Eisner or Einstein?

After reading the Eisner article, I was exhausted. There were so many large words...words that are not part of my everyday vocabulary. This got me thinking about prior knowledge. Our experience is influenced by our past as it interacts with our present. (Eisner)

What experience do I have with big words? I love to spell and I enjoy reading but that is simply decoding and encoding. Did these words have any meaning to me? What was my background knowledge about the word aesthetic? I've used it before and I even know how to spell it. When I used it, I wanted it to mean that it was pleasing to the eye. But can't something be aesthetically pleasing to more than just the eye? Can't it can relate to all of our senses?

The answer: Yes. This quickly takes me back to the article. The aesthetic form of knowing, in my opinion, is to be well rounded and use all of our "tools" to make sense of things.

I liked how the article spoke about Art:

"Art is nothing but the good making of sounds, images, etc. The aim of education is therefore the creation of artists-of people efficient in the various modes of expression. (Good sounds: good speaker, good musician, good poet. Good images: good painter or sculptor. Good movements: good dancer or good laborer. Good Tools/Utensils: good craftsman."

I found it interesting that due to our high academic demands, teachers are breaking down curriculum into smaller parts and it may actually be a disservice to our students. Especially, if we never put all of the chunks back together for them to see the relationships between the pieces. Kids need to see the big picture, practice the small pieces, and then put it all back together again. Much like Humpty Dumpty. :)

Eisner or Einstein? I think BOTH!