ART TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Rachel Case

A five year old child plays alone in her back yard.  She stands behind an easel wearing long, purple shorts, socks-to-the-knee, a festive apron handmade by her mother, and a beret. She bends down to look closely at a patch of white daisies. Each time she bends to observe, she stands and a new mark takes permanence on her page.  Her hands and knees become draped in a silk of dirt.  The dirt from her hands unintentionally mixes with her paint.  She steps back to look at what she has created.  A small painting of three black daisies sprouting from a cool bluish-purple grass drips onto the slate of her chalkboard easel.  It dries with the wind, then it is taken inside to be presented to her parents.

As young people, children are natural observers.  Youth fosters a curiosity that starts a significant pattern: interest, exploration, discovery, and experience.  In experience, people begin to form opinions about morals and values, and aesthetics; which, in turn, forms the self.  The humanistic approach to teaching is student-centered.  This theory focuses on the individual needs and capacities of the student and the methods and strategies in developing personal and social aspects of one’s life.  The goal of the humanistic approach is self-actualization.  As a teacher, I encourage students to realize their potential, develop necessary skills and abilities in reaching goals, and to discover the self throughout the processes of art.

It is one of my duties to provide a positive environment where relevant and realistic art making experiences are used to understand real-world experiences, and visa-versa.  In this sense the art room must be multilingual; meaning a place for diverse thinking.  The world is a diverse place just as the school environment is a diverse place.  It’s concocted of different people who bring a variety of ideas to the table.  Students benefit by having this type of connection in the classroom.  By regarding classmates as a peer resource, students are part of a communal environment where each idea is valid and useful in forming their own ideas, opinions, and values.  A class community promotes constructivism, students helping students advance and gain further understanding.

Accomplishment is rewarding for humankind.  Students feel rewarded when they have developed interests that form their individuality and are encourage in furthering their exploration.  Art is a multi-dimensional outlet for people to make decisions and connections, better understand expression, expand visions and thoughts, learn cognitively, and develop the mind and self.  I encourage students, like the five year old painter, to use what is known and observed as a foundation to forming a new idea, seeing beauty, and more importantly finding enjoyment.