Philosophy Statement
My main objective as a teacher is to prepare students for the rest of their lives. The best way to achieve this is by not only by providing them with facts and data, but also with skills that are useful for the workplace, in relationships and in building a student’s identidy and sense of self worth. Art inherently gives students a skill-set in a way most other subjects cannot. The act of creation requires students to practice problem solving, decision making, and higher level cognitive skills. Even at an early age a student has to decide what to draw and how to overcome the difficulties of actually representing that idea on paper. At a later age, the student will be able to look at his or her work and critically analyze whether it accurately represents what the student intended.
This self-reliance also enhances a sense of self worth. As a teacher, I foster each student’s creativity and offer suggestions, but in the end each student’s artwork is a unique representation of their choices and effort. I encourage the students to recognize that their fellow students are going through the same processes and difficulties in order to create a community where students feel safe to grow and learn from one another.
I am dedicated to developing an individual rapport with each student in order to understand the best approach to individualized styles of learning. Individuality will be fostered, encouraged and celebrated in my classroom therby creating an atmoshpere that engages all learners and teaches peers the value of each others’ differences.
An important aspect of engaing different learners is connecting to other disciplines. I believe that students will be more involved in all academic areas if teachers use different disciplines to highlight aspects of other subjects. In this way art can be a critical element in combining all acdemic subjects.
