to cultivating art appreciation will be adjusted." The list of four sponsors was missing from the text. It is now corrected to read: Chu Tianan, an art teacher at Xiufeng Senior High School in New Taipei City, and a teacher at National Zhunan High School. Senyu, National Taiwan Normal University Senior High School teacher Zhang Ciwei, Taipei City No. 1 Girls’ Senior High School teacher Huang Lifang, Hualien Polytechnic teacher Huang Zhaoshen and other teachers in the art field formed the "Science and Technology Equivalency" working group. This is corrected.