Educator’s Statement

Art education allows me to reflect upon my own identity in relation to the students I teach and the world in which they live. I realize that when it comes to curricular content, I have more freedom and flexibility than educators of other disciplines. I also have the opportunity to showcase my students' work to the world. Therefore, I feel it is my responsibility to center my curricula around important, impactful concepts. Successful art education encourages reflection upon prior knowledge and experiences. This reflection leads to projects that evoke an understanding of the connection among groups of people worldwide, bringing about a new idea of human diversity. I hope to extend my lessons beyond the walls of the classroom and into the world.

I strive to bring cultural relevance to my classroom in order to empower students to understand, make meaning of, and constructively change their world. I believe in the importance of preserving and teaching the traditions and cultural history of the diverse groups of students in my classroom. Through art, a conversation begins. Through art, we can examine traditions and teach students about not only their own cultures but the cultures and histories of their peers. Critically viewing, making, and discussing art can help students acknowledge and appreciate differences and teach empathy and understanding.

All students enter the classroom with prior knowledge and experience, and each has a voice that has been ostracized in some way through culturally and socially inadequate pedagogy and curricular content. Art is able to grant misrepresented students the knowledge and the voice to share their experiences and educate their communities. Art is an essential way to move past labels and provide marginalized students with the tools to share their understanding of the world. In my classes, I strive to change stock stories and focus instead on counter-narratives. I shine a light on the positive perspectives of my students' lives, negating the stigma that has been unfairly placed upon them. By creating heightened visibility of our students' stories, art educators are placed in the role of the Learner. This structural shift builds a better understanding of our students and creates a community within the classroom.

My intention is to change the lens through which my students view the world. I take a transpedagogical approach of blending art with other practices and methodologies and respond to what is happening in the world through socially engaged projects. Artists draw attention to things that matter. Art allows people to look differently at the things they face every day. My goal is to teach my students to explore, question, provoke, critique, and expose.

Art doesn't need to be a tangible object. In my classroom as well as in my personal studio, the creative process is just as important as the project's end result. I believe that although children have different needs, backgrounds, and skills, they all share a common desire to learn. Artmaking is powerful and valuable because of what it brings to each person. The undeniable transformative quality that art has had on my students validates this idea.

While individual creative expression is important, my educational philosophies and approaches are more deep-rooted. We live in a visual culture. Art through social justice, art literacy, collaboration, critical thinking, personal connection, problem solving, and reflection develops real-world skills my students can utilize across countless disciplines for the rest of their lives. An eye for design and the ability to think critically are key requirements for jobs of today and the future, and it is my intention to set my students up for success.  

Like historical and contemporary educational practices, my ideas are not stagnant, but fluid, changing, and ever-growing. Visual arts in the classroom have the ability to teach students how to be engaged and informed citizens of the world through carefully considered and executed projects. For my own work and in my classroom, I leave room for progressive change and encourage my students to make art that matters in our world as we imagine better choices and communities for the future.