TEACHING PHILOSOPHY (k-12)
Preteen and teenage students are at a crucial moment in their creative development. According to Viktor Lowenfeld, students in middle school are approaching the Age of Decision: the decision to either pursue art or neglect it. It's important for them to learn materials and techniques, and as they develop they begin to make pieces rich in social, cultural ideas and personal meaning. The preteen and teenage years are crucial to the development of an artist (Lowenfeld, 1957.) As an art teacher, I will give my students the tools and confidence they need to grow into creative, expressive adults.
Not all students will go on to be professional artists, but Elliot Eisner has pointed out that the visual arts teach us lessons that can apply to many aspects of our adult lives. By looking at the work of others, students learn that everyone is different and are introduced to a wide range of perspectives on the world. Working through the problems of art, students learn great problem-solving skills and realize that there is not always a single right answer. A student who draws has confidence to express things that another student may not be able to (Eisner, 2002.) I hope that my students will leave with a strengthened ability to problem solve and communicate.
We live in a fast-paced, technological world. It is important to me that my students learn this new visual language and be able to speak it fluently. Adolescents need to have a place to slow down, express their deeper emotions, voice their opinions, and create things that are important to them. Art lends clarity and confidence to their expression.
In this quickly moving world, we are surrounded by images. We live in a visual culture of advertisements, movies, social networks, television, etc. I believe that art can help students interpret and analyze the pictorial information they receive. They can go beyond simply liking or disliking images to looking at their meanings and messages critically. In this way, art trains informed consumers.
While I believe that art is important and valuable for its own sake and should be taught regardless of other areas of study, it is also true that strengthening understanding in one discipline can aid learning in other disciplines. Dr. Arthur Efland advocates integrating art into the students’ curriculum. Complete, well-rounded learning involves making connections across disciplines and seeing the big picture. It can be helpful to integrate multiple areas of study in the classroom. History and art history are inseparable, and learning about the art of different periods can help visual learners understand the flow of events. Math and science can be brought into art, and writing about meaningful topics such as a student’s own artwork can make the writing process more exciting and enjoyable (Efland, 2002.)
I will teach creative problem solving and a language to navigate our visual culture. My classroom will be a safe place for my students. They will be encouraged to have discussions and to question. Exploration and experimentation will be key parts of the students’ learning. My students will be comfortable enough in my class to try new things and grow in their creativity.
References
Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Efland, A. (2002). Art & Cognition: Integrating the Visual Arts in the Curriculum. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, & Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Lowenfeld, V. (1957). Creative and mental growth. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company.