Reflection Week #4 LTC 8740

I believe that in this chapter Eisner hits on the very reason I believe, from my perspective and experiences, that art holds a valid claim as the most important subject matter taught in our schools today. As I told a selection panel of nearby High School last week in a job interview, the art room is a place where students learn to see and think beyond the walls of the school building. The ability to apply knowledge is the key ingredient in our effectiveness as citizens to our society.

Eisner states: "One of the potential virtues of situated learning is that it increases the probability that students will be able to apply what they have learned. When the conditions of learning are remote from the situations or tasks in which what is learned can be applied, the likelihood of application - or some would say transfer - is diminished. Although some students might be able to make connections on their own despite the remoteness of the relationship between what was taught and where it may be applied, that restricted reference group is not a good one on which to base curriculum design; what one wants is to increase the probability that connections will be made by all students. Teaching can facilitate such learning. The insular and often artificial circumstances of so many classroom activities decrease the likelihood that what is learned will be applied; and when what is learned cannot be applied, the meaningfulness of what is learned is diminished." (Eisner p.95)

Within the art room, the opportunity to challenge students to express what they see and feel in their world/situation around them through the images and objects that they create, gives them a voice and a responsibility. The task of digesting the world through their own lens and representing these thoughts with meaning in their creations is certainly an exercise that must produce an upstanding, forward thinking leader primed to succeed in the real world. This is what we are equipping students with when we challenge them to create artwork based on an idea. This is certainly a direct application outside of the classroom. Partnered with successful critique/interpretation sessions and exposure to positive communication skills, you have the ideal applicable situated learning environment.

The importance of teaching applicable skills should always be the main goal of any teacher. The ability to enter into a student's world and observe their surroundings outside the classroom is key and will help guide us as we guide them. The importance of seeing beyond classroom walls and constructing a proper learning environment is a large task and requires piecing together many components. (Ping Freedman ch.3: "Much of what we teach are remnants of knowledge. Through the process of teaching, sense is made of these many, often decontextualized and sometimes conflicting, bits of information. There fore, it is important to teach as much as possible in ways that help to rebuild contexts of the past by connecting these bits in relevant and meaningful ways. In order to do this, contexts must be connected to student learning outside, as well as inside, of school.")