Texas Trends in Art Education, 2010 Page: 29

                                
Sutherlin     / Counts       I  A c t I n g 0 u t

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FIGURE 2. VUE Interface
scribed, analyzed, interpreted, and judged their image based on
an understanding of the visual elements inherent in the images.
They also discussed the ways in which visual elements can have
both a cultural and formal interpretation. The purpose of this
process is for both student and teacher to discover more about
themselves as a community of learners. The intent is for student
and teacher to uncover the ways in which seeing have shaped
their identities. It was also meant to serve as a foundation that
would later allow students to (re)form their own ways of making
meaning in the in the world (Sutherlin, 2010).
The second cycle melded together two instructional prac-
tices involved in the implementation of a postmodern curricu-
lum, in which multiple interpretations and narratives of a given
text were discussed rather than only its dominant understand-
ing. During this time, students were introduced to issues of
power and discussed the power structures that govern dominant
forms of reading an image. Power structures inherent to the
image both omit and conceal (Althusser, 2008). Deconstruction
works to reveal the smaller narratives that construct the image.
Deconstruction is not meant to be a negative act. According to
Derrida (1976), deconstruction means to circumscribe. It is an
attempt at a full circle understanding of how the system works
and what it excludes. What this cycle points out is that there are
no primary texts and therefore no one "true" interpretation of
those texts. All texts are constructed based on human motives
and counter-motives (Pinar & Reynolds, 1992). Every interpreta-
tion of meaning is an interpretation of an interpretation. Even
the very concept of language itself is an approximation
(Sutherlin, 2010).
The cycle depended predominantly upon students' discus-
sion of the images that were utilized. The emphasis in this cycle
is not about me promoting my agenda about image reading. My
understanding of the world ultimately came across in the model-
ing that I used with imagery, but it was and is important that I
make clear to my students that I am aware of my position and
am constantly reevaluating it. In the process of deconstruction, I
attempted to point out those socio-political and cultural forces
that influenced and influence my interpretations (Giroux, 1981).
It is impossible to illustrate every bias; however, the attempt at
uncovering bias makes it possible to improve ones own practice
as a student and a teacher (Sutherlin, 2010).
The final stage sought to expand the notion of authorship

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S u t h e r l i n  / Co u n t s

I  Acting  Out

and meaning-making. Similar to the processes used in the con-
struction of a wiki, the final cycle of this study was meant to be
democratic. Students and teacher gathered all maps created in
the course and appropriated them into their existing structure.
Students expanded upon their own interpretations through the
interpretations of others. Merging all class maps together, stu-
dents saw the ways in which their understandings of the world
are affected by the understandings of individuals and concepts
with which they come in contact. For instance, in one of the
maps, the image of a teacher was connected to concepts com-
monly associated with teaching practice, such as students, class-
rooms, grades, subject matter, etc. Once these common associa-
tions were identified, new ones were created about the concept
of teaching and teacher were extended beyond these commonly
held principles of teaching extending them. During the third cy-
cle, students constructed their own meaning based on the two
prior experiences that they had with the image. This final cycle
makes visible the cultural construction of our classroom setting
by illuminating the importance of image in the construction of
identity. The first two cycles enable the individual to personally
interpret and deconstruct images that shape understandings of
the world and set the stage for the third cycle in which students
and teacher can (re)form their own understandings of reality,
knowledge, and curriculum. This occurs through recognition of
assumptions that are held collectively as well as personally. This
process was furthered through the construction of a wiki
(Sutherlin, 2010).
A wiki is a form of collective knowledge construction. Users
can create an entry, and it can be (re)formed ad infinitum as a
way to collectively constructing meaning. As part of the wiki
produced by students and teacher, a manifesto was created
which can be read here:
www.explore-re-presentation.wikispaces.com.
The manifesto was altered and remixed to illustrate the possi-
bilities of representation. It was created as a culmination of stu-
dents' reflections on all three cycles.
The wiki as both tool and metaphor brings the process full
circle to be started anew. Each time users alter the wiki, they
create a record of their presence within the collective voice of
the classroom. One can look back through the history of a wiki
and see how and when a particular item was changed. Just as
with the metaphors of the trees and forest, overhead transpar-
encies, DVDs, and hypertext, the wiki builds layers of meaning
that are both historical and contemporary. New connections
are formulated and expand on the preexistent context of the
text in question. For the pre-service educators who took part
in this class, the construction of a layered metaphor aided in
alleviating some of the apprehension that they had with re-
gards to contemporary art as well as new models of teaching
practice. As tools, hypertext and wikis make connections visi-
ble to the constructor and the explorer of the hypertext. As a
metaphor for practice they allow for multimodal forms of
teaching and learning that expand understandings of art and
literature beyond their traditional implementation (Self Repre-
sentation, 2009; Sutherlin, 2010).

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