What were your art teaching/learning perspectives before?
What were your art teaching/learning perspectives now?
How do you want to teach art in the future?
What were your art teaching/learning perspectives now?
How do you want to teach art in the future?
My teaching perspectives before, back in second grade, involved my forcing all students to love art, even if they didn't. I aimed to mold students into things they were not, which is far from fair. I thought that my peers at the time didn't like art because the teacher was failing them somehow, and I thought I could rectify that by becoming the art teacher myself. I reflected this in my art piece by showing the lack of creativity in making everyone love art with the monotone color of the arm. The arm represents me as a teacher, forcing a rectangle through a square slot such that the wall is breaking. My fingers are thick and angular, showing how I was stuck in my opinion the same way that a geometric shape is obstinate. At the same time, my fingers are colorful, emphasizing my personal creativity when it came to art (but not in teaching).
Currently, I am learning the best I can in college. I feel like I have a lot more to grow, which is reflected in the ways that some students will inevitably fall through the cracks- but I know with practice I can progress to my future hopes and dreams. I don't want perfect students. I don't want students who are all fully progressing towards their chosen futures, with no cares. These imaginary suggestions are students that aren't real; at least, the students are far and few between. I want to help struggling students become better people, and learn art along the way- I want to teach for artistic behavior (TAB) rather than teach as Bob Ross does. He simply leads through the steps to make a specific painting, but students need to learn ideation, execution, time management, communication, self advocacy, growth mindsets, mindfulness- and overall creativity- which can't be taught with a step-by-step artwork. I want students to have choice in all that they do, to emphasize engagement in their work and in themselves, ultimately. They might not understand how certain projects are helping their behavior or self image, but I hope with a good enough foundation, they can grow as people and apply their creative skills in all elements of their life. I illustrated my growing mind and outlook on education with the green gradient, as green is a color that takes elements of different primary colors - yellow and blue. I wanted this to symbolize how my new experiences and the new information from teachers are forming me to be a growing teacher. My arm material, the painting samples, repeats the same element from the past perspectives to show that I still have my past and have just adapted, but not erased that part of me. I still have my colorful hand to show my creativity staying with me since second grade. My fingers are more realistically rounded, representing my changing viewpoints and acceptance of alternate proposals and ways of thinking. In my palm rests multiple shapes that represent the variety the students I have seen bring to the classroom. The unfortunate shapes that spill out onto the black gradient under my hand show my lack of experience, as I have yet to scoop them back into my realm of support. My hand, unlike the previous piece, isn't actively engaging the shapes; it is simply holding, supporting them; I have grown in acknowledging how important it is that the shapes (students) have the spotlight while I am a support character helping them shine in their individual, brilliant ways.
In the future, I hope to leave no child left behind. I want all children to be treated equitably, and I will use both my hands to hold and support them. I want my children to succeed, no matter where they're from or where they're at in their lives. While I will be constantly growing and learning more, I will be at least sufficient for my students to all improve in different ways. My fingers are depicted as skinnier as that is more realistic and lithe; they are more structured to represent the structure in my classroom that I will have honed, with the same colors as the other two pieces as I hope my creativity remains. My arms are hues of red, as I will have acquired enough knowledge to be confident and purposeful, while I know I will still have constant improvements possible. All different shapes and colors are within my cradling hands, which will hopefully accurately represent the diversity and cultures represented in my classroom. I hope to have all my students bring a piece of knowledge with them everyday to add to a class "knowledge tree" to help them be encouraged to constantly grow as well. I want a community in my classroom that is welcoming and productive. I will use Love and Logic to adjust behavior to be productive in an autonomous manner. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to implement the communication needed for a Reggio Emilia approach to art, and maybe even the autonomy needed for a choice based art classroom. I hope to teach for artistic behaviors efficiently in a way that compliments the artwork done in class.