A Dramatic Confrontation of Frames Arts Integration Teacher

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A Dramatic Confrontation of Frames: Arts Integration, Teacher Development, Organizational Learning, and School Change

A Dramatic Confrontation of Frames: Arts Integration, Teacher Development, Organizational Learning, and School Change Lorna Porter and Ross Anderson University of Oregon and Inflexion

Study Context: A Confrontation of Frames ● Top-down grant-funded school improvement initiative ● Schoolwide

Study Context: A Confrontation of Frames ● Top-down grant-funded school improvement initiative ● Schoolwide arts integration focus, competing for time and attention in a sea of initiatives ● Confronts personal beliefs about role of creativity and the arts in learning ● Focused away from teacher-proof curricula and technical control and toward teachers as pedagogical artists ● Objective—make sense of individual teacher experience within their organizations

Why does organizational learning matter? ● The development of coherent culture and identity toward

Why does organizational learning matter? ● The development of coherent culture and identity toward growth within an organization of individuals (Bolman & Deal, 2013) ● Sustainable change requires adaptability (Fullan, 1993) and organizational environment frames individual’s orientation (Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Noe & Wilk, 1993) ● Capacity to create—organizations must engage in generative learning (Senge, 2006) ● How do we foster generative learning in schools?

What underlies beliefs, motivation, & purpose? The four frames ● Structural—formalized roles, responsibilities, processes

What underlies beliefs, motivation, & purpose? The four frames ● Structural—formalized roles, responsibilities, processes ⁃The challenge to collaborate ● Political—resources, decision-making, threats, coalitions ⁃Who gets to decide ● Human Resource—fundamental needs, contributions, respect ⁃Organizational hygiene and the uncertainty of freedom ● Symbolic—sense-making, ritual, shared purpose & models ⁃The arts, discipline isolation, educator identities (Bollman & Deal, 2013)

Research Questions ● What perceptions do individual teachers carry about the program? ● What

Research Questions ● What perceptions do individual teachers carry about the program? ● What are the most salient personal and organizational factors and how do they fit into the organizational frames? ● How do the salience and emphases of the frames differ between school cases? ● How do the frames confront one another in this context?

Method

Method

Method – Participants and Setting ● Cross-case analysis with five school cases ⁃Each case

Method – Participants and Setting ● Cross-case analysis with five school cases ⁃Each case was a middle school in the Pacific Northwest, with 4 -6 teachers per school ⁃Four schools were large, comprehensive middle schools serving historically underserved students (grades 6 -8) ⁃One alternative charter school (grades 7 -12) ● Schools were all participating in arts integration initiative ● Interviews with 21 total teachers

Analytic Plan ● Used four deductive codes: ⁃Positive attitudinal ⁃Negative attitudinal ⁃Organizational barriers ⁃Organizational

Analytic Plan ● Used four deductive codes: ⁃Positive attitudinal ⁃Negative attitudinal ⁃Organizational barriers ⁃Organizational supports ● Three researchers reached adequate agreement (83%) and coded individually by case ● Swapped cases to conduct within-case analysis

Frame Sample Guiding Questions Structural Does the excerpt relate to a technical or structural

Frame Sample Guiding Questions Structural Does the excerpt relate to a technical or structural aspect of the school experience or involvement in the project? Political Are conflict and scare resources significant? Is the excerpt about bottom-up innovation or top-down mandates? Human Resource Is the excerpt about individual commitment, motivation, or capacity? Symbolic Is the excerpt about culture and values, shared or individual?

Final step—Cross-case analysis ● Rated each frame within each case ⁃Low to high salience

Final step—Cross-case analysis ● Rated each frame within each case ⁃Low to high salience ⁃Negative to positive valence ● Used convergent process to construct descriptive theory about role of organizational frames in arts integration school change (Anderson, Guerreiro, & Smith, 2016)

Results

Results

Structural - “not much time to be creative” ● Present across all cases with

Structural - “not much time to be creative” ● Present across all cases with overall positive valence ● Supports—aspects of the arts integration initiative ⁃Co-teaching; Small group professional development; Frameworks ● Barriers—existing school and system structures that restricted flexibility and creativity ⁃Time and schedules; Restrictive curricular scope; Testing

“ I don't know where the hell [the arts] would fit in the schedule…there’s

“ I don't know where the hell [the arts] would fit in the schedule…there’s time for this linear way of looking at things…there’s not as much time for kids to be really creative” “[The Studio Habits of Mind] are life skills. We were making connections between what we were doing in the studio and then what the kids were doing outside of class. ”

Political - “We didn’t have a choice” ● Only prominent in one school ●

Political - “We didn’t have a choice” ● Only prominent in one school ● Positive reflections and supports ⁃Teacher and student empowerment ● Barriers towards initiative uptake and sustainability ⁃Lack of teacher choice and voice in directing school reform efforts ⁃Competing interests across different district and school levels

“I think it was a real struggle for us…. . we didn't have a

“I think it was a real struggle for us…. . we didn't have a choice whether we did [the arts integration program] or not. It was like, ‘You'll do this’. So it's a hard. . . when you are in that mindset, it makes it a lot more difficult. ”

Human Resource - “I'm going out of my comfort zone” ● Highly salient and

Human Resource - “I'm going out of my comfort zone” ● Highly salient and positive for all cases ● Key positive supports in organizational growth and sustainability of arts integration program ⁃Student engagement drove teacher interest ⁃Modeling of arts integration specialist ⁃Internal motivation and growth mindset of teachers ⁃Disrupted constricted relationships and expectations in classroom

“. . . How you clean your house for company…we have to keep pushing…Having

“. . . How you clean your house for company…we have to keep pushing…Having [the integration specialist] there with the energy and resources to say, ‘Here we go’. That was a major gift to me this year. ”

Symbolic - “Not like the rest of school” ● High salience and positive valence

Symbolic - “Not like the rest of school” ● High salience and positive valence for four of the five cases ⁃Cause of anomaly—lack of coherence across initiatives ● Positive supports for sustainable school culture shifts ⁃Shared mental models ⁃Theoretical framework of arts integration initiative ⁃Student engagement to reflect teacher values and identity

“…For [students] to make their own connections…. a little bit of ownership. It gives

“…For [students] to make their own connections…. a little bit of ownership. It gives them a chance to formulate their own meaning. . . in a way that's not like the rest of school…”

Implications and Future Direction

Implications and Future Direction

Schools as Organizations of Pedagogical Artistry ● Political—De-centralization of leadership toward selfmanaging teams ●

Schools as Organizations of Pedagogical Artistry ● Political—De-centralization of leadership toward selfmanaging teams ● Structural—Creating meaningful opportunities for teachers and students to connect across learning ● Human Resource—Witnessing enhanced student engagement as main driver ● Symbolic—Shared mental models and objectives above divergent coalition interests and content area isolation

Empowerment Model for Practice ● Think politically—how to make school change inclusive ● Think

Empowerment Model for Practice ● Think politically—how to make school change inclusive ● Think structurally—how to remove barriers and integrate effectively ● Think motivationally—how to make individuals’ drive and students’ creative engagement central ● Think symbolically—how to embed shared mental models and rituals to enhance existing school culture ● Arts integrated school change = teacher creative leadership

Lorna Porter University of Oregon Ross Anderson University of Oregon & Inflexion

Lorna Porter University of Oregon Ross Anderson University of Oregon & Inflexion