Thinking Back, Looking Forward Collaborative Project Empire State Partnership Summer Seminar July 15-20, 2006 CW Post Campus, Long Island New York Project: A multi faceted process of reflection and action that included the collaborative development and creation of an installation by Empire State Partnership community for the gallery space at CW Post. Theme: Thinking Back, Looking Forward Concept: Thinking Back, Looking Forward was an interactive, multidisciplinary experience that reflected the collective voices of the Summer Seminar attendees and modeled partnership through social collaboration. Participants connected to the theme thinking back, looking forward, through a number of contemplative, educational, and creative processes. By teaching and learning through the arts as well as using “backward design” as a strategic planning tool, this project added directly to participant exploration of the two central concepts of the 2006 ESP seminar. All of the activities for fun and growth in the process of creating the Thinking Back Looking Forward Collaborative Project were occasions for collaboration. Social collaboration transcends individual privileges where separate expectations are replaced with equality, and collective self-interest. By creating experiences of dynamic demographics, with exercises that everyone can create in, there is a collective unification, a support of new community that is inclusive in its being. At the center of these exercises for positive shared experience was an artistic representation of partnership and collaboration. Method: All participants to the 2006 ESP seminar at CW Post were required to bring inquiry questions for their partnership. These inquiry questions were starting points for the Peer to Peer Team Preparation Curriculum developed by ESP faculty members and several constituents (teachers, administrators and artists) to help seminar participants learn from each other and create their ideal learning community. The five workshop/art making periods of the ESP seminar served as individual multidisciplinary learning/teaching exercises that simultaneously created the gallery exhibition. Building on visual art practice, Literacy Through Photography exercises, and contemplative education strategies, the participants of the project transformed the Peer to Peer Inquiry Questions into Ideal Inquiry Statements. Incorporating the ESP central concept of “Backward Design” curriculum development, participants used the ideal inquiry statements as direction for making images that were the foundation of the Thinking Back, Looking Forward installation. Attendees collaboratively prepared and projected a series of drawings created from photos from activities at the seminar. The large drawings were projected on the walls in the CW Post Gallery, accompanying the Ideal Inquiry Statements and documentation from each of the five project workshops. The final product of this process were large collaborative colored drawings of images from the 2006 ESP Summer Seminar, Ideal Inquiry Statements and documentation from five days of workshop collaboration. On Thursday in the CW Post Gallery attendees continued to think back and look forward by coloring the large drawings in together and witnessing various samples of ESP artworks made during the week. This project aimed to empower ESP Seminar participants by beautifying the CW Post Gallery with art works that featured images of themselves and their voices, that they were directly involved in creating. Thinking Back, Looking Forward Collaborative Project Empire State Partnership Summer Seminar CW Post Campus, Long Island New York
Project Albums Introduction Empire State Partnerships Sunday July 16, 2006 Mind Training Monday July 17, 2006 Collaboration Tuesday July 18, 2006 Installation Wednesday July 19 2006 Drawing Community Thursday July 20, 2006 Thinking back, Looking Forward
Workshop/Installation Thinking Back, Looking Forward Complete Narrative (under construction) Background Links Empire State Partnerships ESP Summer Semiar 2006 ESP Summer Seminar Faculty, Staff, and Guest Speaker biosOpening%20%20-%20ESP%20intro.htmlOpening%20-%20ESP%20Sunday%20July%2016,%202006.htmlOpening%20-%20ESP%20Monday%20July%2017,%202006.htmlOpening%20-%20ESP%20Tuesday%20July%2018,%202007.htmlOpening%20-%20ESP%20Wednesday%20July%2019,%202006.htmlOpening%20-%20ESP%20Thursday%20July%2020,%202006.htmlhttp://www.espartsed.org/http://www.espartsed.org/ss06/http://www.espartsed.org/ss06/fac.phphttp://www.espartsed.org/ss06/fac.phpshapeimage_4_link_6shapeimage_4_link_7shapeimage_4_link_8shapeimage_4_link_9