A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Paul J. Mack

Lecturer

Contact

Bio

Education
: 2012 Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, Magna Cum Laude, Arizona State University; 2003 MAAE, Masters of Art Education, School of the Art Institute, Chicago IL; 1986 BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute, Chicago IL. Publications: 2013 Inside Artist/Teacher Burnout Lambert Press; 2008 Schooling Soundscapes: Traditional Schooling Versus Home Schooling Proximity (8) Chicago, IL.

Personal Statement

Teaching Philosophy:

“As we alter our relationship with our environment, we ourselves are made different.”
John Dewey

I have adhered to the beliefs that the love to learn increases when we are engaged in meaningful and purposeful production. That knowledge expands when prior experience is resourced and built upon. It is my role as an instructor /mentor to encourage my students that growth and transformation is enhanced when knowledge acquisition and experience are equally considered.

Emphasizing the relationship between education and actual experience and organizing the two so that knowledge is not only progressive but also reflexive contributes to an equitable space for the learner and their cohorts. By allowing the learner/learners the freedom to investigate and differentiate experiences, enhances cooperation and supports tolerance for diverse narratives and perspectives.

Artist Statement: 
I am an interdisciplinary artist that takes advantage of the accessibility of the materials and tools that are presented by the locales I inhabit. I consider my work post structural rejecting the claim of absolute truths. My intent is to confront the viewer with vague reconfigured forms that reflect a visual genealogy, and allow one to question a fascination with perfected bodies and how they inform our identity. Media images do not solely operate as symbols of specific single products, but combine with and transform one another to create collective forces that act upon our desires and self-justifications.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

Relating contemporary and traditional artmaking approaches and culturally responsive pedagogy with curriculum, project, and instructional design methods, this course provides prospective teachers and teaching artists with knowledge and skills needed to structure learning experiences through which children and youth in elementary schools, middle schools and community settings enhance their creativity, develop technical skills, understand a range of artmaking practices, make personally meaningful works, and explore big ideas. Course participants will structure teaching plans that identify students’ prior knowledge, scaffold learning, use multiple teaching and learning strategies to promote student engagement and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. They will learn to articulate clear and verifiable core learning objectives, select relevant national and state standards and design assessments that capture essential student learning without standardizing students’ artworks. Teacher reflection based on critique, student input and assessment data will be used in an iterative process of editing and redesigning curriculum. Connecting visual and verbal literacies, prospective teachers will make use of reading, writing and speaking activities that engage students in interpreting art and analyzing visual culture as well as using picture books as a source of inspiration for their personal storytelling and artmaking. Teachers will learn to select and/or develop reading level-appropriate art and culture readings to support learning. Studying a range of art education practices will provide teacher candidates with theoretical perspectives from which to build their own unique pedagogical approaches. Readings include works by Maria Montessori, Viktor Lowenfeld, Anne Thulson, Lisa Delpit, Vivian Paley, and Sonia Nieto as well as overviews of Reggio Emelia, Teaching for Social Justice, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, Studio Habits, Visual Thinking Strategies and Principles of Possibility Course assignments will include readings and discussion responses and researching artists, artmaking approaches and pedagogical practices as well as writing project and lesson plans accompanied by teacher artwork examples, image presentations, readings, assessments, and other instructional materials, as well as documenting plans and student artworks. Participants will teach small groups of students in elementary schools with English Language Learners. All student must complete and pass Chicago Public Schools Background Check.

Class Number

1086

Credits

3

Description

Relating contemporary and traditional artmaking approaches and culturally responsive pedagogy with curriculum, project, and instructional design methods, this course provides prospective teachers and teaching artists with knowledge and skills needed to structure learning experiences through which children and youth in elementary schools, middle schools and community settings enhance their creativity, develop technical skills, understand a range of artmaking practices, make personally meaningful works, and explore big ideas. Course participants will structure teaching plans that identify students’ prior knowledge, scaffold learning, use multiple teaching and learning strategies to promote student engagement and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. They will learn to articulate clear and verifiable core learning objectives, select relevant national and state standards and design assessments that capture essential student learning without standardizing students’ artworks. Teacher reflection based on critique, student input and assessment data will be used in an iterative process of editing and redesigning curriculum. Connecting visual and verbal literacies, prospective teachers will make use of reading, writing and speaking activities that engage students in interpreting art and analyzing visual culture as well as using picture books as a source of inspiration for their personal storytelling and artmaking. Teachers will learn to select and/or develop reading level-appropriate art and culture readings to support learning. Studying a range of art education practices will provide teacher candidates with theoretical perspectives from which to build their own unique pedagogical approaches. Readings include works by Maria Montessori, Viktor Lowenfeld, Anne Thulson, Lisa Delpit, Vivian Paley, and Sonia Nieto as well as overviews of Reggio Emelia, Teaching for Social Justice, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, Studio Habits, Visual Thinking Strategies and Principles of Possibility Course assignments will include readings and discussion responses and researching artists, artmaking approaches and pedagogical practices as well as writing project and lesson plans accompanied by teacher artwork examples, image presentations, readings, assessments, and other instructional materials, as well as documenting plans and student artworks. Participants will teach small groups of students in elementary schools with English Language Learners. All student must complete and pass Chicago Public Schools Background Check.

Class Number

1453

Credits

3