Syllabus as artistic material: An incomplete and subjective collection of permissions and metaphors for teacher posture

Ostraff, Kaleb J.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124306 Copy

Description

Title

Syllabus as artistic material: An incomplete and subjective collection of permissions and metaphors for teacher posture

Author(s)

Ostraff, Kaleb J.

Issue Date

2024-04-17

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Lucero, Jorge

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Lucero, Jorge

Committee Member(s)

• Travis, Sarah
• Russell, Lindsay R
• Altshuler, Joseph

Department of Study

Art & Design

Discipline

Art Education

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Syllabus
• Arts-Based Research
• Arts Education

Abstract

The syllabus—one of the most ubiquitous materials of schooling—is commonly overlooked and considered to be innocuous because of its mundane nature. However, the syllabus ought to be treated with more careful consideration because it is something that teachers make (something they need to be accountable for) and actively shapes the postures that teachers and students take (something they should be aware of). Seeing the syllabus this way adheres to a view that the syllabus, as a genre, is an active agent in shaping the world and those who use it, leading to questions like: As a material, what does the syllabus do or what do teachers do through the syllabus? Where did the syllabus genre come from? What are the theories, coherence, or logic that are embedded in this material? What forces shaped it into the concretized form currently seen in education? How does the syllabus shape the educational experience for students? How does the syllabus act on teachers? Who does it benefit or hurt? Part of this dissertation stems from the author’s desire to be a more self-reflective and responsible educator and navigate the complex and tensional landscape of education. The author is not trying to destroy the syllabus or replace it with something new––but is simply asking how this seemingly impossible and rigid material, that often serves to promote one linear way of thinking about education, can be made pliable to allow for other teaching postures to be taken and to encourage other ubiquities in education to become pliable materials as well. Through a series of gestures informed by permissions taken from artists and arts-based research methodologies, the author offers an expanded vocabulary, permissions, and metaphors for thinking of the syllabus and teaching. While the syllabus historically has been described as a contract, a permanent record, or teaching tool, the author proposes that the syllabus can—in fact—be a living curriculum, a proxy to reveal or unearth complacencies about the curriculum (what is worth knowing) and reestablish possibly lost beliefs about pedagogy (the relationality of education), and a catalyst for imagining "schooling" as a dynamic and complex set of relationships (at its core).

Graduation Semester

2024-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Kaleb Ostraff

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