Brief Description of my Project and Fieldwork

The purpose of my project is to create a revisionist art history curriculum. The purpose of a revisionist art history survey course in a community college is to reach the changing needs of the institution, as well as to meet the needs of the changing community of learners and teachers. This includes presenting critical pedagogical methods into the teaching of art history. It is meant to reposition art history as a tool to create context for each student as well as to be a lens to see history and experience through. As the community college changes so must the courses it offers. Defining the needs of the community college and those associated with it is important to the understanding of what a class may do as is defining or exploring art history as a field of research as well as a visual form of history. It is important to place art history within the context of new forms or versions of history; this addresses the needs of students as well as reaching out to a globalization and less westernized community of learners. The purpose of this project is a prescriptive one. My fieldwork experience and activities will lead to offering a new way of teaching an old subject.

It is necessary to define what "revisionist" means or how I will be using the term through the course of this project. The following list is meant to provide aspects of "revisionist" history.

Use of Local Art
Not separated or generated by culture
Looks to connect global and local histories
How a work addresses the human spirit
Encourages students to use their experiences to understand works
Approaches work form multiple perspectives

Use of hermeneutics as a method of inquiry

My Fieldwork this semester will include the following:

TAship (6hrs. A week)
Participant observation
Teaching learning as a member of the class
Journaling conflicting and similar methods of the lecturer and myself
Reviewing starting points and type of information presented
Discussing materials with student during my office hours
Creating assignments that involve elements of my ideas of art history education (test for validity)

Writing (6hrs. A week)
Content Analysis (code)
Begin the process of evaluating resources from multiple multicultural and interpretive viewpoints
Use these evaluations to guide where I will focus, understand, and then teach.

Curriculum Writing
Begin writing lesson plans and resource materials that implement hermeneutics and contain multiple starting points that also meet or exceed state standards.

Test
Research possible test sites for Fall and Spring Semesters (guest speaking?)
Research class proposal process

Evaluation Team
Line up community college students and professors as readers and evaluators of the lessons/class proposal Design a survey for both groups to gain their perspectives and check for validity and generalizability.