Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
New York Campus


PD144                                        Fall 1998
The Creative Arts and Jewish Education
Dr. Sherry H. Blumberg


I.  Goals and Objectives

	A.  To explore the ways of knowing that are inherent in the fine and creative arts (aethetic knowledge, narrative knowledge, spiritual knowledge).
	
	1.  Read about and discuss alternative ways of knowing
	
	2.  Experience one or more of the art forms as a way
	of knowing and compare that to how the idea
	is learned and known in another form.
	
	B.  To develop a new respect for the complexity of creativity as both a concept and aim of Jewish education
	
	l.  Share with other students their own creativity
	
	2.  Participate in several artisic modes 
	
	3.  Read and analyze some literature on creativity
	
	C. To learn about how the creative arts are used presently in
	Jewish education and to envision the possibilities of having an integrated arts program
	
	l.  Create lessons plans or a unit plan for the use of the 	arts in their school or class
	
	2.  Meet with artists, dancers, musicians and writers who
	work in Jewish creative arts
	
	3.  Keep an artistic journal or log about their experiences 	in the class.

II.  Texts and Materials

Allen, Pat B. Art is A Way of Knowing. Boston: Shambhala, 1995.

Beyer, Landon E. "Beyond the Formal and the Psychological: The Arts and Social Possibility. in Critical Coversations in the Philosophy of Education. Wendy Kohli, editor. New York: Routledge, 1995, p.258-277.

Cameron, Julia. The Artist Way.  NY: Putnam, 1992.

Chesler, Mark and Fox, Robert. Role-Playing Methods in the 	Classroom.  Chicago: SRA, 1966

Coles, Robert. The Spiritual Life of Children. Boston: Houghton 	Mifflin, 1990.

Cook, "Art in Religious Education" in Cully Harper's Encyclopedia 
of Religious Education. San Francisco: Harper and
Row, 1990

Durka, Gloria and Joanmarie Smith, ed. Aesthetic Dimensions of 
Religious Education . New York: Paulist, 1979

Gardner, Howard. The Arts and Human Development. New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1973.

Gerard, Bert, "Storytelling as a Means of Teaching Religious and 	Moral Values:  Unpublished article from a workshop for
the Religious Education Association, 1990

Goleman, Daniel, Kaufman, Pau and Ray, Michael. The Creative 	Spirit. NY: Dutton, 1992.

Harris, Maria Teaching and the Religious Imagination. San Francisco
Harper and Row, 1987.

Learning and Teaching the Ways of Knowing, Edited by Eliot Eisner,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1985.

Williams, Linda Verlee. Teaching for the TWo Sided MInd. NY:
Simoin and Schuster, 1983.

Yates, Wilson. The Arts in Theological Education. Atlanta, 	Scholar's  Press, 1987.

and selected articles from Jewish Principal's Handbook and the 
New Jewish TEachers Handbook , Marcus, ed. Denver  ARE.


III.  Course Outline  (subject to change depending on availability
of special guests.)

Session 1:  Introduction to the Course
What is Creativity...
What are the Arts...
Reading:  Cook article in Cully 33-41
Beyer article in Kohli

Session 2: Epistemology, ways of knowing
Narrative, Aethetic, Metaphor
Reading: Chapter 7 Spiritual Life of Children Coles
Chapters in Learning.. Eisner...

Session 3: Creative Writing
Poetry and Stories

Session 4: Story telling

Session 5: Drama and Role-playing

Session 6: Puppetry

Session 7: Dance and Movement, 

Session 8: Painting and Drawing, Sculpture

Session 9: Collage, Mosaic, Papercutting

Session 10:  Jewish crafts, Tallis making, weaving,
clay, silver, etc.

Session ll:  Music and Song

Session 12:  Integration of the Arts into the Curriculum

Session 13:  Students presentations


IV.  Assignments

l.  Log or Journal


2.  Creation of Lessons, Unit or Curriculum approach
This could include a spiral arts curriculum outline for a 
school,  a series of arts built around a theme,  a unit that 	integrates at least 3 of the arts, or other suggestions from 	students.

3.  Book or article review for class  or report on a Jewish
artist or arts event or a class presentation on one of
the arts that we studied (preferably one that you need
to learn yourself)

4.  Classroom presentation on one of the Arts...this can be connected to your final project.  Try one of the arts that you are not quite comfortable with in order to stretch.

V.  Grading
	Class participation and attendance 30%
	and the classroom presentation
	
	Log/Journal     20%
	
	Lessons/Unit    30%
	
	Book/article/event review  20%