Courtney Latorre

Introduction: Upon visiting Nashville, it was top priority that I made my way to the Frist Art Museum.  With the Frist being an art museum, it held an abundance of art focused learning opportunities - the most anticipated being the Martin ArtQuest gallery.  The Martin ArtQuest gallery is a space dedicated to the making, learning, and experiencing of art. As published in the Tennessean, " Many world class art museums around the world have also used MAQ as a template to design their own family-friendly, interactive spaces, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate Museum in London, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR and many others" (Baker 2018). Martin ArtQuest Gallery Mission and explanation of activities: " The mission of the Martin ArtQuest Gallery (MAQ) is to create a fun and engaging learning environment where visitors of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities experience hands-on activi...

    Introduction: Spotify is an audio streaming platform in which listeners can stream music and podcasts. Spotify users have the ability to make, share, and collaborate on playlists. Although initially Spotify may seem like an online streaming service that only serves as a way to participate as a listener, it also holds space as an informal learning opportunity. Spotify can serve as a way to discover new music and even explore various genres and decades of music as well. Spotify users have access to new the music the minute it is released and no longer have to add any inconvenience into their day to access this music. In addition to music, Spotify offers listeners the opportunity to practice learning a second language, follow a guided meditation, listen to a health and wellness podcast, or listen to poetry. The opportunities for using Spotify as a learning tool are endless. In addition to the content that can be absorbed by the listener, there is also a social element to...

"Yoga is an opportunity to know yourself better. Only you can become the world’s leading expert on your life—but first you must learn how to observe yourself and how you work. In yoga, you are the laboratory. Yoga Lab is a supportive environment where people can gather and share in the spirit of learning, self-discovery, and continued growth"  ( www.statecollegeyogalab.com/about-us/) Introduction: With the focus of schooling for this informal learning setting, I began to think about spaces in which I view to be scholarly spaces where learning takes place. Typically, in my experience, these spaces tend to be formal learning spaces. When I think about formal learning spaces, I immediately think of structure. I think of planned learning experiences with an objective or goal. In regards to formal learning spaces, Sackey, Nguyen, & Grabill state, "Regardless of whether the pedagogical strategies are student-centered or teacher-centered, the approach to lear...

Introduction: The Arboretum at Penn State is a communal space of which the main focus is appears to be the botanical garden, however, upon closer examination, its main draw is actually the spaces created for community and learning. The Arboretum can be seen as an "everyday aetherized social space" containing "embedded educationally meaningful opportunities of cultural, social, philosophical, and aesthetic significance" (Carpenter p. 5). Upon entering the Arboretum, I could barely find a parking spot.  There were an abundance of people in various sections of the space, whether it be taking pictures, studying the flowers, learning about the spaces, or simply reading in the grass.  While I spent most of my time in "Childhood's Gate", it was clear that the space as a whole offered an abundance of opportunities for learning and exploration of space, culture, and self. Strengths: The Arboretum at Penn State is full of communicable learning spaces and so ...

1. How did you incorporate contemporary art as public pedagogy in your plan? Throughout this unit I incorporated contemporary art as public pedagogy in my plan by thinking deliberately about how my students would experience the act of connecting art with inner self and reflection. Not only were students utilizing their knowledge and skill in the making of art, they also were on a journey of self exploration and tasked with sharing this journey through their art. By giving students a focus, they were able to not only experience vulnerability in their own art, but also the other of others. By studying contemporary artists and even by studying the art of their classmates, students had the chance to make connections and identify uniting factors within each of us. This unit guided students to not only think about the art making, but also to move deeper into thinking about the human experience and how we can use art and music as tools for emotionally identification and expression.  2....

Part I: Unit Overview Unit Title: Emotional Regulation and Art Enduring Idea: Exploring mood in art by creating abstract works based upon feelings. Using the identification of emotions and feelings in art to help emotionally regulate. Key Concepts about enduring idea: perspective, collaboration, color, and mood Key Concepts about contemporary art as public pedagogy: expression, line, feeling, color, Essential Questions: ·       How can you represent your feelings visually? ·       How do I experience the world differently than others? ·       How do certain colors make us feel? ·       How does music influence visual art? Rationale: In my first grade classroom we have been working on identifying feelings and emotions to better identify how we are feeling. By having the vocabulary for feelings, students are able to better regulate their emo...