Teaching Philosophy
Teachers Philosophy
The essence of my philosophy as a teacher is built around the idea of a community. Forming a strong community is like unto a tightly woven string of wool and using the golden rule as a foundation, I believe I can create a community that can create together and help each other grow. As soon as the wool comes untwined, it becomes easy to fray and pull apart. I’ve created this analogy in a mixed media sculpture, “Emancipatory Epistemology,” shown below as Figure 1 and Figure 2. My philosophy is built off the idea of a tight knit, community like environment based on trust where students can build upon their creative mindset and experiences through myself and their peers.
Methodology
I believe most students learn best by doing so through a problem-posing project-based approach to art making. Students can learn through multiple approaches and projects that will challenge them to solve creative problems throughout a process. Through independent, partner, and group work students will solve these creative problems.. My teaching methodology is influenced by the a project-based learning approach. Specifically, the Buck Institute for Education PBLworks, “Project-Based Learning, teachers make learning come alive for students. Students work on a project over an extended period of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question.” (pg. 1) Students in my classroom will take on a project or series of projects that they can relate to their personal interests and real-world problems they may face. Using a creative mindset, students will be able to think through the problems in front of them through creativity. J. E. Drevdahl (1956) defines creativity in his journal, Factors of Importance for Creativity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, as, “the capacity of a person to produce compositions, products, or ideas which are essentially new or novel and previously unknown to the producer.” (p. 21-26) Using their creative thinking, as defined above, and mechanical skill sets, the projects they complete will provide them with understanding and clarity for future success.
Ontology
When the classroom environment is based on trust, and through a progressive type of teaching defined by John Dewey (2015), students have the opportunity to dictate the flow of their learning as well as learn from the teacher. Students familiarity with each other and the process will allow them to learn from each other, myself, and their individual research and experimentation with art making. Individual nature can only happen in a classroom that is built on a progressive approach to teaching that allows students to guide their learning. Dewey (2015) defines progressive teaching as, “To impose from above opposed expression and cultivation of individuality; to external discipline is opposed free activity.” Progressive teaching allows the students to strengthen their identities by expressing their individuality throughout the projects they complete in my classroom. I aim for my students to think collectively as a classroom and carry out conversations about their work, either with me as the teacher or their peers. These conversations can happen throughout the lessons or while they are individually working, because the most important part to being an artist is critiquing and conversing about your work and others.
Axiology
In a progressive style of teaching, students have the opportunities to show individuality and free activity as defined by John Dewey (2015) in his book, Experience and Education. Free activity allows students to find a common ground between the project and their personal interests. When students can find this commonality, they can feel more connected to the learning and therefore it becomes more valuable to them. As I’ve written above, the basis of my philosophy comes from the Golden Rule, which must be in place before trust can be formed in the classroom. The aesthetic qualities in the projects students will complete can become more meaningful to the students because they build a relationship between what they are trying to accomplish and how it will affect them later in life. I plan to build my classroom in a way that gives students the values they need to succeed in life, all through the relations we find through art and real-world problems.
Conclusion
I aim to employ a creative mindset when designing lessons for my students so they can work through problem-posing projects that will prepare them for future success no matter their occupation. Art, music, dance, and creative writing are the only classes that use full brain thinking and give you the mechanical skills and lessons that can be applied to anything you set out to do. As I aim to create a lasting bond between myself and my students, our classroom community can grow stronger as creative thinkers and build our mechanical skill sets so that we become better than when we walked into the classroom that day, or even that year. My purpose as an art educator is not just to teach art, but to show students they have a voice in their classroom and community, and that their voice matters.
References
Dewey, J. (2015). Experience & Education. Free Press.
Drevdahl, J. E. (1956). Factors of importance for creativity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 12(1), 21–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(195601)12:1<21::aid-jclp2270120104>3.0.co;2-s
Fausett, C. (2021). Emancipatory Epistemology [Mixed Media].
What is PBL? PBLWorks. (2021). Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl.
Purtee, M. (2016, April 17). Teaching skills for the 21st Century: Creativity. The Art of Education University. Retrieved December 12, 2021, from https://theartofeducation.edu/2016/04/20/teaching-skills-21st-century-creativity/.
