As the semester surprisingly is coming to an end (and what a semester it has been!), I find myself revising my "Top Ten's" for my teaching philosophy. I am going to write out ten that I am thinking of now, and then re-read my old list and compare. Ok here we go! Top Ten's: 1.) I believe students succeed in an environment based on growth mindset. 2.) I believe students succeed in an environment that invites, celebrates, and learns from mistakes. 3.) I believe students succeed in an environment that cultivates ideation and discovery through productive struggle. 4.) I believe students succeed in an environment that welcomes and cultivates vulnerability (for both the student and teacher). 5.) I believe students succeed in an environment that values the process of art making and play just as much as the end product. 6.) I believe students succeed in an environment that is representative and respectful (between peer to peer relationships as well as teacher to student), that allows them to feel safe, seen, and understood. 7.) I believe students succeed in an environment that provides a community support system between parents, teachers, and students. 8.) I believe students succeed in an environment that allows them to own their learning and create art that is personal and pertinent. 9.) I believe students succeed in an environment of teacher-guided choice-based learning. 10.) I believe students succeed in an environment that honors the arts for the value they bring: problem solving, research, collaboration, therapy, mindfulness, etc, and holistically teaches art and welcomes cross-content curriculum. Time to compare...Here are my Top Ten's from the beginning of the semester: Teaching Philosophy "Top "Ten's": I believe students succeed when they are in an inclusive, representative, safe environment. I believe Art Education provides students with problem-solving and communication skills applicable to all areas in life. I believe Art Education allows students to express who they are and discover who they are. I believe students need time to experiment, play, and struggle with their materials. I believe teachers must respond with empathy and understanding. I believe students succeed with healthy relationships with their teachers. I believe teaching should be student centered, choice based. I believe in the celebration of failures (and the growth that comes after). I believe successful teachers learn alongside students, constantly adapting their content. I believe teachers are the student's guide for relevant and active learning. After reading through these, I think there are a lot that are similar, but my older list is more scattered and random, while my new list seems a bit more concise and specific. I know by the time next semester ends, my list will change and be refined, and hopefully continue to. I think their is power and importance in a teacher who knows they are also there to learn and to grow. A new point I made, was creating a space that allows for vulnerability. I know this sounds odd, but the more I grow into myself as an educator and artist, I am seeing the immense importance of this. Brene Brown states that "vulnerability is the birthplace of creativity, innovation, and change" (The Power of Vulnerability). When we allow ourselves and our students to be vulnerable (which requires cultivating a space of belonging and acceptance), students feel free to make mistakes, learn from them, and make art that is incredibly personal and intentional. I used to think teachers must have it altogether all the time. While I do believe in the importance of organization, confidence, and structure, I also now see the importance of showing your students that even I mess up sometimes, even I am still a learner in this world, even I need to ask for help, and all of that is okay. All of that means we are human, giving us the birthright to infinite worthiness and capability to create beautiful, powerful, and challenging art. I remember reading a post from Humans of New York where they interviewed a young girl, and here's what she said about her art teacher: “I think most teachers try to act like they’re a higher status, and they’re above us. It’s probably because our parents are paying them to teach us things. Maybe they’re just taking the teaching part a little too serious. But our art teacher Ms. Grierson isn’t like that. She’ll admit her mistakes. She’ll point out her own flaws. She gives off this vibe like she’s not just a teacher, and you can talk to her about more than just school. You can tell her about your personal life. But not just your problems-- you can also tell her fun stuff like what you’re going to do on the weekend. She’s also crazy. Really crazy. One kid brought in an umbilical cord from his mother, and everyone was freaking out, but she didn’t even care. I used to think that art was like drawing a person and it had to look perfect. But Ms. Grierson says, and I’m quoting her on this: ‘Art doesn’t have to look good, because the process is more important. It’s about how you came up with the idea. We’re here to pose questions, not give answers.’” (Hong Kong) www.instagram.com/p/B4aP2e3HHeO/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet Today I hope to be a teacher like Ms. Grierson who doesn't act like she's a higher status. Because when we are able to crouch down to the level of a child and look for art in the dirt and the flowers and the bugs with them, that's where the magic and the learning happens! When we are able to be vulnerable with our struggles and weaknesses, we give our students the freedom to do the same.
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Critiques: the word we all have a bitter-sweet, love-hate relationship with. I still remember my first college level critique. (Which actually was my first critique!) I remember feeling so incredibly nervous and vulnerable. I thought maybe I would pass out. I don't remember much of what my peers and professor said of the artwork, I just remember getting through it. Slowly throughout my first semester at CSU, I participated in more and more critiques and they slowly became less scary and more exciting. By the end of the semester I realized I LOVED critiques! As a future educator I see great value and importance in them.
I think what I love most about a critique based classroom is the growth mindset that it automatically allows for the classroom. I love when my professors allow us to change or fix our art pieces after critiques, because it shows that they value growth and revisions over deadlines. (I know I bring up growth mindset a lot, but I am super passionate about it!) I also think critique based classrooms teach children how to receive feedback and give feedback. I remember my past experiences as a child, being a super sensitive child. I did not know how to take criticism or any kind of failure or defeat. I took any struggle as a personal attack on my identity. What a road-block mindset in learning!! I think teaching children to have healthy and respectful discussions about what they create is so important. It teaches them not only to value the process of art over the product (art as praxis), but also to treat their art as an ongoing project that is constantly in revision. My mom always told me when I was a child to treat my art like a raw egg and constantly throw it against a wall for the whole world to see instead of trying to keep it safe. She told me then other artists (and musicians in this case) would help us make it better. I think that relates to critique based classrooms. I recall a reading from class Talking about Student Art where it goes into the benefits of holding critiques withing the classroom. The author said the purpose of a critique is "to help students improve their art-making abilities from the professors's point of view." It also said it leads to "more questions, observations, descriptions and illuminating strengths and weaknesses and participation." I definitely have seen this in my own classes, but also to a small extent when I worked at the Boys and Girls' Club. I had my six and seven year old's (if they wanted) participated in little show and tells where they talked about their artworks and let their peers say feedback (only positive for this age). I was truly amazed at how much participation and respect went into this process even at such a young age! So, for my art-piece, I decided to make chalk art, because it is something that many people passing by will critique and judge. And like my mother says, I must throw my art into the world if I ever want it to get any better. Everything seems so surreal right now. It feels as if the world is being flipped upside-down and shaken up like a guitar with a pick stuck in it. The "new normal" is that nothing is normal. Health regulations at my work and the grocery stores seem to change on the daily. "Facts" and data keep changing...and we are all hanging on by a virtual thread.
It is pretty amazing that we are able to connect in this day and age through technology, especially when it comes to teaching. A few years back before I had declared a major, I took an online Introduction to Art class at a community college. And I hated it! I hated not having a place to go every day to work. I hated not having a community to work alongside and a teacher in front of me assisting me and telling me what to do. And now all of a sudden, all of my classes are online. There's no schedule, no structure, no routine. And yet, it's pretty incredible that simply because of the internet, we have the ability to keep going. I used to view online/virtual teaching as a disadvantage, but in light of everything that is going on, I view it as a blessing. I was speaking with one of my customers (I'm a barista) who is a first grade teacher at a title one school. I mentioned my concerns about reaching students without access to internet, laptops, etc. She was telling how the school is doing so much to reach these students. They sent them all home with laptops and even are sending out hot spots to neighborhoods that might not have access to internet. This re-assured my of our purpose of educators- It is our responsibility to ensure the learning of our students, regardless of the circumstances. The circumstances may alter the way in which we meet our students' needs, but never the less it is our job to get them to the other side of what they need to know. And during these crazy times, virtual teaching is a means. I do however feel like grace, flexibility, and understanding is imperative for these students during these times, especially considering the fact that we do not know their circumstances. As cheesy as it sounds, I always compare children to plants. I currently have quite a few house plants in my bedroom (I can count ten), and working remotely has given me the time to pay more attention to their needs. I have noticed they remind me of students. If one of my plants is wilting or browning, I would never think that it's the plant's fault. Instead I would ask myself "what is it that this plant needs that I am not giving?" More sun, less sun, more water, less water, a bigger pot, new soil...Students, in a sense are the same way. When they are showing troublesome behavior, I remind myself that it is simply an indicator of a need that is not being met. In those moments of behavioral issues, I can ask myself "what is it that this student needs that I am not giving?" My cat recently broke off a branch of one of my vine plants. Instead of tossing out the branch thinking "it's no good anymore, now that it is no longer connected", I simply placed it in a jar of water on my window sill. The beautiful thing that happened is it started to take root and a new leaf has sprouted! It may be a stretch, but I like to think of this situation similar to teaching virtually. The student is too valuable to toss out simply because we are no longer in the same "pot" so to speak. Instead, we must do our best to give students what they need during this time in order to still grow and still take root. Perhaps their needs will look different in this time. Perhaps their growth will too. The important thing to remember is to re-assess their needs when the circumstances change, rather than trying to change the circumstance. For my art piece, I decided to sketch this sweet little new plant leave popping out of the branch! (And bonus pictures of Olive, the cat who broke off the branch in the first place! Today I was listening to a great podcast, Art Ed Radio. On the podcast, the art teachers were talking about originality with-in the classroom. They pondered whether or not originality is dead, and how to foster students' personal voices into their art making. However, what I found most helpful from the podcast episode was a brief section where they spoke about choice based classrooms. For me, choice based is a very attractive idea, but when it comes down to the end results of the students' work, sometimes it seems as if it is lower in quality, or students get stuck. This past summer I had the privilege of teaching art Monday-Friday for six and seven year old's at the Boys and Girls Club. (I am thrilled to be going back this upcoming summer as well!) I had my own classroom each day for four rotating groups of about 12-20 kids depending on the day. I learned my teaching style and quickly learned the "do's" and "don'ts" of classroom management. Most days I would have one main lesson planned in which I tried to incorporate plenty of choice, and before and after these lessons (these were long days) I would have stations set up where the students could choose which materials they wanted to create with, and could hop around as long as they cleaned up their area. It was in these choice based centers where organic, creative, and original art was birthed. Giant race tracks with a whole towns of houses, stores, etc were created on large paper, a whole brand of purses and wallets were made, families of dolls were created from toilet paper rolls, entire books were written and assembled...I was so impressed! However, when it came to lessons that weren't TAB or choice based, many students had a difficult time finding ideas that were original. Suddenly all this originality vanished! For example, one lesson was "create your own super-hero". I had questions like "Is it evil or good?" "What are its super powers?" "Is it famous or top secret?" SO many children could not get out of their heads super hero's that already existed. They simply would choose one that they already knew and drew it. And yet, other students thrived creating their own mermaid-gorilla-whatever. Something the podcast said that I found helpful was that in order to differentiate, we must think of each student as if they are lifting weights. They might each be lifting different amounts, but the goal is that they all "break a sweat" so to speak. Some students may end up with something totally original, while others might have an end result that isn't totally new, but in the end if they are left wanting to create more, explore more, and believe in themselves more, then the lesson was successful. Perhaps stretching the student to make Detective Pikachu into their personal twist of Detective Pikachu who can Fly, is actually stretching them at the capacity they can handle at the time. I created a tiny tapestry wall hanging for this art journal, because another great point that I jotted down from the podcast was a tip from one of the teachers. He talked about choice based and how when students aren't used to this amount of choice from their other classrooms, sometimes it can be overwhelming. So, what he likes to do is a teacher guided exercise before-hand, where everyone is doing the same thing, in order to give the students some direction and tools, and then release them to do their own. It reminded me of weaving, especially how I was taught. There's basic steps one must take in order to begin weaving, and there are some helpful techniques that can be incorporated into a weaving, yet when you release the student to create after they know these, each result will still be vastly different and original. I think these kind of projects that can have many different approaches and end results are a great way to allow for choice but still include structure for the students who need some. I used to think choice-based had to be "all or nothing" either completely hands-off, or it doesn't count, but now I am learning there are ways to assist students within choice based, and that is totally okay to do, especially if it aids them in their education. Although the school system has room for growth, during this time of COVID-19, we truly see the positive impact schools and teachers have for their students. Teachers do so much more than teach. They mentor. They lead. They encourage. They foster. For some students, schools are their only safe place. Their only meal for the day. Their only positive influence. With all the schools currently shut down, I think people are beginning to realize the importance of community found within schools, the importance of the classroom, the importance of the entire network of teachers that it takes to support one student.
Growing up in school, I never quite realized this. I thought school was just something my parents forced me to go to every day. My perspective came from having a stable home environment, however not every child is lucky enough to go home to that. My art piece reflects a collage I created then cut apart, then strung together. The collage represents the many layers that go into a community found within a school. Now, that community is forced to be isolated. The strings represent how we are still connecting and finding ways to educate students from their homes, however, the strings are thin, showing how we are so much stronger together. How can art be good for/contribute to our society?
If there's anything about art that I can say with confidence, it's that art speaks a universal language that connects us as humans. I truly believe art will teach my students to trust themselves and their own ideas. I believe it will provide problem solving and critical thinking skills. It will provide confidence and a means for expression. Yet, after all of that is begins to brew inside of them, I hope my students can transfer their confidence and skills to make art that contributes to society. I hope they can recognize the power and magic in being an artist. Artists say what cannot be spoken with words. While studying art museum practices, I read "Embodied Response in Art Museum Education" by Olga M Hubard. In the article, she explains how when viewers look at a piece of art, their senses and emotions precede the conceptual. It makes people "wide awake to themselves and the world" (47). Their senses proceed ration. I think this interaction is the moment when art speaks a language that words cannot. It creates empathy; it connects us as humans. When my students begin to recognize the power in the language of art-the voice it gives them- I hope they will chose to use it for good. Our society needs more empathy. More compassion. More understanding. Art has the power to communicate these without words. A few months ago my roommates coaxed me into training for a half marathon with them. I enjoy jogging, but 13.1 miles seemed a little out of my comfort zone. However, I genuinely enjoy attempting what scares me. Maybe because I enjoy proving my fear wrong. So, I committed. I payed the fee, dug out my running shoes, and began building myself up to longer runs. In this process of running longer and more frequently, I realized that it reflects so much of what I have learned specifically in my Education 330 class about growth mindset. When I learned about growth mindset a couple semesters ago it changed my perspective not only in my own art making, but in how I view students' art making.
Obviously, if I am usually comfortable running two or three miles, adding ten over night would not have been practical- yet this is the type of expectations I forced upon myself growing up. I expected myself to perform perfectly in every area the first time with out any need for practice. I would be horribly hard on myself if/when I failed. I assumed every failure was a reflection of my identity. For example, if I failed a math quiz, instead of thinking "I must be missing some key information. It's a good thing I can ask for help and try again", I would think "I'm just bad at math. This is just who I am". Sadly, I carried this fixed mindset into adulthood. It wasn't until I learned in my education class about growth mindset, that I actually allowed myself to make mistakes, and I realized the power in that. "Imperfection is a part of any creative process and of life, yet for some reason we live in a culture that has a paralyzing fear of failure, which prevents action and hardens a rigid perfectionism. It's the single most dis-empowering state of mind you can have if you'd like to be more creative, inventive, or entrepreneurial. " -Mathematical Mindsets, Jo Boaler Today, I allow myself the freedom to mess up. In my running I allow myself to have "bad" runs, but I use the experience to self-assess and re-evaluate for next time. I ask myself the weather conditions, what I ate before, did I get enough sleep, etc. Growth mindset is something I am extremely passionate about and excited to implement in my own classroom some day. I never want my students to feel and think how I did as a child. I hope when a student says "I'm just not a good artist" I can redirect their thinking. I hope I can make it so incredibly clear to them that my classroom is a space that invites and celebrates mistakes, but also learns from them. When students' goals are learning goals rather than performance goals, their motivation to grow causes them to take more risks. Studies have found that "self -compassionate students were more likely to reinterpret their failure as a growth opportunity rather than a condemnation of self-worth. When you trust that failure will be greeted with understanding rather than judgment...it can be recognized as the master teacher that it is." -Self Compassion, Kristin Neff My art piece from this entry is something I tried, and well, didn't actually like the end result. A "failure", one might say. Yet in light of growth mindset, I wanted to celebrate it! It led me to more ideas, maybe some I can use in my next entry! Growing up I didn't give much thought to why my teachers had us do what they had planned. I thought it was more just whatever they wanted. Now, I have been learning how the best lesson plans are incredibly intentional with very specific outcomes. After I spent this weekend teaching Brainy, where we give fourth graders tours of an CSU's art museum, I was reminded even more the power of intention. I learned about three modes of dialogue for works of art: Predetermined, Interpretive, and Thematic. Most of these art work dialogues were Predetermined. Every question I asked the students was intentional. Even the dialogues were intentionally redirected back to a concrete understanding.
I am also finding this to be true with art making. The more intentional our art is, the more successful it will become. I wanted to reflect this by finding a simple magazine clipping and marking out all the words until there was a new and specific meaning.
I grew up attending a core-knowledge charter school with a heavy emphasis on math and science. I remember constantly disconnecting myself from math and science, because I had a very fixed mindset and truly believed is was simply bad at these subjects. I believed I could handle English, art, or music, but not science-and definitely not math. I told myself my brain just didn't work like that. However, what I wish someone had told me then was that there is SO much math involved in art, and so much art in science. I wish someone had integrated these subjects so that perhaps I could find interest in the beauty of photosynthesis, or the math applied to weaving.
Because of my past experience, I didn't realize that my learning could be holistic; my growth could be in all content areas. Reflecting on my past education that included little to no integration of content areas, I am beginning to see the importance of contemporary integrative art. There are five key strategies to integrating contents: depiction, extension, reformatting, mimicry, and metaphor. I am hoping in the future as I delve into the world of teaching, I can use these strategies to connect contents in a way that answers that never ending question students ask: "why does this matter to me". Art naturally integrates itself into the every day world. If I can help my students create these connections, or use art to give them an interest in other subjects, I will be helping them for a life time. When we integrate the arts into other For this week's art piece, I integrated different mediums to create a collage. While doing so, I learned more about each materials than I would have if I used them individually. I learned that tacky glue creates a cool effect over chalk pastel. I learned that acrylics work better for mixed media than oils (because oils don't mix well with glue turns out! Shocker!) When we integrate contents, the same kind of learning happens! This collage represents how I wish my past experience in learning could have been! |
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