We were challenged in Inquiry III to distill our teaching philosophy down to one sentence:
“As an art teacher, my goal is to give students skills and encourage critical and creative thinking so that they can engage in the visual world and have their voices heard.”
In a slightly expanded version, my teaching philosophy in a short paragraph:
“In my classroom, I set high standards for students and for myself. I want to expand their world view and encourage students to see themselves in new ways. Art is a powerful tool to shape culture and to define what is important to citizens who are engaged in it. I want to provide opportunities for students to see critically, give them the tools and skills to interact with visual culture, and to empower them to feel like their voices count and their stories matter.”
My original teaching philosophy was developed in the first semester and filled 8 pages with the key areas that I want to address as a teacher. I will spare you having to read the entire document, but will try to coles-notes the general ideas.
-I want my teaching to be student centered and differentiated, and also to reflect my personal quest for continued learning.
-I want to encourage interdisciplinary thinking wherever possible. Linking art to other areas of life makes it relevant to students on an individual level, as well as building a stronger staff community as teachers collaborate.
-Experiential learning is vital to art education and is the best way to gauge student understanding of a concept. I would like to expand the experiential to include place-based learning to tie students to the spaces we inhabit.
-I want to create a balance of instruction that encourages technical skill development, creative self-expression and critical engagement in the events and places that are relevant to students.
-I want to model and encourage mindfulness and to remind students to pay attention to how they are feeling and reacting. I want to encourage them to take ownership of their choices and actions as they move forward in life.
-I also want to create the conditions for learning. The classroom culture I hope to foster is based on modeling mutual respect for individuals and ideas. To be a truly creative space, my art classroom has to be open minded and welcoming of the diversity of students and opinions that will allow us all to make mistakes and gain confidence.
As I gain experience in the classroom, I’m sure some of my priorities will shift. But right now, as I head into the classroom with wide, new teacher eyes, I can’t imagine letting go of any of these priorities.