Think about your experiences in high school, how do you think your past experiences may influence your expectations about high school students? What kind of high school student were you? What fears do you have about working with high school students? What do you think you will learn? What are you most excited about?
My family moved towns during my high school career, between freshman and sophomore years. For me, art was my rock and my constant that helped me transition and find my place in a new school. My art teachers of three years at my second school had high expectations for me. I moved in late as a sophomore and registered late, so ended up in the senior advanced 2D class my first semester. It was in this class I discovered my love for printmaking. I was a responsible, fairly focused high school student. I worked hard to create quality art, was heavily involved in activities and leadership roles in and out of the classroom. By my senior year I had taken so many classes that I had two periods a day for "senior study" in the art room which consisted of sitting in on classes and working independently on my own projects. My biggest fears for teaching secondary art involve dealing with students that sat across from in my drawing class junior year; students who were unmotivated and did not care about their education or future. I wonder how I will combat apathy in the art room; and how I will build a program that dispels the stereotype that art classes are "easy A's". I think I will learn a great deal from my future students, though it is hard to tell just what until I am in the moment working along side them. I am excited to find streams of passion and interests in my students; and to help them dream of the future and how art will play a role in their life. I am excited at the prospect of traveling abroad to teach and continuing to learn about art in other cultures and to spread an appreciation for the power art has.
*Artwork above was created fall 2009; examples of my prints and stationary sets. My art currently deals with organic plant-like forms and the print at the bottom is entitled Bitter Beauty; to this day I personally use art to work through everyday emotional,mental,social issues I encounter; as my therapy.
I completely agree with your post. Art is an amazing thing that not only allows us to feel connected to at least one stable thing at all times but it allows us to at the same time make new connections with everything else outside of the world of art. I also agree with your biggest fears..all that you listed totally bother me and all I want as an art teacher is for my students to succeed and find a passion for art.
ReplyDeleteOur fears are interlinked. I find that student's motivation in the classroom is one of the biggest issues. There are students that take art to get that easy A, but hopefully they learn quickly that art requires work. It can be difficult to find the one thing that will motivate a student, and finding it can take time. Some students just need someone to give them that push for their future and school work, while others really get in a rut and seem not to care. It's sad, but lack of motivation and drive will most likely continue to be an issue for teachers, in all aspects of education.
ReplyDeleteI too was at odds in high school with the students who didn't care about art and who felt it was their easy "A" class. Two things have helped me become more open to those students- 1) I realized that the punks who really could have benefited from working hard in art class probably were too scared to open up on paper or in clay. It seemed like their only passion was looking intimidating and smoking in the street in front of school. They were probably observing in secret while they looked nonchalantlyabout the art classroom. Secondly, you never know who will end up in the Arts. Funny, recently a girl who went to high school with me ended up coming to work for the same art center that I work for. She was a "popular" girl, in to sports, dated the well-built yet sensitive jocks... and also took a studio class at the same time as one of my independent studio hours. When she came to work with me I was surprised to find out that she had obtained a BA in Jewelry and was going back to school for graphic design. I was still skeptical, but she proved to be a creative, hard-working member of our staff. Point being, you never know who will end up developing a passion for the Arts. The students who are in the studio 7 hours a day are an easy read- but who knows how many more are being influenced?
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