Teaching Philosophy

Tend. This is the word I think of when I think about my art classroom. I cultivated a garden for the first time in April of 2020. I spent days tilling and adding nutrients to the soil. My gardener friend told me, “the soil is so important, it is what will feed your flowers for the rest of their lives.” After much cultivating and planning, I carefully laid each seed. I paid close attention to how much space they need between one another, and how much soil to cover them with. After that, I watered and waited. I could not make them grow; I could only provide the environment. They needed space for the first couple of weeks. But when the weeds began to steal their water, I had to intervene! I did not know when they would bloom, or how the weather might affect their growth; my job was only to joyfully tend. 

This is the groundwork of my teaching philosophy. I look at my classroom as a garden. I want to create the healthiest environment for my students to grow by providing safety, nourishment, and empowerment. 

Safety

A safe environment is marked by a deep feeling of trust. If students do not feel safe, they will be more concerned about protecting themselves than learning, playing, and contributing to others. It is my goal to teach students how to have healthier relationships with one another, themselves, and the world through artmaking. This involves critically analyzing our visual landscape, self-reflective art lessons, and a community-oriented classroom. It is my goal to champion my students through consistent encouragement, active listening, and empathy. I will also protect my students by not allowing toxic words or actions within its walls. 

Nourishment

To nurture is to care for and encourage the growth or development of someone. People seldom see their talents clearly from their own eyes. It takes an outsider to look into a person and see the potential they hold, and then nurture it. When given a nurturing environment, people can grow exponentially more. In the art classroom, I see nourishment in the way I develop my curriculum. I believe in student-centered and life-centered art curriculum. If students cannot take what they have learned in my class home with them to become better citizens of the world, I have not done my job. I believe content should be rich with meaning, relevance, and energy!  

Empowerment

At the heart of empowerment is the belief that every person was created with a purpose and has the tools they need to contribute to the world around them no matter their age. When I was young, I believed I had to wait to be an adult before I could “be somebody.”  I wish I had a teacher to tell me my life and what I did with it mattered then.  There are too many people who believe life just happens to them. I hope through empowering my students to believe they have agency in this world, they will show up to their life with a strong sense of self and passion. Ultimately, they will enjoy their lives more, and the world will become a better place. I will engage my students in meaningful art projects and discussions around playing, forming self, encountering difference, attentive living, community, and deconstructing and reconstructing social spaces.

 This is my job as an art educator: To tend.

Tend is an active word. When I am tending my garden, I am tuning into the needs of & potential dangers to my flowers (safety). I am cultivating the ground to be rich in nutrients (nourishment), and I am giving fertilizer at the right time for them to grow exponentially more into the flower they were meant to be (empowerment).

The art room is a safe place to practice the skills children will need to bloom in their life:

to feel safe in their own skin,
to critically think about their life and the community around them,
to love their life and find their agency, 
to use their voice, hands and feet to shape their world for the better. 

It is my greatest honor to tend the next generation of leaders and watch them bloom!