1. Introduction and Looking Both Ways: How (and Why) a High School English Teacher and an English Education Professor Formed a Partnership That Informed Their Practices
2. Teaching to Meet the Moment
3. What We Talk About When We Talk About Texts: Landscape With the Fall of Icarus and Ekphrastic Poetry
4. Imagining the World as if it Could Be Otherwise: Preparing Students for Solving Problems and Seeing Possibilities (Writing Poetry as Evidence-Based Argument)
5. Analyzing and Synthesizing Our Stories: Exploring Identity Through Art and Poetry
6. Art as Exploration: Jacob Lawrence and the Great Migration
7. Making Claims and Making Change: Creative Responses to the 1619 Project
8. Point of View: Stepping Inside the Story
9. Teaching as Transaction: Building Community Through Shared Inquiry
10. This is Not for Me: In Which We Discuss Some Challenges and Obstacles That May Impede the Development of an Inquiry-Based Learning Through the Arts Practice, and What Might be Done About Them
Amanda Nicole Gulla is Professor of English Education at Lehman College (CUNY), USA, where she teaches writing and aesthetic education. Her research and writing focus primarily on creativity, imagination, and social justice in education, as well as poetic inquiry. She is the author of a poetry book, A Banner Year for Apples, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Maxine Greene Institute for Aesthetic Education and the Social Imagination.
Molly Hamilton Sherman teaches graduate students in the English Education Program at Lehman College (CUNY), USA, and high school English at Harvest Collegiate High School in New York City, USA. She has taught EFL, English, and English Education on three different continents. She also facilitates professional development for the New York City Writing Project.
This book is a theoretical and practical guide to implementing an inquiry-based approach to teaching which centers creative responses to works of art in curriculum. Guided by Maxine Greene’s philosophy of Aesthetic Education, the authors discuss the social justice implications of marginalized students having access to the arts and opportunities to find their voices through creative expression. They aim to demystify the process of inquiry-based learning through the arts for teachers and teacher educators by offering examples of lessons taught in high school classrooms and graduate level teaching methods courses. Examples of student writing and art work show how creative interactions with the arts can help learners of all ages deepen their skills as readers, writers, and thinkers.