A Leap of Faith: Aesthetic Education in the Mathematics Education Classroom

We speak only for having been called, called by what there is to say, and yet we learn and hear what there is to say only in speech itself. Jean-Louis Chrétien (2004, p. 1) For the past four years I have hosted Lincoln Center Teaching Artists in a graduate mathematics education course I teach for elementary school teachers and elementary school pre-service teachers. I find the hosting experience enjoyable and informative and my impression, gained from comments and short written reflections, is that many of my students find it likewise. Simultaneously, I believe in the pragmatic worth of this experience. For instance, I hold that education in the aesthetic has the potential to deepen teachers' awareness of how they intend--or grasp--the world they inhabit (Greene, 1973, p. 10).