Venturing into Unknown Territory: Using Aesthetic Representations to Understand Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Based on Elliot Eisner’s notions of multiple forms of representation and Rosenblatt’s aesthetic/efferent responses to reading, a teacher educator/researcher had her undergraduate students explore their connections, using aesthetic representations, to a course entitled Reading Comprehension. Each aesthetic representation revealed the complexities of Reading Comprehension in unique ways through a variety of media including: interior classroom design, culinary arts, quilting, music, and martial arts. The teacher educator invited five of the students from the course to participate in monthly collaborative inquiry sessions during the subsequent semester (lasting five months) where students articulated the aesthetic process they underwent. Benefits and applicability of using aesthetic representations in the university classroom are explored in the final section of the article.