The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method: The First of Many Posts

As an English educator for 24 years, I have seen that the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method is enormously effective, bringing out in young people the desire to learn, and enabling them to do so with pride and pleasure. This great method, which has been used with real success for decades in classes from elementary school through college, and in many subjects, is based on this central principle, stated by the founder of Aesthetic Realism, Eli Siegel: "The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites." I'll be including links to some of my own papers on the subject--on poetry, grammar, short stories and more--which were presented at public seminars at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City, and also to papers by my colleagues. Today, I'm including a link to one of many exciting papers by Aesthetic Realism Consultant Rosemary Plumstead, high school science teacher. It's about the way aesthetics can help students understand that complex, indispensable thing: our blood. Here it is: "Lesson on Blood."

The Aesthetics of Jazz

In this post, I'm glad to point you to the website and blog of my husband, Alan Shapiro, who is a jazz pianist and music educator. He has written many papers about the way Aesthetic Realism sees the beauty of music of many styles and periods--and especially of jazz. To read some of how Eli Siegel described jazz, click here to read his poem "Hymn to Jazz and the Like." So, here is Alan's website; and his blog: A New Way of Seeing Jazz..

Aesthetic Realism Explains Art & Life: The Aesthetics of...

Welcome to my blog! The philosophy Aesthetic Realism, founded by Eli Siegel, which I've studied for three decades, teaches that aesthetics is not a "flossy" idea, discussed only by artists and academics, but rather the very basis of every aspect of life. "The world, art, and self explain each other," stated Mr. Siegel: "each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites." I propose, on this blog, to give instances of what I have seen, and also writing on this subject by friends and colleagues, about how aesthetics, the seeing of the oneness of opposites, can help us understand various aspects of life--from education (I am an English teacher), to marriage, to cooking, to driving, and more and more. I begin with a subject that interests many people deeply: religion. Click here to go to the blog of Rev. Wayne Plumstead, Methodist minister and Aesthetic Realism consultant. I respect very much what he has seen on this important subject.