Matt – Aesthetic Awareness: Part 2

The primary objective for identifying aesthetic awareness (and presumably to designate it as a competency) is to enhance ones perceptiveness for their surroundings. A conservationist, who I forget his name, once said in reference to driving through national parks: “You can see more in a minute of walking than an hour of driving…” The teaching objective should be to instill this mentality – that one must embrace their surroundings.

As nearly everyone noted, the best means to refine aesthetic awareness is to assign field opportunities that enable the student to analytically observe a subject. A practical exercise for this skill would employ analytic and creative writing skills. I would ask the students to critically examine an individually selected aesthetic subject – a painting, if the writer is ambitious or perhaps, a park – with the aim of prompting the student to informally identify all of the aesthetic qualities. With the completion of this, I would ask the students to visit a location (think big – probably a public forum, where one can observe those who pass by) and free-write for a full half-hour. It might be wise to interchangeably assign these exercises over a period of time, with the culmination of a short essay. The students would be required to write a short-essay on one of their previous subjects, with the aim of precisely describing their surroundings. I suppose the practical explanation is: the writer should be able to read the essay aloud while the audience listens with their eyes closed but can envision the scenario with great clarity.