Expectations

I enjoy visual media.

Images tickle my fancy and my eyeballs, so to say.

More importantly though, I have–as I understand the word–an aesthetic appreciation of images.

What I do not have is an understanding of how to best teach this image appreciation to my high school students. Certainly, I feel comfortable talking about theme in a painting or stylistic choice in a photograph. I would like to learn, however, to go beyond these topics and talk about 1. how one "learns" to enjoy an artistic image and 2. how images create the world and culture in which we find ourselves living. In other words, I'm hoping to gather an understanding of how what we see affects (and effects) our world, how to live within that image-driven world, and how to share this understanding with others.

...a few words about me...

As an undergraduate student my academic focus was varied and my interests were unsettled. During the four years I spent studying at The College of New Jersey my major field of study jumped from Biology to Psychology, Psychology to Philosophy, and then after some time finally settled in English Literature.

After graduation I took the only position available (and agreeable) to a Literature Major with a Minor in Philosophy: I taught English and Psychology at a nontraditional, private school.

Today I am enrolled in Teachers College's Teaching of English Master of Arts program.

...a picture of me...