Matt DeLeo
Philosophy Statement
As a teacher, my goal is to broaden the minds of my students. My experience in art has been extremely gratifying in that I have discovered countless inspirations and interests through exploration of different artistic processes. I believe that as humans, we are all intrigued by imagery and visual stimuli and the art classroom is the perfect place to allow these things to flourish. Through inspiration and interest, I believe that learning becomes much more natural for students and learners in general. I aim to inspire and broaden the minds of my students with intriguing course material and a vibrant artistic atmosphere that will accommodate and inspire artistic process. It is my aspiration to teach high school students as their skill and knowledge of art will be at a higher level than that of elementary and middle school students. Overall, I believe the purpose of high school education today is to not only ready students for the real world but to prepare them for their individual college careers.
Through the constructivist approach I plan to build upon students’ previous knowledge and interests by providing them with relatable topics and content that will allow them to build new connections. It is the belief of Jerome Bruner and Jean Piaget that this is the way students develop and learn (Gardner, 1984). The first step in achieving will be to pique the interest of students and to create a willingness to learn in the art classroom. This will be done by surrounding students with various artistic influences both from past and present as well as from the community to capture their attention. As an art educator today, I believe it is important for students to have the opportunity to make connections between their schooling and their community. By using Visual Thinking Strategies, at the beginning of lessons I intend to encourage students to analyze and interpret art from both the local and global community. By viewing art related to the lesson, as well as meditating and taking time to reflect on the arts meaning, it is my hope that students will be able to create deeper connections from community to their own lives (Yenawine, 2014, p.15-36).
The materials I hope to use in my lessons as part of my curriculum will cover different methods of drawing, painting, and printmaking. Drawing is widely considered to be the base of nearly all artistic processes and therefore an emphasis will be placed on drawing first and foremost in my classroom. In order to use other processes, students will need to learn to draft by drawing. It was Benjamin Franklin himself who had once advocated that drawing be included in schools’ curriculum. This is because drawing is used for not only “art” purposes but also in professions such as architecture, engineering, and carpentry to name a few (Efland, 1990, p.41-46).
As is the case with all other classes, not every student will be interested in art and at the high school level it will be harder for some students to relate to my class than others. As a teacher, I will provide students with the instruction necessary to succeed in each as lesson. I will also encourage students to find their own way of addressing my lesson plans as long as they do not stray too far from the overall plan. According to Elliot Eisner’s 10 Lessons the Arts Teach, there is more than one solution/approach to prompts created in the art classroom (Eisner, 2017). Students will be graded on their use of time as well as their engagement in the classes activities and lessons. Like many classes, participation will be included in my grading process. In addition to this, it will be important for students to demonstrate at the very least, their individual interpretation of the arts meaning. While not all students will be able to learn in the same way as others, I plan to provide my students with the help and attention they need in order to succeed in my classroom. This can also be done by creating alternative lesson plans for students with special circumstances.
As an art educator in today’s society I aspire to give my students an artistic experience that opens their eyes to new ways of seeing and creating art. It is my hope that students will be able to create connections between the lessons in my classroom dealing with communal and global culture to their own lives. With this, it is of utmost importance that my students be able to apply knowledge learned in my class to their lives and their futures.
References
Gardner, H. (1984). Art Mind & Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity.
Efland, A. D. (1990). A History of Art Education: Intellectual and Social Currents in Teaching the Visual Arts. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Eisner, E. (n.d.). 10 Lessons the Arts Teach. Retrieved December 02, 2017, from
https://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/articles/116-10-lessons-the-arts-teach
Yenawine, P. (2014). Visual thinking strategies: using art to deepen learning across school disciplines. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Education Press.