Teaching Philosophy

I have been a working artist for the past fifteen years concentrating on creating and exhibiting my work locally and regionally.  I have had the opportunity to lead workshops and seminars to teach youth and adult individuals about my artwork as well as other art styles and art preservation techniques. I find teaching others about art fulfilling and rewarding.  I love to enrich young people with the appreciation and love of creating art.  As an educator, I would teach with a constructivist approach.  There are basic ideals that I emphasize in my teaching philosophy. These would include along with my past experiences, the lessons from history, literature and the discipline based art education methods teaching the basic mechanics of art such as composition, design and color theories.  I also find that there is the need to incorporate computer technology as a tool to relate and expand these areas of study. 

As an art educator I feel that education in our schools needs to have a constructivist and integrated style of curriculum.  There are some valuable lessons from the past that we can build upon as well as thinking out side of the box for new ideas in education.  I find that as an educator, I need to build upon the mistakes that I have made as well as my successes in a constructivist curriculum.  As an educator I would use this as a way to lead by example and show this by modeling the value of evaluating mistakes as a learning tool.  Sometimes the importance of looking at the process over product can also be an essential step in the long-term goal of scaffolding in the constructivist approach.  Encouragement and the use of techniques such as, trial and error or even admitting to mistakes, can lead to better self-esteem and independence.  Individual approaches can be fruitful in this process.  Even boredom and frustration can lead to creative, spontaneous or tangential thinking. I feel that the importance of learning from the mistakes and successes of their peers at the elementary and secondary level is valuable because there is an emphasis in social learning at certain times in a childs education.  This is a good example of the Vygotsky theory of zone of proximal development.  The tasks sometimes are too difficult for the individual to master alone but with the assistance of the instructor or peers the task or problem that they are to solve can be accomplished.  Reassurance along with constructive criticism can lead to the individual learning the value of using mistakes as an opportunity to develop problem solving techniques in art making as well as other disciplines.  I believe along with many others, that art education can teach children to learn, think, communicate, and represent in ways not possible in other subject areas.  Teaching cannot be viewed as the transmission of knowledge from enlightened to unenlightened, I feel that teachers must act as though they are the ones who provide students with opportunities to test the validity of their current understandings.  As a future classroom teacher I would use this opportunity to teach and provide my students with a quality authentic learning experience.

In the constructivist approach, learning as well as educating, is based upon prior knowledge, and teachers must express this knowledge in a way that provides the learning environments that exploit inconsistencies between learners' current understandings and the new experiences before them. This is the approach that challenges teachers for which I would adhere to; for educators cannot assume that all children understand something in the same way, new ways to present curriculum from year to year and child to child, my belief is that children who need different experiences to advance to different levels of understanding can excel with this style of teaching.

Students can apply their current understandings in new situations in order to build new knowledge, as a teacher I would engage students in learning, bringing students' current understandings to the forefront. This can ensure that learning experiences incorporate problems that are important to students, not only those that are primarily important to teachers and the educational system. I would also encourage group interaction, where the interplay among participants helps individual students become explicit about their own understanding by comparing it to that of their peers.

If learning is a constructive process, and instruction is designed to provide opportunities for such construction, then professional development practices prior knowledge can enhance the way teachers educate in a student-centered environment.  I think that life experiences and the educational process are important to bring into the classroom to pass on to students through lessons and discussions.

I have recognized that a constructivist approach in learning is not just limited to that of our children, but also to educators as well.  That is the reason why I value the importance in which educators continue the process of finding new and better ways to educate our children.  As a constructivist educator, I believe in professional development that gives educators the context of the understandings of learning, teaching what it is about being a teacher an orator or a facilitator, and what is the teacher's understanding of content. Professional development is a teacher's own learning process and I am constantly looking for ways that I can be a better educator.  Professional development provides opportunities for teachers to test their understandings and build new ones.  Training that affects student-centered teaching cannot come in one-day workshops but in long-term development that allows practical application of what is learned and to reflect upon this experience.  I have used this philosophy as a student and educator in my goal to be better prepared as a teacher who is a good listener and educator.