Aesthetics

I had a hard time thinking of what to post for this article. I never considered a chair to be anything more than a chair. I had never herd the term Asethetics before this article. Needless to say I was slightly confused. After reading the article, I do feel that I have a bit more understanding but I am still not sure what the purpose would be in the classroom. Is the important part to consider things as more than face value? Is it important for students to actually know the term asethetics and be able to break it down and explain it? Just making them aware of it and introducing them to the idea that there are outside influences on their decisions? I guess after writing this I have realized I still am pretty confused about the article.

One thing I did like about the article was the concrete examples they gave. Relating it in terms of cars and chairs and bringing in style and fashion really helped me in attempt to make sense of the information in my head. Otherwise, I am not sure I would have understood any part of the article.

Art as Writing

I found this article very interesting. Using pictures as a form of writing is a great idea to expand the learning process in an attempt to reach all learners. I have spent the past four years of my life learning to use multiple intelligences and being able to combine a few of them together in one lesson to reach more students is a great skill to have as I head out on my own next year.

I also think many times, especially when working with younger grades, teachers can get more out of a student if they are allowed to draw pictures. When asked to write sentences students keep it short and sweet because it is so challenging for them when they are learning. By allowing them the ability to draw and then explain what they drew before they write about it might give the teacher a better sense of what the student is understanding.

Tattoo's

It is interesting to me that the article talked about tattooing as a form of art and even said it can often have "multiple meanings" but it didn't seem to me to consider any meanings other than the face value of the tattoo. When one looks at a painting, it is often times up to him/her to decide what they see in that painting. They can look at it and decide its meaning, how it affects them, and what they understand from each painting. I think it is the same when dealing with tattoos.

In my opinion, tattoos are a very personal thing and no one can say what the tattoo really means aside from the person who has it. You can see it for face value but the meaning behind it is only known to the person having it. Sure society has constructed ideas about certain words/symbols, such as the Holocaust example used in the article, but one can never really know if there is something aside from that origional meaning that holds value to a person.

I like that the article talked about discussing tattoo's in the classroom now days. I feel tattooing has become increasingly popular and talking about in school is a great way to get students aware of the dangers involved and the permanency involved in such a procedure.