My Teaching PHILOSOPHY
As an art educator, it is my priority to ensure that all students learn to their fullest potential in a way that suits their learning style. As Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” I agree with Einstein’s idea that you must foster and focus on what each student can do rather than on what they cannot. Everyone has specific abilities and interests, which can be tied to the art classroom if lessons are made relevant to the students’ lives.
I believe it is very important to connect students to art through content and by involving their interests into my lessons. Making an effort to get to know each of them and tying their interests into the curriculum is often a starting point for my lessons. As a teacher it is my responsibility to spark students curiosity in what they are learning in order to keep their motivation high. Students are much more engaged and willing to put effort into their work when it is something that they can relate to and provide input on. An excellent example of this was a lesson I recently taught on social media. Students made a self-portrait using the text of their own Facebook statuses or Twitter posts while learning how the use of language can define someone. Using social media as the big idea in my lesson allowed for high interest and involvement while exploring the idea of personal identity through art making. In addition to forming relationships with my students and becoming familiar with their interests, I create a classroom that is conducive to all types of learners. Every student learns differently, and rather than seeing this as an obstacle, I view it as an opportunity to make my lesson multifaceted. By discovering each student’s prior knowledge and learning styles, I am able to create individualized instruction. I use demonstrations and give handouts for visual learners, allow for hands-on experience in daily introductions for kinesthetic learners, and fully explain each part of the lesson in class discussion for auditory learners. Because student’s expectancy of success depends on whether they think they can accomplish something or not, I fully explain all projects and present students with rubrics ahead of time. Showing students how they can complete each step and achieve all objectives will allow them to have high self-efficacy. I believe that given the proper tools and instruction, every student can thrive in the art classroom. My main goals, as an art educator, are to motivate students through their interests and to ensure all students are learning to their fullest potential. I believe these two go hand-in-hand in making a classroom conducive to each and every student. Allowing students to feel confident and engaged in their artwork will not only lead to a positive experience in the art classroom, but in their futures as well. |