Seminars

The Creative Pulse 2012 Seminars

Week 1
LEADERSHIP IN LEARNING: MAKING AND THINKING IN THE ARTS
June 12-18, 1:30 – 5:30pm, Masquer Theatre 

"No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" and whatever the latest "political-quick-fix" to emerge are only the conclusions of a long series of misconceptions about the needs of our students and the nature of real learning and real thinking. Habits of Studio Thinking as well as processes of conceiving, developing, shaping and refining ideas and concepts are an essential part of training in the arts; and they develop mental processes and intellectual abilities that deepen and strengthen critical, creative and layered thinking in all other domains.

We take an offensive posture by examining the unique proactive, rather than defensive, Leadership Role teachers must play in the articulation and promulgation of these essential thinking and creating skills. Leadership is essentially about effecting significant CHANGE, which often means a change of mind in the way we conceive and perceive problems. The contemporary leaders we will examine are: Ellen Winner, Co-Author/Researcher, Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education; Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow; Rollo May, The Courage to Create.

ART/MUSE/THTR 582, Sec. 80, 2 credits
Instructor: Dr. Randy Bolton

Week 2
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE ARTS
June 19-25, 1:30 – 5:30pm, Masquer Theatre
This seminar explores the relationship between aesthetics, education and the emerging capacities of digital technology. It will present a brief history of the pioneers of both traditional and digital art, analyze the methodology of associated artistic applications, demonstrate the capacities of distance education and collaboration, and discuss the cultural and aesthetic consequences of our emerging social networking online environment.

ART/MUSE/THTR 583, Sec. 80, 2 credits
Instructor: Rick Hughes

Week 3
SPACIAL INTELLIGENCE: THE CONVERGENCE OF LIFE, ART AND DESIGN
June 26-July 2, 1:30 - 5:30pm, Masquer Theatre
This course explores how societies interact with the physical environment and activate space through architecture, art and performance. This course encourages students to respond to Montana's beautiful landscape in a hands-on design and building project of an actual performance space in a natural setting to be used by students in the Creative Movement Apprenticeship.
  
ART/MUSE/THTR 584, Sec. 80, 2 cr.
Instructor: Dr. Hipolito Chacon

Week 4
THE REFLECTIVE TEACHER: EXPLORING TEACHER IDENTITIES THROUGH MUSIC
July 3-9, 1:00 – 6:00pm, Masquer Theatre
This course will allow participants to examine their own teacher identities, roles within the schools, role support needs, and identities as musical people. Individuals experience music in multiple ways and this course will allow participants to explore and discover various forms of musical engagement and their own music identities. We will consider how experiences in music have and can contribute to our identities and roles as teachers. We will also explore ways to include music in our classrooms and in our own reflective practice and growth as teachers. Participants will learn reflective practice techniques including the use of a teacher's journal for self-analysis. Readings will include excerpts from Good Work (Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and William Damon, 2001), Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions (Donald Schon, 1990), and The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on Teaching, Learning, and Learning to Teach (Lee Shulman, 2004).

ART/MUSE/THTR 585, Sec. 80, 2 credits
Instructor: Dr. Lori Gray

Week 5
HOW CULTURE INFLUENCES TEACHING AND LEARNING
July 10-16, 1:30 – 5:30pm, Masquer Theatre

What is culture and how does it effect the way we teach and learn?  This seminar will explore the ways in which our own histories, identities, perceptions and belief systems shape our educational philosophies and influence our teaching.  We will also be looking at how our students' cultures can impact how they learn, what they learn and when they learn.  The course will look at a large spectrum of cultures from around the world including specific Native American cultures indigenous to Montana.

ART/MUSE/THTR 586, Sec. 80, 2 credits
Instructor:  Dr. Jillian Campana