TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Art is about embarking on new territories. As an art educator, my purpose is to serve as facilitator of discovery for each student. My student-centered teaching philosophy puts the individual needs of students first and acknowledges every voice as central to the learning experience.
My goal is to create a learning environment where every student feels empowered to become an active participant in their own learning. In this process, I join students as an ally in assessing their learning process rather than as spectator or critic. In my eyes, I am on their team, and my purpose is to hold space for their learning. The greatest value I can provide to students is to nurture their ideas and offer feedback along their journey of art making. The journey is where all the learning takes place and what ultimately indicates growth after all.
I chose to become an art teacher because I believe imagination and creating is imperative to developing minds. Art making processes provide students the opportunity to express and create something that is uniquely their own. Art making is about embarking on new ideas and testing them out. This requires bravery and the act of daring greatly on behalf of ones own vision. In this way, as an art educator, I must absolutely foster courage. The courage my students have is how I gauge my success as a teacher.
If there is one thing I hope for every student - it is to feel brave. My hope is that students have the self-confidence to fully pursue their dreams, see their ideas all the way through, and also embody their authentic identities, tell their stories, say things out loud, and shine their unique light as they grow into this world. This all requires bravery.
As one of my favorite American professors, lecturers, and authors Brené Brown would say “It’s worse to spend your life on the outside looking in, wondering what if, than it is to try and dare greatly and risk the chance of failure. Dare greatly; get in the arena and try.” I will always be up for the task of fostering courage so my students can continue daring greatly in the arena of life.