Week 2 - Curriculum in Art Ed

STORY

I really enjoyed this chapter discussing the value of Story.  Pink begins the chapter by describing stories as “How we remember.”  He quotes cognitive scientist Mark Turner as he writes, “Narrative imagining—story—is the fundamental instrument of thought… Most of our experience, our knowledge and our thinking is organized as stories.”

            Pink says our brains have an internal “story grammar” that helps us “understand the world not as a set of logical propositions but as a pattern of experiences.”  We can explain ourselves and connect to others through stories.  Pink describes stories as “Context enriched by emotion.”  He elaborates by saying, “Stories are important cognitive events, for they encapsulate, into one compact package, information, knowledge, context, and emotion.”

            Practically speaking, “Storytelling doesn’t replace analytical thinking… It supplements it by enabling us to imagine new perspectives and new worlds… Abstract analysis is easier to understand when seen through the lens of a well-chosen story.”

            The idea of storytelling and narrative seems to be, as Pink describes, “deeply ingrained” in humanity.  As early as the cave paintings in Lascaux, France, humans have felt the need to tell stories.  Stories help us connect and relate to each other.  They help us make meaning out of our experiences.  However, I find myself asking, “Why?”  Why do humans feel this need to tell stories?  Where does this “deeply ingrained” tendency come from that all humans experience it?

            I was particularly interested in the section of the chapter in which Pink discusses the story template of “the hero’s journey.”  It does seem true that since the earliest documentation of stories, variations of “the hero’s journey” have been generated throughout time and across cultures.  From Greek mythology to legends, from historical tales to novels, from religious texts to Hollywood movies—the hero’s journey takes precedence in stories.  Again, I find myself asking “Why?”  Why is “the hero’s journey” such a popular tale that there are so many variations from different cultures?  What exactly is the meaning to be found within the story?  Why are humans so attracted to this idea of a hero’s journey? 

           

            Pink concludes the chapters by discussing the world’s current need for personal narrative, especially during a time of abundance, “When many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose.” 

CURRICULUM PROJECT PROPOSAL

            Currently, I have two ideas for my final project that I haven’t quite narrowed down yet:

1)    Create a series of posters advocating for curriculum that centers around the ideas of meaningful making, authentic linking, student driven lessons, a focus on integration into all disciplines, aesthetics, community, etc.  Education posters from the 50’s and 60’s that I recently came across inspired this idea.  These posters were comically outdated in regards to curriculum and classroom experience.  This lead me to want to create some posters of my own with the purpose of hanging in a classroom or even in the hallways of schools. 

2)    As I am gearing up to TA for art appreciation in the fall, I would design curriculum that would allow students to create art while they are studying artists in order to bring both components of “appreciating art” into the classroom.   Activities would correlate to the work students viewed that week in their lecture.  In this way students would be given the opportunity to form more meaningful connections as well as experience what it is to be a creative producer.