Philosophy Statement

     As an art educator, I invite my students to engage in art while at the same time providing them with stronger connections to other aspects of life. Art has many benefits and serves many connections to other subjects and personal life. According to art education scholar Elliot Eisner, “The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships” (Eisner, 2006). I believe students, as artists in my classroom, should be allowed to make their own judgments as to how things are done within their own work. I promote a choice-based environment. Students are taught specific guidelines and instructions for creating and making projects, and are encouraged to decide how they will use the materials most effectively. There is always a place for self-expression and bending the rules; those are the conditions needed to develop creative potential. My classroom promotes a balance of creating art from direct observation and creating art from within. “The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer” (Eisner, 2006). Problem solving is a very important tool in many situations, in and beyond the art room. Students use the lessons art has taught them to come up with creative solutions to whatever they face, both in their personal and their educational environments. 

     Eisner (2006) continues, “The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real”, “The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said”, and “The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling”. These lessons pertain to the ways that creating something with art materials can bring ideas to life and make a concept become a tangible artifact. Art, as visual language,  gives people the ability to understand, discuss, appreciate and use media in ways that advance critical thinking, decision making, communicating and learning. 

     My art classroom is an environment where I teach students how to use materials, teach them techniques that will enhance their work, and offer a wide range of media to enhance creativity; I want the class to be fueled by the ideas of the students. Finally, my classroom will be a comfortable environment Students should feel like they can be themselves, while acting respectfully and appropriately in the art classroom. I want them to freely live who they are and express their individuality through their work. I want students to be able to trust me as a responsible confidant who will support them and their creative work.  I support my students beyond their academics and show appropriate interest in their activities. I am an empathetic and reflective teacher who respects my students as fellow human beings working toward their creative potential.