Hearts and Minds Without Fear

Painting by Barbara Clark, 2009, photo by Roy Temple

Aesthetic Education Program Models: Developing Awareness & Compassion for the Care of Our Earth

French, J.J. (Fall, 2017). Water Around the World: Riding the Wave of Compassion. Six Week Aesthetic Education Workshop & Compassionate Community Celebration. Hearts & Minds Without Fear Arts in Education with CCSU Elementary Education Students & Grade Four Team Children & Teachers, Wolcott Elementary School, West Hartford, CT.

Clark, B. A., French, J.J. (Fall, 2014). Whale Dreamers. Twelve Week Aesthetic Education Workshop & Compassionate Community Celebration. Hearts & Minds Without Fear Arts in Education with CCSU Elementary Education Students & Grade Three Classroom Students, Teachers & Principal. Holmes Elementary School, New Britain, CT.

French, J.J. & Barry, B. (Summer, 2014). Tricksters Environmental Magnet School (ESM) Project Display. Traveling Exhibition Display from the Spring, 2014 ESM project, featuring Trickster Trail Spirit Guide Post Artifact and Book work of CCSU and ESM Faculty & Students: Central Connecticut State University, Barnard Hall (2nd Floor), New Britain, CT.

French, J.J.; Barry, J.; Jackson, H. (Spring, 2014). Tricksters: Transforming Our Relationship to the Natural World. An Interdisciplinary Aesthetic Eco Social Sustainability Book & Trickster Trail Presentation & Exhibition with CCSU Faculty and Students, Grade One through Six Classroom Students & Environmental Science Magnet School Staff, Hartford, CT.

Clark, B.A., French, J.J., & Mulcahy, C. (Fall, 2013). A Long Walk to Justice. An Aesthetic Eco Social Justice Education Food & Water Sustainability Awareness Project & Celebration Event featuring the work of CCSU Teacher Education & Reading & Language Arts Faculty; CCSU Elementary Education Students; Environmental Science Magnet School & Smith Elementary Schools Students & Staff: Smith Elementary School Auditorium, New Britain, CT.

French, J.J. & Barry, J.J. (Spring, 2013). Environmental Animal Superheroes at ESM. Interdisciplinary Aesthetic Eco Social Justice Environmental Sustainability Project & Presentation with CCSU elementary education students, Student Apprenticeship Program (SAP) students, Grade Five, Six, Seven Classroom Students, and Environmental Magnet School Staff, Hartford, CT.

Clark, B. A. & French, J. (May, 2010). Make a Wave: Creating a Compassionate Community to Stop the Dolphin Extinction in Taiji, Japan. Presented with CCSU elementary education students & Gaffney Elementary School students to New Britain District-Grades four & five, parents, and community members. CCSU Welte Auditorium. New Britain, CT.

Clark, B. A. (October, 2010). CCSU Frog Masks, Dance Central, and Watershed Project. CCSU elementary education students & Gaffney Elementary School students. CCSU Gallery, New Britain, CT.

Clark, B. A. (March, 2009). Cognition and Art: A Transformative Teaching Model for Pre Service Teachers & Children Utilizing a Multimedia Environmental Art Installation, Aviary, CCSU Gallery. Presented to CCSU elementary education students & 2nd grade students of Gaffney teachers, and community members: CCSU Gallery.

Drs. Clark & French Work with Pre-Service Teachers on Make A Wave Scenery (2010)

Aesthetic education experiences

impacted pre-service teachers’ ideas in relation to human   truths, self, children’s lives, others and our world (Clark, 2008; Greene, 1988). Significant

to this research and future research,

especially on teacher education’s role in teacher training and in-service retention, was pre-service teachers’ emerging senses of identity as resilient teacher leaders for change. As one student stated, “I know personally that I have gained more to my inner being than ever. I have discovered things about myself, the type of person I am, and the type of person I want to be.” If our future teachers can perceive themselves as change agents when engaged in authentic community fieldwork, they become that change and thrive in the field of education.

 

Uniting the “social imagination” (Greene, 1998) of aesthetic education and the “creative commons” of eco justice education (Bowers, 2006) into a new paradigm, presented a variety of symbolic expressions for the study of the emergence of pre-service teachers’ beliefs. Utilizing an underlying aesthetic structure for course activities and assignments, an authentic creative community commons was established for our students to investigate ecologically and socially sustainable teaching practices. Supported by these theories and context, pre-service teachers’ beliefs, identity and imaginations surfaced to address collective community social and ecological issues they would face in their field experiences and future teaching.

As depicted in the above video, one ecological issue was addressed in the performance Make a Wave: Be the Change. One thousand urban children from the surrounding public school community came to our college campus and learned about the dolphin slaughter for profit through puppets, dance, and poetry. Portraying their own desire for freedom and hope as teachers and artists, pre-service teachers danced the dance of the dolphin, enacted an acknowledgement of human short-sighted cruelty and offered a song to take compassionate action.

All references to outside sources can be found in the bibliography sections of our published work.