The Aesthetic Response and Its Role in Textbook Comprehension

Some teachers reject Bloom's taxonomy and the idea of cubing due to the fact that they consist of zealous question asking. These analytic series of questions may actually restrict, and narrow students responses, to one defined behavior. Critical thinking is not the only response to literature and the fine arts. This section deals with the aesthetic approach to these fields.

Sometimes the best teaching is no teaching at all. Observation of the process of learning has so much potential and can actually help the student draw his/her own conclusions. Michael Parsons (1987) presents a taxonomy that describes five stages of aesthetic development.  These stages roughly follow the direction of development from the individualistic and unaware response of an inexperienced audience to the sophisticated. The first stage describes the delight that a young child may have with surface features. The second stage is one where students are drawn to artwork because it represents realistic resemblance of something in his/her life. In the third stage, children or teens are able to judge artwork based on it's ability to evoke emotions. Students at stage four realize that their opinion is just one among many. At this stage, they begin to compare their interpretation with others. Finally, in the fifth stage, evaluations are made based on set criteria, independent of or contiguous to those of tradition.

Parsons also helps us to understand that reading analysis has little or no meaning for children in the earliest stages of appreciation.

Here is the quote that I would like my former Shakespeare teacher to read. I worked hard and struggled through his class, and I think that I learned exactly what he wanted me to from each of the works we read. When I read this passage I thought immediately of his class and promised myself that I would remember this when I am a teacher.

"Literary analysis gives the teacher plenty to talk about, but means very little in appreciation of the works until students are intellectually prepared for it, and so it should be undertaken with caution. Language immersion is the best approach at the less sophisticated levels. Plenty of reading, writing, speaking, and listening with an emphasis on what the texts mean and what they signify on a personal level not only fosters a love of the works, but also enables students to supply a rationale for their preferences and communicate their choices." (160)

I will be students teaching at Albuquerque High School in the fall, and my master teacher has already informed me that I will be teaching a unit on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Although I just read this last semester, I feel that I need to re-read it because I was not reading it for its aesthetic appeal, however, I was reading it to be tested on intricate details and Northrup Frye's literary analysis.