Faculty: Dennis McNally, SJ

Subject/Discipline: Arts
School: St. Joseph's University
Project Area:

Spring 1999

The purpose of this course is twofold; to educate young students at a chosen site and to educate more mature students through their pedagogical experience at that site.

The course will include three hour-long meetings per week.  the clas will discuss some information from readings, lectures, and films.  The purpose of the preliminary weeks will be to acquanit oneself with the phenomenon of intentionl the students from SJU need to INTEND to teach something to the students at Our Lady of Lourdes, Incarnation, Holy Family, or the Gesu School.

What could that mean?  Well, we intend to find out, don't we?  The teacher of art --- that is what would like tobe for eight weeks.  The main task of the course will be the actual teaching, otherwise the work will be preliminary, reactionary, consultative, dialogous, and/or proactive.

In the beginning of the semester we will have a field trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  We will go on a Wednesday night when there is a lot to see and do.  This should be a great experience BUT it is preliminary to your taking classes to the museum yourselves.  Your own joy at seeing the artwork up close should be a tremendous inspiration to share with your classes.  Before too long in the semester, too, you will take your charge to the same world class institution wherein are preserved some of this city's proudest specimens of our cultural heritage.

During the weeks of on-site instruction, the SJU students will meet weekly at SJU for reflection sessions.  The SJU students will meet for three hours per week to respond to four reports from each on a particular journal article and its correspondnec with experience.  These articles might be taken from art education journals like School Arts, from journal with more focus on art and artists like Art in America, the Art Journal, American Craft, or from art historical periods taken from journals like The Bulletin of the College Art Association, National Geographic, or from art historical texts.  The students must familiarize themselves with artists, artistic media, art historical periods, and teaching methods.  Therefore, each student must present a teaching technique, an artist, and art historical period, and a medium (four articles).  We will also be reviewing a chapter a week in the text.  The method of review will include quizzes on the chapter for that week.

The text is Simpson Creating Meaning Through Art.  There will be quizzes.  This is in addition to your 4 articles.  The SJU student will need to keep a journal describing:
1. expectations before the class (lesson plan),
2. actual class experience,
3. presentations of articles,
4. reflections after discussion, and
5. answers to the questions that Dennis will ask during the semester.

The final project will be a 10-15 page paper describing the semester's experience for the teacher as learner.  One might take an article on the craft of art teaching and apply it to his/her experience.  What is teaching like?  Does my experience counter that of this author?  How important is the teacher to the pupil?  What techniques work best with what students?  What was the most scary part of teaching?  How did the museum trip go?  Did any of the students adopt you?  ---was that good?  did it end well?   Are you their friend?  ---model?  ---policeman?  How does the school's administration support the art learning experience?  The Myth of the Cave has some bearing on this experience; how would you characterize that bearing for other teacher/learners? The fact that this is a "service learning" class should indicate that the SJU student is learning something about service --- to the community, to the Church, to those particular young students of yours.  What is your commentary on the service aspect of your learning experience?

No absences are acceptable in your given classes.
No unexcused absences are acceptable in the SJU classes.  Some of the grade depends on class participation.  Absences may result in lowering of the final grade.  All things considered, this should be fun!