TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Art, in all of its forms, is valuable and essential in education. Art making and artistic contemplation help people to construct and expand their thoughts and their minds. Art holds infinite possibilities for communication and empowerment. This is important in our world where there are too many factors with the potential to destroy and belittle. I believe that involvement in the arts can be a saving grace, for individuals and for communities, and that it should be valued as such.
The art classroom is a place where students should feel safe and be able to thrive. The skills that students learn in the art classroom go far beyond technical ones. In the art room students learn to solve problems, work as teams, read between the lines, find their own meanings, make their own decisions, and concoct ways to support and assist their communities. They simultaneously learn how to be individuals and conscientious members of society. This is a beautiful thing. This is why I love to teach.
When it comes to art, I embrace a challenge and I encourage all of my students to do the same, no matter what their artistic skills, motor skills, or cognitive abilities are. This is because of how strongly I believe in the importance of art in education. Art classes provide students with low-risk opportunities to persist and engage in the creative process. Art provides them with chances to learn from their mistakes, and chances to utilize and improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. And, most importantly, art provides students with the opportunity to express themselves and to create something beautiful that they can be proud of.
My desire to teach art is directly related to my own experiences as a high school student. For me, it was art--creating it and learning about it--that helped me to gain greater understanding not only in that subject but in other subjects as well. Art helped to provide me with context, something that it seems is often missing in the public schools of America. As an educator, I am dedicated to advocate for the arts as a powerful interdisciplinary tool, one that can be used to enhance learning in many other subjects. It is especially important to me to incorporate art history--particularly critical art history--into my lessons. I believe that including art history in the art curriculum can help students to understand that they are a part of the continuum of human history. This is something that can be easily forgotten in our fast-paced technologically-advanced society.
I am also dedicated to advocating for art itself as an important academic discipline. Learning about art helps students to become visually literate. They learn both to “read” and “write” the ever-pervasive, yet overlooked, language of design and artistic expression. Learning this “language” can help students to express themselves more clearly, and to become greater critical thinkers and more empathetic human beings.
The art classroom is a place where students should feel safe and be able to thrive. The skills that students learn in the art classroom go far beyond technical ones. In the art room students learn to solve problems, work as teams, read between the lines, find their own meanings, make their own decisions, and concoct ways to support and assist their communities. They simultaneously learn how to be individuals and conscientious members of society. This is a beautiful thing. This is why I love to teach.
When it comes to art, I embrace a challenge and I encourage all of my students to do the same, no matter what their artistic skills, motor skills, or cognitive abilities are. This is because of how strongly I believe in the importance of art in education. Art classes provide students with low-risk opportunities to persist and engage in the creative process. Art provides them with chances to learn from their mistakes, and chances to utilize and improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. And, most importantly, art provides students with the opportunity to express themselves and to create something beautiful that they can be proud of.
My desire to teach art is directly related to my own experiences as a high school student. For me, it was art--creating it and learning about it--that helped me to gain greater understanding not only in that subject but in other subjects as well. Art helped to provide me with context, something that it seems is often missing in the public schools of America. As an educator, I am dedicated to advocate for the arts as a powerful interdisciplinary tool, one that can be used to enhance learning in many other subjects. It is especially important to me to incorporate art history--particularly critical art history--into my lessons. I believe that including art history in the art curriculum can help students to understand that they are a part of the continuum of human history. This is something that can be easily forgotten in our fast-paced technologically-advanced society.
I am also dedicated to advocating for art itself as an important academic discipline. Learning about art helps students to become visually literate. They learn both to “read” and “write” the ever-pervasive, yet overlooked, language of design and artistic expression. Learning this “language” can help students to express themselves more clearly, and to become greater critical thinkers and more empathetic human beings.