Aesthetic Experiences and See-Think-Wonder

Aesthetic Experiences & See-Think-Wonder

Our Anchor Chart

We have been discussing Aesthetic Experiences the last week or so. In her new book Engaging Children, Ellin Keene writes about the aesthetic experience being vital to true, authentic engagement with learning.  She urges us to directly teach and share an awareness of aesthetic experiences.  In our opening mini-lesson, we each shared stories of our own aesthetic experiences. Our second grader talked about seeing a hummingbird for the first time in the yard, the time she cried reading Charlotte's Web, and when I cried at Matthew's death when reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to her. Our fourth grader shared traveling to an Amish community and being moved by their simple architecture and clothing. Our fifth grader talked about the movie Christopher Robin.

In reading, we are paying attention to lines we find aesthetically pleasing and tracking them in a Craft Study section in our Literacy Studio notebooks, to return to as models during writing composition.  While reading, our fourth grader wondered, "Is finding something funny an aesthetic experience?" which led to an interesting discussion about "memorable-funny".

A few days later, we introduced the See-Think-Wonder thinking routine from Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison.  This thinking routine asks students: 1) What do you see? 2) What do you think about that? 3) What do you wonder? You can access many thinking routines on their website.  We viewed Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh to engage in this thinking routine; Upon See, the children described color, shape, brush strokes, and thickness of paint. Upon Think, they engaged in much inferential thinking, to which we asked “What made you think that?” 

Explaining her Wonder

Upon Wonder, the children began pondering Van Gogh’s intent and saw multiple ways of viewing the image.  Maybe the large dark shape in the foreground is a castle with little lights on in the windows. Maybe it’s a large rock and the light is reflected because of its texture.  Maybe Van Gogh used swirls in the sky that look like the ocean because it’s really a reflection in the water of the ocean. 

Is the artist’s intent more valuable than any other possibilities?  Especially when those other possibilities can be found in the details of the piece?  Is it possible to appreciate both the author’s intent as well as the viewer’s interpretation if it differs?  The children decided that yes, we can accept multiple interpretations at the same time. 

See-Think-Wonder with African Artifacts

The next day, we took a trip to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, where we used the See-Think-Wonder routine to discuss multiple art pieces, each chosen by the children.  Our 2nd grader chose Egyptian artifacts; our 4th grader, African art; our 5th grader, more Van Gogh.  Our fifth grader originally struggled to name any art he enjoys, but with further conferring, he realized he is actually really interested in Van Gogh's work and didn't realize we had any of his pieces in the collection at the Nelson.

A few days later, during Choice time, the 2nd and 4th graders chose to imitate Van Gogh’s broad, rough strokes and thick texture by using tempura sticks.  Our children have two sessions of choice time, and this is often when they further synthesize their learning experiences through art or play.