Philosophy of Education

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you
plant.” (Robert Louis Stevenson) In contemporary education we are implored to measure our students success in summative exercises, instead of in formative experiences. From the above quote I think of summative exercises as the harvest, and formative experiences as the seeds. In the art classroom I find it vital to plant countless seeds for students, because this practice allows the classroom community to later have a rich, abundant, and diverse harvest.

I became an educator to help drive innovation, and the opportunity to bridge curriculum across classrooms. Too often during the school day students are restricted in what they can and cannot do in their classroom (by way of summative exercises). In the art classroom these traditional education practices are loosened and students are able to explore freely (through formative experiences).

As an art educator I have the unique ability to help students fulfill standards, while also helping to drive their innovations. By allowing my classroom to be choice based, and by building projects which are process oriented I invite students to experiment and make mistakes without fear of penalization if an idea fails. This place of experimenting is vital to supporting a classroom which welcomes all intelligences.

Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences is a major influence on the projects, methods, and standards reflected in my classroom. It is not enough to say a classroom is accepting of all learning styles, it must also be practiced. By having written components, looking & talking activities, process based explorations, and high standards I ensure my lessons welcome and foster growth for many types of students.

Another way to welcome a myriad of students is by bridging multiple subjects into my art lessons. Working to connect subjects like ecology, literature, chemistry, geography, and history with visual arts, I can help students, even those who do not believe themselves to be “artists”, have a place in my classroom. Currently the majority of my written lessons bridge two of these topics, but I am working to have lessons which incorporate three or more subjects. I believe that the more subjects present in a lesson the more students I can keep interested in art, and therefore the stronger classroom community I can build.

In the art classroom grades are still given, summative exercises cannot be escaped, and educational standards still apply. However, my classroom is a place where these paramount qualities are less oppressing because they are surrounded instead by formative experiences which lessen the severity of summative exercises. Students do not have to fear having a weak classroom harvest, because we will have planted hundreds of seeds.