Syllabus

a.r.t.s.APS

2009/10

Critical Aesthetic Response class
(Instrumental )

Dr. Adriana Janse van Rensburg

Mr. William Earvin

Texts:
1. Pink, D.H. (2005). A whole new mind.
2. Gardner, H. (2008). 5 Minds for the Future.
3. Levitin, D.J. (2006). This is your Brain on Music.

DATE CLASS AGENDA ASSIGNMENTS
October 17, 2009 9-9.45 a.m. General Session
10-1p.m. Teachers rotate through six introductory half-hour sessions.
• Build your blog: Lisa Whittington
• VTS: Raymond Veon
• Reflective writing: Adriana van Rensburg
• TAA: John Badenhorst, Garnetta Penn, Natalie Colbert
• CAR: Marcy Simmons, William Earvin
• Pink: Barry Stewart Mann 1. Read Pink.
2. Post a weekly journal entry to your blog reflecting on your readings of that week. Include a reflective writing paragraph that relates how you applied some of the Pink concepts in your class(es), the student responses and your evaluation and recommendations.
3. Be prepared to discuss Pink in the November class.


November 14, 2009 9-10 a.m. Pre Test
30 min. Class discussion: Pink
30 min. Class discussion: what is aesthetics? How do we develop aesthetic understanding in our students – why is it important? Creativity.
20 min. Introduce the project: Applications of the readings in my teaching.
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Complete the four structured response questions on your blog by Nov. 21, 2009
2. Start reading Gardner (required for the January class) and post a weekly journal entry to your blog reflecting on your reading. Include a reflective writing paragraph that relates how you applied some of the Gardner concepts in your class(es), the student responses and your evaluation and recommendations.
3. Identify an area of interest based on the Pink and Gardner readings and design applications of these concepts to your teaching situation. Start building a “project area” in your blog. The final project on your blog will be due on May 8, 2010. A possible format for your project could be:
• Introduction
• Conceptual and theoretical base
• Domain of the project
• Design of the project
• Description of the project
• Methodology and process
• Results
• Analysis
• Conclusion
This project would include writings, pictures, and
video .

December 12, 2009 9-9.45 a.m. General Session
20 min. VTS practice
20 min. Sound Reasoning: Introduce, discuss parallel with VTS, working towards MTS
20 min. Gardener discussion points
20 min APS 26 best practices, correlations to the readings and your classroom practice
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Continue reading Gardner, posting a weekly journal entry to your blog. Include a reflective writing paragraph that relates how you applied some of the Gardner concepts in your class(es), the student responses and your evaluation and recommendations thereof.
2. Sound Reasoning http://cnx.org/content/col10214/1.16
Please start working through the course, and listen to the clips. Be ready for classroom discussion.
3. Be prepared to respond to Gardner discussion in the January class.

January 9, 2010 9-945 a.m. General Session
30 min. Class discussion: Gardner
20 min. Applications of Gardner, Pink, Levitin, APS 26 best practices and the National Standards in your teaching.
30 min. Becoming a reflective practitioner: developing an independent aesthetics philosophy
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Start reading Levitin (required for the March class) and post a weekly journal entry to your blog reflecting on your reading. Include a reflective writing paragraph that relates how you applied some of the Levitin concepts in your class(es), the student responses and your evaluation and recommendations thereof.
2. Add work to your project.

February 13, 2010 9-9.45 a.m. General Session
30 min. APAL
30 min. VTS and MTS
20 min. Reflect on a class you taught this week: tie in to readings
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Continue reading Levitin, posting a weekly journal entry to your blog. Include a reflective writing paragraph that relates how you applied some of the Levitin concepts in your class(es), the student responses and your evaluation and recommendations thereof.
2. Continue adding to your project.
3. Be prepared to respond to discussion points in the March class.

March 13, 2010 9-9.45 a.m. General Session
30 min. Round table discussion on the three completed readings.
20 min. Small group Sound Reasoning discussion
30 min. Class discussion: Levitin
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Continue weekly journal entries on your blog.
2. Continue adding to your project.

April 17, 2010 9-9.45 a.m. General Session
30 min. independent contributions on journal writing, reading reflections and blog sharing.
30 min. Overview of the course.
20 min. Bringing it all together: Where do we go from here?
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Projects must be completed this month. Be ready to share a synopsis of your project in the next class including pictures and video on your blog.
2. Review final details in your readings to be ready for the post test.

May 8, 2010 9-10 Post Test
70 min. Project presentations.
15 min. Wrapping up
12.45 – 1 p.m. Reflective writing 1. Final weekly journal entries on your blog this month.
2. Include one area of reflective writing on what your have gained from this course.

June 5, 2010 Field Experience (details to follow) 1. Enter a concert review on your blog. Include:
• The event, place, nature of the fieldtrip
• Describe the artistic event
• Analyze the event
• Reflect on the event
• Draw on your readings, project, national standards, APS 26 best practices, and your personal aesthetic philosophy as you reflect on the event.