The role of an art educator is to encourage students to develop and think creatively while learning the fundamentals of art with projects that are engaging and enjoyable. My story began in high school, I was an unmotivated student with no interest in academics or athletics, but I went to school because I found my passion in art class. I understand the struggles that students endure to find motivation. Some have limited opportunities in life but art can produce motivation, happiness, confidence, and thus possibly encouraging them to pursue a career in the field of art. Throughout high school I learned that many people my age were going through difficult times. Knowing some of the troubles of being a teenager will help me understand my students. As an art educator I want to be the guide that allows students to explore their creativity and find positive methods of overcoming hardships. Art is a form of escape and self expression and it may become the difference between a motivated and an unmotivated student.
I will have empathy for uninterested students because I recall being troubled and unmotivated. My goal aside from teaching art will be to guide students that are heading in the wrong direction in life. I will become the role model that young students can trust and relate to on a personal level. As a future educator I want to encourage my students to do their best and support them individually according to their needs. I recall my high school art teacher not approving of street art and this also taught me that he was only implementing his own ideas onto his students. Rather than implementing my own ideas, I want my students to discover their own creativity. One of my goals is to teach my students that even those that do not have interest or believe that they can’t do art will achieve greatness with good guidance.
As the mediator I will always make sure that my students are supportive by helping each other respectfully, working together as a family and in an environment where no one feels excluded. Art can become the reason why students stay in school, have a motivation, constant attendance, and raise their performance in school. We learn the fundamentals of art and encourage creativity to express who we are, with our emotions, our individual joys, and struggles in our everyday life.
Art is important in the developing brain. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher once said: "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." I am an advocate of the theory, learning by doing. Art requires creativity and problem solving which may help support students in other academic areas. Art is a product of kinesthetic learning. For this reason, my philosophy in teaching style is Progressivism. Many people learn through experiencing and by becoming a problem solver. We learn to be comfortable and develop problem-solving in an ambiguous world of constant change and chaos. My art class will engage in art projects with personal values that describe who we are in a diverse, strong, and safe classroom. I am the mediator that will aid them in their art journey in this school’s adventure and remind them to always be creative and understand that art is important. Everything in our world either required art or creativity, from the clothes we wear, to the room we’re in and even the chair we’re sitting in required an artist to design it. I will be helping by changing lives with the power of art.