Five things that I think would be really important for my future students to learn would be, first, my three key concepts; Confidence, Creativity, and Kindness. I think that these are basic accessible fundamentals for any classroom, especially a special education art classroom. I understand that my students will most likely be benefitting most from their artmaking experiences rather than any kind of philosophical pedagogy I try to enforce on them. I think that the self-exploration and acceptance of self and others are the most important indicators of success in my classroom.
I think that a lot of my art ideals and pedagogy comes from my experiences in both general and art education classrooms. All of my teachers were influential to me in showing me both what to do and what not to do. In the end I came away with five major ideal learning landmarks for my students
1. Confidence- I want my students to learn to be confident with themselves, because I think a positive attitude can go so far for any child, but especially for a student with special needs. I had an experience with a ceramics professor who did not value this concept of confidence, and the critiques sometimes felt more brutal than helpful. I do not want that kind of atmosphere for my students.
2. Creativity- This is something that seems obvious but isn’t always found, even in the art classroom. I always loved it when there was some sort of open-ended aspect to an in school art project while I was in grade school. I want my students to use their creativity in order to put their own spins on projects. I don’t want the type of set up where I make an example and the students just copy that example step for step.
3. Kindness- Kindness is incredibly important to me. From my experience working in a special education school over the summer, I know that even in special education schools there is bullying that happens. I want to have discussions of sensitivity with my students so they understand that their words and actions can affect the other students, and they should make an effort to make sure that effect is a positive one.
4. Exploration- I think that its important for students to discover new things. I think that exploration is what hooked me in as an artist. I loved looking things up and trying new techniques and really digging in to find what I love to do and what I am good at doing. I think that the experience of finding something you’re good at is one that I would love to provide for my students.
5. Acceptance- I want my students to know all different forms of acceptance. When I was in elementary school I noticed that the few times that we talked about acceptance, we only talked about our acceptance of others. I want to communicate this, but I would like to extend it to the acceptance of ourselves. I want my students to accept who they are, accept what they can do, and accept that sometimes things will not work out in their favor.
Most of my concepts are pretty simple, but, that being said, I would like to incorporate some basis of both digital and analog art making skills and techniques. I want the students to feel that they can express themselves in any way they can. I think that technology will be very helpful in that aspect because it gives students another outlet for creativity and empowerment in their communication. I don’t think there are any programs around now that would be what I would be looking for in the future, but I think that in time there will be more accessible and easy to use digital art programs to utilize with my students of all ability levels.
I think that a lot of my art ideals and pedagogy comes from my experiences in both general and art education classrooms. All of my teachers were influential to me in showing me both what to do and what not to do. In the end I came away with five major ideal learning landmarks for my students
1. Confidence- I want my students to learn to be confident with themselves, because I think a positive attitude can go so far for any child, but especially for a student with special needs. I had an experience with a ceramics professor who did not value this concept of confidence, and the critiques sometimes felt more brutal than helpful. I do not want that kind of atmosphere for my students.
2. Creativity- This is something that seems obvious but isn’t always found, even in the art classroom. I always loved it when there was some sort of open-ended aspect to an in school art project while I was in grade school. I want my students to use their creativity in order to put their own spins on projects. I don’t want the type of set up where I make an example and the students just copy that example step for step.
3. Kindness- Kindness is incredibly important to me. From my experience working in a special education school over the summer, I know that even in special education schools there is bullying that happens. I want to have discussions of sensitivity with my students so they understand that their words and actions can affect the other students, and they should make an effort to make sure that effect is a positive one.
4. Exploration- I think that its important for students to discover new things. I think that exploration is what hooked me in as an artist. I loved looking things up and trying new techniques and really digging in to find what I love to do and what I am good at doing. I think that the experience of finding something you’re good at is one that I would love to provide for my students.
5. Acceptance- I want my students to know all different forms of acceptance. When I was in elementary school I noticed that the few times that we talked about acceptance, we only talked about our acceptance of others. I want to communicate this, but I would like to extend it to the acceptance of ourselves. I want my students to accept who they are, accept what they can do, and accept that sometimes things will not work out in their favor.
Most of my concepts are pretty simple, but, that being said, I would like to incorporate some basis of both digital and analog art making skills and techniques. I want the students to feel that they can express themselves in any way they can. I think that technology will be very helpful in that aspect because it gives students another outlet for creativity and empowerment in their communication. I don’t think there are any programs around now that would be what I would be looking for in the future, but I think that in time there will be more accessible and easy to use digital art programs to utilize with my students of all ability levels.