The Focused Conversation

The California State Standards for Visual Art identify 5 areas that should be present in a high quality art program. They include:

1.Aesthetic Perception (describe art)
2.Creative Expression (make art)
3.Historical/Cultural Context (connect art to history/culture)
4.Aesthetic Valuing with Children (appreciate art)
5.Connections & Relations to other Subject Areas (connect art to other subjects)

I’m hoping to create an easy to follow process for elementary teachers to use in looking at art with their students K-8. The format I’d like to use as a template is one that comes from a Canadian organization called the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA). In the 1960’s this group created a questioning technique for art that was based on research of the time such as Bloom’s taxonomy. The discussion facilitator uses choreographed questions which follow a set four step process which leads the inquiry from a superficial level to a very deep level.Here is the ORID process:

ORID INFO
This info comes from a group called the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) is a Canadian organization and here is their website which will give you more stuff on who they are and what they do + more info on the ORID http://www.ica-associates.ca. A great book about the focused conversation is called “The Art of the Focused Conversation for Schools” by Jo Schuller (ISBN 0-86571-435-5).

In a nutshell, ORID is an acronym for a process with four levels of questioning; sometimes called a focused conversation it closely resembles Blooms taxonomy or Discipline Based Art education. The thing I like about the ORID process is that the teacher literally has a script to read from, so there is no loosey goosey or having to think on your feet. Instead the idea is to carefully craft questions that will get your students to the higher level thinking skills around their art or the art of others.

The questions are tiered like this:
1. Objective: These questions are about getting the facts, sensory impressions, information

O = Which elements of art stand out in this piece of art for you?

2. Reflective: These questions are personal reactions, associations, emotions, images

R = What seems boring in this artwork?
What seems exciting in this artwork?

3. Interpretive: Questions around meaning, values, significance, purpose, implications

I = What message is the artist trying to get across?
Why is this artwork important?

4. Decisional: Questions leading to action, resolution, future direction, next steps

D = If we did this again, what would we change?
What action will you take as a result of looking/making this artwork?

I not only use these questions when we look at our own artwork and the work of famous artists, but I also have these questions built into my assessment as a means of written reflection for each artist in evaluating his work.