My Teaching Philosophy

Art as a subject is extremely expansive with a deep history and no clear answers. In school, it seems to not be taken as seriously as other subjects like math or history, but I want to prove the contrary. How does one do that, though? As said earlier, there are no clear answers to art and what makes it work, but there are fundamental parts of it that everyone should know and that’s where I come in. As their teacher, I will give them a wide range of assignments that not only give them a grasp of the principles and elements of design but also an appreciation of the historically great artists before them. By teaching them about who or what came before them, I hope to strike inspiration in them.

 

The way I’ll go about doing so is by using project-based learning where they learn about famous artists and their histories and the artwork that they did. From there, I’ll get them to adopt new materials and allow them to make their own take on the artists’ work. For lower Elementary, they’ll get a steady foundation on how to use these mediums and learn foundational skills like filling space, pasting, tracing, and outlining. They’ll get this through simple projects that use crayons/oil pastels, markers, and tempura paint. For upper Elementary, the focus will be on the application of their mediums and how to best use them. They’ll also be trusted with more dangerous tools like scissors and hot glue. The standard for their work will be higher, so I want the quality of their work to reflect that. The way the classes will be structured is teacher-directed for the younger classes because they need guidance to do their work and not get distracted. But for older classes, it will be a mixture of teacher-directed and student-directed instruction because I want to engage them by having them respond to the material they’re learning. Being able to have a say in what they’re learning ensures that they won’t see art class as just sitting through boring lessons or doing art they can’t connect to. Furthermore, I want everyone to make their art individually rather than collaboratively so they can let their true creativity shine, but all of their work will be displayed together so they can see each others’ creativity. 

 

The reason I want to teach art as a career is because art was a necessary outlet for me in my formative years. Being able to express my inner creativity sparked a passion in me for creating and it got me into storytelling. That spark gave me purpose and I want to offer that same spark to everyone I teach. Not all of my students will be artists as adults and that’s fine, but as long as they understand that art is important. I feel that learning art history is also important because art reflects the points in history they learn about in social studies. Everything man-made around them is the product of an artist’s vision. That is why art is on the same level as other subjects like math or history; mankind benefitted greatly through art and it dates back to ancient times. Art has been used to capture moments and tell history. Art has also been used to tell stories and continues to do so to this day. These are the things students will learn through the classes I teach. Art is a fun activity but the scope goes further beyond just having fun; I will combine both aspects to ensure the experience is both enjoyable and informative. I believe that’s the way that every class should be.