Artist & Art Educator
T E A C H I N G P H I L O S O P H Y
As an arts educator, I value experience, relationships, and growth. As education theorist John Dewey (1934) said, we are all shaped by past experiences and are therefore shaped by our current experiences. Learning is collaborative and reciprocal; relationships form, people grow, identity is shaped. Teachers help to create safe and inclusive spaces where students can grow, feel emboldened to take risks, critically analyze their world, enjoy the process, and ultimately become lifelong learners. Learning is transferred beyond personal experience. Discussing and creating art is a way to learn not only more about your identity, but also to critically analyze the world around us and value other individuals and their perspectives.
I believe a student’s role is to be inquisitive and actively involved in their own learning. Like political and educational theorists Rick and William Ayers (2014) and Paulo Freire (1970), I believe a teacher is a facilitator or guide who works to expose students to relevant subject matter, encourage critical thinking about our world, create a safe space, and encourage self sufficiency in a student-centered classroom. In classroom management I believe in restorative justice practices which advocate treating all humans with respect, keeping calm, and attempting to understand the root of “issues”. I also believe in starting every class as a safe space where people practice empathy and respect.
Perhaps not all students will become professional artists, but the arts reach beyond the classroom. Harvard Professor Louis Hetland (2013) describes “Studio Habits of Mind” which are practiced in the art room but extend into life: observe, reflect, stretch and explore, engage and persist, envision, express, develop craft, and understand art worlds. The arts aid in perseverance, purposeful risk-taking, curiosity, pride, self confidence, reframing “failure”, and discovering self. Art educator Olivia Gude (2007) advocates for moving beyond the traditional elements and principles of design within art education, and to teach not only skills and concepts, but also create opportunities to investigate our own experiences. Through the use of “big ideas” which extend past the art room and have an enduring human understanding, students can realize and be engaged in personal connections to artwork that they view and create (Walker, 2004).
I advocate, as does art criticism theorist Terry Barret (2012), for teaching about, discussing, and critically analyzing the work of contemporary artists. This “demystifies” the work of artists and makes their subject matter and ways of working relatable. I also believe in critically analyzing visual media and popular culture, as we are surrounded and influenced by this every day. I think it is important to expose students to different media and ways of creating; with a strong background in crafts and apparel design, I enjoy teaching these subjects but have a love for many media. The use of technology can serve as an access point to students’ interests while also aiding in meaningful learning and creating. Finally, I believe strongly in culminating exhibitions in whatever form that may take to instill pride and self confidence within students.
When assessing students in a student-centered and democratic classroom, I believe it is important to be transparent and straightforward with rubrics and criteria. I also believe that reflection and student self-assessment creates accountability, responsibility, pride, and self-sufficiency. In terms of my own assessment, as art educator Courtnie Wolfgang (2013) states and grounds in feminist theory, art educators are always growing, learning, and becoming. We are never in a static place of being. I am reflective and willing to change and experiment. I expect to model this and help my students do the same. I am kind, empathetic, thoughtful, and energetic, and I hope to inspire the same in other humans with a healthy relationship to art, themselves, and their communities.