/teachingasart2018

Teaching as Art. A class at NYU ITP on pedagogy and social practice art.

Teaching as Art

A graduate level course offered at NYU ITP in Spring 2018

This class is for artists and creative technologists who want to teach. A good teacher is also a great student themself. They transform their curiosity into knowledge and share their learning processes with others. One can learn to become a better teacher by staying fearless about ‘not knowing’ something, embracing radically open ideas and connecting various expertise and knowledge. Teaching can be a form of artistic and creative practice in collaboration with a diverse community. Teachers can invent new forms of learning spaces, new kinds of collaboration and new senses of community.

In this class, students will learn about applying creative processes to teaching. Students will read about the history of artists in and out of academic institutions, Black Mountain College, as well as more recent experiments. Students are expected to engage in critical discussions about the topics.

  • Week 1: Learning
  • Week 2: Curriculum
  • Week 3: Syllabus
  • Week 4: Pedagogy
  • Week 5: Inclusive Learning
  • Week 6: Mid-term presentation
  • Week 7: Unlearning
  • Week 8: Platforms
  • Week 9: Museum as a school
  • Week 10: Community as a school
  • Week 11: Final project proposal
  • Week 12: Final presentation #2

Full semester course based on a class of same title offered in Spring 2017

The class will use a dedicated Are.na channel to share related materials. The class will use a private email list to communicate.

Letters

Letter #1 12/26/2016

Letter #2 1/6/2017

Code of conduct

Students and teacher will respect each other as equals, will speak and write kindly to each other. They will challenge each other academically and artistically.

Students will be ready in class, five minutes before the start time. Two late arrivals after 5 minutes count as an absence, two absences will result in an immediate fail. There will be no exceptions.

Students will use this GitHub repository to find the latest syllabus and reading materials as well as to submit their assignments.

Students will submit their assignment every Sunday morning by 10am. Assignments submitted after 10am will not be reviewed before the class. Students may update their assignment after initial submission and after each class.

Reading assignment for next week:

Week 1. Learner

January 22, 2018

Lecture 1. Learner

Notes 1.

Introduction of the course and the instructor's practice and Teaching philosophy. Questions about Learning.

Rotating roles:

  • Teacher: Architect
  • Facilitator: Builder
  • Archivist: Inspector
  • Student: Inhabitant

In-class exercise: Create a map that illustrates how you learn something.

Assignment: Autobiography as a learner: Write a 500 word essay to accompany the map.

How to submit your homework with a pull request.

Deadline: 1/28/2018. Sunday morning by 10am.

Week 2. Curriculum

January 29, 2018

Lecture.2 Curriculum

What is a curriculum? Artists as educators, performance artwork as curriculum

In class workshop: draft a curriculum for a workshop.

  • Identifying a subject matter– What do I want to teach? learn?
  • Big picture goals: What would the students experience and achieve?
  • Inspirations: Who was your favorite, most inspiring teacher? Why?
  • Activity: 10 Minutes Professor.

Readings:

  • Leaving art writings on performance, politics, and publics, 1974-2007 by Suzanne Lacy NYU Ebrary - In Mourning and in Rage, p 64- 71
  • Education for Socially Engaged Art by Pablo Helguera PDF - Chapter 2, p 9 - 25

Week 3. Syllabus

February 5, 2017

Activity class

In class activity: School master

Assignment was to create a curriculum, for yourself as a sophomore in high school.

Each student will pair up with another student. They will introduce their curriculum (assignment)to each other. 10 minutes each.

As a presentation for the whole class, the students will present their curriculum from the perspective of a teacher (or a schoolmaster). The partner will give feedback from the perspective of a student in the school. and vice versa. it will be like role playing.

Lecture about artists in schools, public institutions, galleries, museums, biennales

Week 4. Pedagogy

February 12, 2018

Lecture about pedagogy, the craft of teaching. Traditional pedagogy and critical pedagogy, alternative education.

Week 5 Inclusive learning

February 26, 2018

Lecture about accessible and inclusive learning spaces, Makerspaces, community spaces, libraries. Special focus on disability and access for Deaf, blind and wheelchair users.

Week 6 Midterm presentation

March 5, 2018

Students will present each for 10 minutes

and enjoy 1 week of no class. :)

Week 7 Unlearning

March 19, 2018

Lecture 6 Lecture about combining theory and practice in art and teaching, through unlearning and plasticity.

Student presentation about a lesson plan for a workshop.

Week 8 Platforms

March 26, 2018

Final assignment: Edit your syllabus for a museum workshop for your partner and other participants. Rehearse your teaching for them, in person and in museum or in ITP. Create a feedback form for the participant (student) to give you feedback on your teaching.

Week 9 Museum as a school

April 2, 2018

Museums, Managers of consciousness

Week 9 Community as a school

April 9, 2018

Week 10 Final project proposal

April 16, 2018

Week 11 Finals

April 23, 2018

Student presentation on their final project: workshop.

Instructor information

Taeyoon Choi is an artist and educator based in New York and Seoul. His art practice involves performance, electronics, drawings, and storytelling that often leads to intervention in public spaces. Choi collaborates with fellow artists, activists, and professionals from other fields to realize socially engaged projects and alternative pedagogy. He was an artist-in-residence at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. He has published books about urbanism and is currently working on a book of drawings about computation. Choi cofounded the School for Poetic Computation in 2013, where he continues to organize and teach. Recently, he's been focusing on unlearning the wall of disability and normalcy, and enhancing accessibility and diversity within art and technology. Choi serves on the board of advisors of the Processing Foundation.