One of Those Weeks
Have you ever had one of those weeks? You might know what I am talking about here. There are weeks when a lot of things decide to happen together. Last week was one of those weeks for me when so many great things happened together that I am still trying to recount them all. I am so thankful for each one of this blessings. Among all those blessings, I had the opportunity to teach three nights, three different subjects: basic computer skills, painting, and sculpting. Of course, on each one many other teaching opportunities came along. My wife says that no matter what I am doing I find the chance to teach something. I can’t stop myself from teaching something, because I learn through teaching.
Being an educator is a challenge but it is also an amazing blessing. It doesn’t matter what the subject is. In ancient Greece the concept of subjects was technically the concept of branches of practice but it came from the three of knowledge and had to be connected to its trunk and rooted in practical life. Subjects were not isolated concepts. Specializations, so to speak, had a purpose in service. Switching subjects was a continuum. Math and music could be having a discussion together, and philosophy could assist the conversation inviting science to share its point of view while a poet put to rhythmic speech the historical account of the piece of art being created with the brush or under the chisel.
I see knowledge as one unlimited supply of interconnected events, points of views, interpretations, results from experience and experimentation, explanations of our surroundings, assumptions of what we don’t know based on the things we do know, and abstract descriptions of an idea. As I explained to one of the participants: “Everything we see, hear, and say is an abstraction of an idea”. Letters are the abstraction of the idea of a sound that we translate into a symbol, but that sound itself is an abstraction of the idea of that particular sound. Objects are abstractions of ideas producing symbols we get attached to. The object perish, and the symbol changes its value based on time and context, but the idea remains. Sadly, humans attach themselves to so many perishable abstractions instead of taking hold of the idea. Even more so, we often forget to rely on the source of life who put the idea into visual and palpable realization with just speaking.
On that thought, I begin my week still in awe and spiritually refreshed after witnessing how 43 individuals made a profession of faith last night through baptism at City Church. It is such a fulfilling experience to hear each story towards transformation. It is also great to share this experience in community with a bunch of strangers that become family in Christ. This week we just began can be one of those weeks too if only we focus on being thankful, on keeping the faith with patience to see the fulfillment of the promise of God.
April is almost coming to an end but there are still things to do and classes to teach. I continue the computer class at The Literacy Center of Milford, and if you are missing on all the fun of the painting and sculpting parties, we are going to be sculpting at The Grove in New Haven, Friday, April 24. The events for the month of May are listed also so you can RSVP with time. You can also request private sculpting and painting parties, as well as art lessons.
The Science in the Art
It has been a while since last time I wrote in my blog. It has been a great journey so far this semester teaching Inquiry at Quinnipiac University, the academic advising experiment, the sculpting and painting parties, the workshops and talks on Business Needs Assessment with an Inquiry Approach, the show that just ended at Spectrum Gallery, the sculpting demo I had there back in March, the sculpting workshop at Columbus School through ARTE Inc., the computer classes at the now Literacy Volunteers of Southern Connecticut, and a new partnership unfolding that gets me closer to understand my mission and the reason I do what I do… Well, that was a long sentence… Things are wrapping up as we are about a month away to finish the semester. The summer (if we get one this year in New England) is already promising good things. I think that brings us up-to-date in everything that is happening.
The Science in the Art
My students were working in groups to get feedback from each other as they prepared for their oral presentations. This is one way research in peer tutoring learning environments supports practice and practice supports research. In the process, one student was trying to find a connection between health sciences, specifically medicine, and art. To serve as an example that helped make the connection clear and concrete we have the Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. Frank H. Netter M.D. was a surgeon and world’s most prolific medical illustrator. He helped medicine understand the human body with his illustrations. Interestingly, when people study medicine they call it medical arts. Not finding the connection yet? Let me help you understand. All the knowledge in science, or in any field, is incomplete without the capacity to think creatively to solve specific issues or to accurately come up with a diagnosis.
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