Page 17 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: The Arts, 2010

STRANDS IN THE ARTS CURRICULUM
The expectations in all Grade 11 and 12 courses in the arts are organized in three distinct but related strands, which are as follows:
A. Creating and Presenting or Creating and Performing or Creating, Presenting, and Performing (depending on the arts subject)
B. Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing
C. Foundations
The emphasis in each strand is described in the overview to each arts subject – dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts – and in the overview to the Integrating Arts course entitled Exploring and Creating in the Arts.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Students are expected to learn and use the creative process to help them acquire and apply knowledge and skills in the arts. Use of the creative process is to be integrated with use of the critical analysis process (described on pages 17–22) in all facets of the arts curriculum as students work to achieve the expectations in the three strands.
Creativity involves the invention and the assimilation of new thinking and its integration with existing knowledge. Creativity is an essential aspect of innovation. Sometimes the creative process is more about asking the right questions than it is about finding the right answer. It is paradoxical in that it involves both spontaneity and deliberate, focused effort. Creativity does not occur in a vacuum. Art making is a process requiring both creativity and skill, and it can be cultivated by establishing conditions that encourage and promote its development. Teachers need to be aware that the atmosphere they create for learning affects the nature of the learning itself. A setting that is conducive to creativity is one in which students are not afraid to suggest alternative ideas and take risks.
The creative process comprises several stages: • challenging and inspiring
• imagining and generating
• planning and focusing
• exploring and experimenting • producing preliminary work • revising and refining
• presenting and performing
• reflecting and evaluating
The creative process in the arts is intended to be followed in a flexible, fluid, and cyclical manner. As students and teachers become increasingly familiar with the creative process, they are able to move deliberately and consciously between the stages and to vary the order of stages as appropriate. For example, students may benefit from exploring and experimenting before planning and focusing; or in some instances, the process may begin with reflecting. Feedback and reflection take place throughout the process.
INTRODUCTION
15