I believe that visual art-making is a vehicle for deeply understanding ourselves, humanity, and the world. By scaffolding intentionally created art centered around self- developed inquiry, I help students access their higher level thinking skills and sustained investigations. This shifts the focus to student-centered learning, and more deeply engages them in constructing their own frameworks for thinking and developing their curiosity for further learning.
Teaching peace, mindfulness, self-care, social justice and service-learning engages students in developing positive identity and voice. Exploring ideas and solutions to important issues helps students see the ways their lives have meaning within a larger system. By creating concrete contributions to society, students connect to and serve their community.
Integrating social justice and interdisciplinary themes into the art curriculum allows students to understand the connections between the disciplines, see from a different perspective, and grasp the big picture. Students learn that their voices and actions have power, and learn to wield that power responsibly.
Using Lois Hetland’s Studio Habits of Mind philosophy, I focus on facilitating artistic habits and frames of mind in the studio. The use of artist statements facilitate student reflection, writing abilities, articulation of ideas and demonstration of learning.
Creating and analyzing art facilitates critical thinking, self-exploration and dialogue. This approach cultivates professional artistic behaviors and self-directed internal motivation. Students are encouraged to explore the art world and connect to it, assignments are often directly applicable to the real world through art competitions and exhibitions.
As a proponent of the Responsive Classroom teaching philosophy, I encourage students to become self-sufficient, self-reflective and self-directed. These behaviors and attitudes are instilled in students by developing routines and procedures in which students have assigned roles and corresponding responsibilities.
This style of teaching facilitates differentiation in instructional modes, including whole group, small group, individual, and peer coaching. In employing a range of instructional modes, students learn to problem-solve in cooperative and respectful ways. Differentiated instructional models also benefit special needs and at-risk students who can be more easily accommodated as they receive more specialized and individualized instruction.
My choice-based learning style maximizes class time, space, and materials and shifts control from teacher-directed to learner-directed. I clearly communicate essential questions, daily and project objectives, medium mastery, and learning goals through multiple means and identify ways in which students can choose to explore and accomplish these goals. The learning environment is set up to provide ready resources and opportunities for students to construct knowledge and meaning in the process of making art.