In the art classroom, my primary focus is on students and their experiences. When students understand themselves and have the opportunity to explore their interests fully, I believe they can better determine what they are truly invested in and might want to pursue in their future endeavors. When people are truly invested in what they are doing, they’re happier, motivated and are more successful.

I also want students to feel comfortable with their thoughts and art-making to produce artworks that truly speak to what they care about as opposed to what they think I, as the teacher, want them to create. Traditional schooling can stifle creativity and students sometimes make what they think will earn them a 'good' grade. I know that I as a student always thought about what my teacher wanted to see from me instead of thinking about what I wanted to create. It is important to build students' self-confidence in their own work to create confident, independent future adults that do not rely on others' opinions in order to succeed.

It’s also important for students to create work that is hands-on and allows opportunities for critical thinking. One process that I want to focus on that I took from my time in engineering is the Design Thinking process which can be applied to art-making and is in line with the Studio Habits of Mind framework. Design Thinking is a process that includes analyzing a problem, brainstorming ideas and doing research, creating a prototype, testing and adjusting. This can be really helpful when thinking about art. For example: Is there a problem in society that you want to address? What are the ideas and what do you need to know about the problem? Students should take time to brainstorm multiple ideas, refine those ideas, create their works of art, then get feedback through a critique. At this point, they can adjust, revisit, and revise their work based on the feedback they received.

In this way, art-making goes through a whole process that has a lot of thought behind it. Many times when we make artwork, we don't have a solid base of intention or don’t evaluate it once it's done and attempt to build on it or make it better. This process can be applied to many things in life and is an important way of thinking that students should be exposed to. This can teach students that not every idea is perfect at the start but with thinking through processes and testing out ideas, you can come up with something amazing in the end that you can be proud of. 

- Ms. Foutris