In Concepts of Art Education, we explored many different theories and methodologies relating to art education and our own teaching practice. Over the course of this semester we were challenged to make connections between the curriculum we explored in class, such as readings, discussions, and research to both our own teaching and artistic practices. We were asked to examine our own motivations in art making and past art experiences in our own education as well this semester. The curriculum served as a foundation for things to consider as beginning teachers to use in our future art classrooms, which apply to all ages or specific concentrations we may choose to teach in our professional career. The biggest takeaways in my experience from the coursework this semester in Concepts in Art Education are the process in which educators go through to provide authentic art experiences or lessons, how students engage in the art making process, and reaching all of the learners in your art classroom effectively. These are the concepts that have influenced me the most over the course of this semester. I feel that after exploring and being to exposed to these ideas that I have grown into a more effective educator compared to earlier in my experiences as an art teacher. The first concept that I will address is lesson planning in teaching. Prior to taking this course in education, I was fully aware that teachers need to plan lessons and need to be able to do this well. As I first experienced lesson planning for our service learning class with Cooper Home, I realized how critical this step is in the teaching process. It was brought to my attention that what happens in the course of a class period is only a small snippet of what teaching is. In order to provide authentic art experience for a group of students, extensive planning beforehand is required. I learned it is important to not only to consider what students will be doing and materials they will use, but also think about potential questions and problems students may encounter in their art making. The more you have planned for a lesson, the better. Considering all aspects of a lesson in the planning stages will help you be more effective in your delivery and teaching. I noted this as we planned and taught each lesson for service learning. Another thing to note in my experiences with lesson planning this semester is something that I took away from Olivia Gude’s article New School Art Styles – The Project of Art Education.The idea of including elements of personal relevance for your students is an idea that I found very valuable. Doing so will help keep student interest and engagement levels high. I now understand that because a lesson plan works really well with one group of students, it may not work so well with other classes, since students and interests will be different. Another concept that we addressed in class that I took a lot away from and will consider heavily in my future teaching practices is how students engage in the art making process. It became very clear to me that students need to be personally involved and interested in their art making versus activities where all students in a class produce similar products for a project. I understand that ‘art activities’ may be included in my future art curriculums in order to help students learn certain art making techniques, but art experiences overall need to incorporate student interests and backgrounds to truly engage them in art making. Marilyn Zurmuehlen’s book Studio Art Praxis, Symbol, Presence gave me some deeper insight to the artistic process in students and how I could apply these concepts to my future classes. After reading these concepts presented by Zurmuehlen we were asked to examine these ideas deeper by relating them to one of our own pieces of art that we had created previously. This essay helped me gain a firm grasp of these concepts and the importance they hold in any art making experience. For me the ideas in this reading that gave me the most insight and that I find the most important for me to consider for my future students are the originator instinct, idiosyncratic meaning, and the inner critic. I’ve come to understand that when students are the ones who come up with the ideas for their art, the interest levels and involvement are higher, and ultimately, they will be more proud and excited about what they have created. This is something I have seen with my students in service learning, and in my own art practice. I am definitely the proudest of the artwork that I have made where I am the one coming up with the ideas instead of my teacher or professor. Idiosyncratic meaning relates closely to originator instinct in my mind. Students are much more involved in their artwork when they are able to include personal elements and make it their own. The final concept presented by Zurmuehlen that I will address here is the inner critic. I’ve noted in my coursework that students tend to be really critical of their artistic abilities as they enter their early teenage years. In the future I would like to teach at the high school level, and in thinking in terms of the research by Viktor Lowenfeld, the stage of Crisis of Adolescence is where students become very aware of their skills and easily discouraged from making art. It will be my goal to engage students in art making and create an environment where students are comfortable to try new things and not be afraid to fail. The final concept that we covered extensively in this semester that I will address is differentiating the process in your teaching in order to reach the needs and abilities of all of your learners in the classroom. Learning how to differentiate your process is my biggest takeaway from this course, and the concept that has influenced my teaching practice the most thus far in my studies. Before this semester I had heard of this term in my previous education coursework, but at that point, it was a but abstract. I was not totally sure how to use this in my own teaching. Working with and teaching the students of Cooper Home in our service learning showed me how to apply these concepts to a group of students in an art classroom. In this case especially, I learned these concepts by doing. One thing that I noted in differentiating in an art classroom is how important it is to get to know your students. This gives you deeper insight to their interests both in school and outside, and ultimately will help you be able to differentiate your teaching. I realized this as we entered our second and third meetings with our service learning students. As we became more familiar with the students, we understood and planned for accommodations and modifications in order to provide an authentic art experience for everyone. The best example of this comes from our third lesson that we had for the Cooper Home students. In this meeting the students explored printmaking. Students carved into easy-cut printing blocks using ‘U’ and ‘V’ gouges. At this point in the year, we knew that a few of our students would have trouble or simply wouldn’t like carving into a block. To accommodate for these students, we provided the option for students to create a print by making marks into a foam plate or creating monoprints by drawing with marker on plexi-glass. I saw that this lesson worked very well, and all of the students in our classroom were able to experiment and explore the printmaking medium. Choice-based learning is something that we applied in all of our meetings with this group of students, and I saw how well it worked this semester, and is something that I will use in my other teaching experiences as I move forward. Chapter three in Differentiated Instruction in Art by Heather L. R. Fountain explains that this type of teaching excites students about their learning, deepens the level of student engagement in their art making, and ultimately, the students will take more risks in the things they try. I witnessed this in the meetings we had with the Cooper Home students. In every class session I saw that the students were very excited to work on their artwork, and they all demonstrated experimentation and innovative ways to utilize the materials we would provide for them that day. It was a great experience seeing students engaged in their art making and use their own interests plus their creative abilities as inspiration for the art created that day. Concretely seeing differentiation being applied to an art classroom helped me understand what this concept looks like in practice, and overall, was really enjoyable to witness as a new teacher. In all, Concepts of Art Education has been a truly insightful course and experience. While this course was intellectually very challenging at times, the persistence was very much worth it. I gained so many new tools that I am able to put in my teaching tool belt and use in future teaching experiences as I progress into the next semesters and once I enter my professional practice. This semester provided me further insight and experience on what it means to be an art educator. Ultimately, this course has made me excited for what my future has in store for me as an up and coming art educator.
Bibliography
Fountain, H. L. (2014). Differentiated instruction in art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications. Hetland, L. et al. (2007), Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. New York: Teachers College. Zurmuehlen, M. (1990) Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.