Week #3

This week's class went, but not as well as i would have liked. We continued our discussion from last week; the guys who didn't get to read their pieces read. I tried to re-cap the main points from the article, then kind of let the discussion go from there because the guys had raised several good questions.

I had a problem trying to get us to focus on any one question, though. I think this was because (1) they're not questions with real Answers, are still pondered today and (2) I wasn't prepared enough with questions from the reading, though I tried hard to think of some good ones. It's true I have a hard time cutting people off, or correcting them when their reading of the writer's argument isn't right on. Have to work on that.

I had ideas for in class:
-'art share' (everyone tells us about an artist they like)
-questions in small groups
-do some writing in class
-bring in art/media/ads for analyzing
-show video on some art topic (an artist, movement, phenomenon etc)
-reading questions handed out with the readings

At one point someone suggested the assignment of having people bring in info on a select artist, doing an art-share. This was cool because it was the plan anyway.

For next week, I am doing research to try to answer some of the questions the guys have had. So I'm hoping to bring some material on different art movements, as well as what art means/has meant to different cultures. (Have to do a lot of studying for this, because it's not something I know much about and I feel awkward trying to talk about it.) I'm considering trying to incorporate a discussion/lesson on formal design elements too, which could lend itself to more hands-on stuff in class and also help them analyze images from a formal standpoint.

Ah, I also have to work on developing my "persona" as Prof. DeWilde says. That should be easier if I have some more structure for the lesson and the knowledge to back it up...