And the Final Turbo Was Taught (with a little philosophical, artistic help from Richard Stine)...Always a Helpful Text for the Final Push of a Semester

I was gifted Richard Stine's artwork, The Art World of Richard Stine while still teaching in Kentucky. I believe the school librarian, Kayo Wicks, wanted me to have it because his art work was often how I spoke in faculty meetings. While earning my doctorate, I crafted a research statement from 9 of his images, including "Madman Emptying the Ocean with a Spoon," which I changed to "Fork" when referring to the art of teaching. In many ways, his craft parallels my ways of knowing.

Yesterday, as an exercise to push kids to go outside the box should they wish, I distributed 28 images of Richard Stine's artwork with questions, "What does it tell you? How does it tell you? What does this have to do with life? What does it have to do about education?" Philo - love / sophistry - teaching. For the love of teaching, I explained that books, and classrooms, and institutions can only capture so much about living and learning. We have to see and to think deeply, which is at the core of Stine's imagery. 

They discussed the images given to them in small groups and then collectively, before I unleashed them to work on their own creeds in a workshop setting. First-attempt philosophical statements is the primary goal of the course after reading Noddings, Freire, Dewey, Addams, etc. Yes, academic referencing & citation are huge to show 'ya know what ya know,' but I also believe it's important to push boundaries of how you share this (which artists like Stine do). I'm very wary that text-centric communication can be esoteric and exclusionary. Bring forth artists. Bring forth the opinion of kids (their insight was a requirement for this course as we worked with elementary and high school students).

I've had back-to-back dream Fall semesters, first being asked to do an Honors course and then teaching Philosophy this semester. By luck, I've had incredible students (and, yes, Tommy....you were in both and I credit the excellence partially to you...even though you talk very little, but remain one of the sharpest thinkers and writers I've worked with at Fairfield University). 

So, yesterday was a win, even though I never got to my 2nd cup of coffee, only ate a waffle, and didn't feed myself until 6 p.m.. It was one of those days. But today will be different as the breathing room opens its gracious arms and I will have time to think again.

College teaching is different from high school teaching, in that you're not quite sure of the relationships you're building...as K-12 teaching builds tremendous relationships with students. Even so, you feel the connections in the semester's work and small notes at the end....and later in emails where they reach out...usually with a memory of my more eccentric moments than the ones where I'm trying to be smart.

And as I handed out all the evaluations the last couple of days, I realized I don't need them any more. The ladder has been climbed. Still, I like the feedback as I'm a lifelong learner myself. I can't imagine a time where I ignored what my students have to say.