Reflection Entry on Course

Taking this course, has forced me to look into the Nature and Design of everything I see and experience around me. This art is literally everywhere. I also, always try to look at whatever I do and connect it back to education. For example, I currently work two jobs. One is at a finance and investment company; the other is serving tables at a restaurant. I constantly look for ways to transfer what I am doing now into my future profession as a teacher. I see my job at the investment company as one that requires a lot of organization and procedural processes. These skills are required in teaching a classroom of students as well. The connections I have made are the same as the imaginative bridges, which I have been making throughout the course in the various frames of art we have studied each week. Making these connections can at times be uncomfortable and difficult because I have not been in a classroom for about a year now. I have to pull from my internship experience from last year, and push myself to really think about it. But, through this exercise, it has made me really miss being in the classroom, and continue to hunt that much harder for my future job.

The biggest lesson, in the Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences, is that it must be compelling for ME. If I have passion and truly believe in what I am presenting, then it shines through in what I have created. I think about this when teaching students. If I hate math, and my students know that I hate math, why would they want to learn any math at all from me. But the teacher, who is ENTHUSIASTIC about mathematics, gets students involved and eager to learn. Whenever I would plan a lesson for my second graders last year, I would always consider the personal connection. In my work of art segment on Twilight, I tried to convey my passion for reading the books through descriptive words and audio to give a sense to my viewer that the series was truly loved by me. In my work of art segment on film, I created a video about moving away from home and the struggles I faced in that decision. This was a very personal topic for me, but I hope that the intimate feel of the film created an intrigued and attentive audience. I remember when I was teaching last year, I launched a GO GREEN project for my class. It was something I was passionate about and created a passion within my students as well. By the end of the project we had done some really nice things for our school, and my students were left with a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. That was because it all became personal for them. I believe this is the most important step in a nature and design process.

Then comes the design. The design of the experience should have specific goals for what the creator wants his or her audience to FEEL. In our architecture module, we studied the design of retail spaces and how they were designed to make someone feel a certain way when they walked in the room. I studied one ice cream shop in particular, which made me feel like I could just indulge in the finest dessert pleasures. When we look at a classroom, how does it make a student feel, and how does it enable students to learn. The design of a space and surroundings has an amazing impact on how we experience it. I was especially moved by two work of art videos in particular on body language and storytelling. It reminds me of reading storybooks to students. I have seen some pretty amazing teachers and librarians read stories to children, which are absolutely captivating. Reading a story in this way, does not just come by picking up a book and reading the words out loud. The reading is DESIGNED and practiced. The voice, the pace of reading, and the mood are all aspects, which are created to give the students a particular experience of the content. I have always admired good story readers.

Lastly, I want to comment on the experience. I think it is important to note that everyone’s experience of a particular work of art is unique. I can see that in the comments left by my cohorts on everyone’s videos. Everyone has different things to say about the work of art. Each person brings his or her own background, beliefs, and preconceptions into an experience, and therefore the output will be different. I think this is very important to consider in teaching, because each student will understand something in his or her own unique way. This is when a teacher needs to assess student learning and differentiate according to the individual. I also believe, though, that through this course, an experience can be designed so that the output is very similar. There will be many agreements, some disagreements, and a few never before mentions. But that’s just because we come from a world where everyone is individual and entitled to his or her own opinion and feelings. I really appreciated this course and the creative works of art shared by my colleagues. This class has added a whole new dimension to my teaching.