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This Roundtable is called Pedagogy through Alternative Venues on
campus. What we mean by alternative venues is that there are
environments in our university community which are not a classroom, or
a lab, but rather other sacred spaces, for the physical, environmental
presence of ideas, knowledge and faith manifested through alternative
media from objects to dancers.
I am Chris Parker, and I teach Mythology in the Classics Department, I
have been served classes the Creative Thinking classes as well and I am
currently concluding my doctoral studies on Pedagogy and Philosophy
with a focus on better learning of meaning through metaphor. We have
with us in our Roundtable, alphabetically:
Father Jim Chern
University Chaplain & Director of the Newman Catholic Center
Carol Del Guidice
Education Coordinator George Segal Gallery
Dave Kaplan
Director, Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center
Carrie Urbanic
Cultural Engagement Director for Arts & Cultural Programming
They will each tell you more about themselves as we proceed.
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For some Mythology is basically one big extended metaphor and I have,
successfully merged some of these alternative sacred places into my
syllabus.
For one thing there are many relationships between contemporary
performing arts and the Greek theatre, tragic hero, the thespian, the
proscenium, the chorus, etc. So my students attend one event at Kasser
each semester.
This semester as well, Dave Kaplan at Yogi Berra had us over during
class time to discuss the contemporary Hero, Yogi, the women in the life
of the classic hero, (Carmen Berra of course passed away as we
continued with our hero study this semester) We read early letters from
Yogi to Carmen and experienced the symbols of the hero which are
present all over the museum as well as the stories, legends, and
metaphoric Trojan Horses. Not to mention Philosophy of Sports
workshops produced there, and three national poetry month/baseball
season events for college and high school students.
As well, I recently facilitated one session for a Creative Thinking class
at George Segal Gallery which was a somatic learning experience,
meaning community, sensual experiences, and knowledge. And a few
years back Segal Gallery worked with us in Philosophy for Children for
Philosophical dialogue workshops on the philosophy of aesthetics.
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Over my years here too I have brought entire classes down to Newman
Catholic Center to talk the chaplain and experience symbols and
meaning and stories and history as it relates to Greek/Roman Mythology
and the Roman Catholic Church.
I have a discipline with many topics: science, scholarship, history and
psychology among them. But in my exploration of over ten years it
seemed clear to me that many other disciplines, and topics within them,
can be experienced and accessed through these somatic experiences in
sacred places.
I suggest my experiences as just one model of making it
work pedagogically. In short, from just my perspective:
Infusing classes with alternative venues
Finds relevance in archetypes,
Evokes philosophical inquiry,
Builds writing skills.
Fosters public speaking,
Enriches the connection of the modern aesthetic to the literature of the
past.
I also ask my students to write “a review” of their experience. This:
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Fosters critical thinking
Improves perception
Invites analysis
Requires research
Builds empathy
Ties multi-disciplinary connections
We have developed some structure for this Roundtable which we will try
to implement as follows
A five minute intro which is coming to a close soon.
Followed by Carrie, Carol, Fr. Jim and Dave each speaking about who
they are, what their “venue” is about and how it works with Montclair
State students, for five minutes each.
Then we are then hoping for about twenty minutes of inter-venue
dialogue between Carrie, Carol Fr. Jim and Dave .
For instance, Peak Performances addresses elements of faith through
literature, theatre and performance, as well as sports related topics
with the often extreme physical performances of dance companies,
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plus there is visual art in scrims, sets, projections etc.; not to mention
further Segal Gallery art displays in the lobby. Just to name a few.
Then for a total of five minutes each person here will be giving a ONE
MINUTE talk on action steps educators can take to actually utilize some
of these venues in their curriculum
Followed by 9 minutes of questions and then a brief closing.
So here we go….
A. Intro


B. 3:05-3:25 B.
C.
20 minutes.

Carol 3:05-3:10

Father Jim, 3:10-3:15

Dave 3:15-3:20

Carrie, 3:20-3:35
3:25-3:45 20 minutes. Links between venues All
participate Carrie, Father Jim, Carol, Dave and Chris
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E. 3:50-3:59 9 minutes: We respond to questions,
comments, other ideas.

F. 3:59-4:00 1 minute: Closing Comment.
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