Topic for the New Year... "ART with a PURPOSE"!
So, how many of you think we can come up with 2010 reasons WHY we create art; WHY we have our student's create art; WHY we advocate for arts education for all learners and WHY art must be taught as more than another pretty picture hanging on the wall? It is my hope for the January Blog on the NAEA site that we all begin thinking deeply about "ART with a PURPOSE" and how service learning in the art room teaches our students about more than just how to create an artwork, it teaches them why they create an artwork...and it's also my hope to get some GREAT conversations started!
I am Debi West. I have been teaching children through the visual arts for 17 years and I have been making art since I was a little girl. I lived in Kansas City until the 3rd grade and never had an art teacher until I entered Oakmont Elementary in Ardmore PA on a crisp fall day in October. I was shy, nervous and scared to death! I was suddenly the NEW student. After my "new" friends realized that I didn't actually know Dorothy and had never been to OZ, the bell rang and we were whisked away to ART CLASS! Seriously?! I never knew such a class existed! I was going to be able to make art in school! Life for this 3rd grader was looking good! And with that, my life changed - I won my very first art award the next month and never stopped making art from that day forward. After I received my BA in Studio Art from the University of South Carolina 13 years later, I entered the world of Graphic Design. But something was missing...I missed art class! I began teaching Sunday School in the church where I grew up and found my calling. I immediately went back to school and received my art teaching certification from Moore College of Art and Design! Who knew that designing curricula could be so fun!? Who knew that teaching kids to be creative could be so remarkably rewarding!? I had found my PURPOSE!
And after 17 years of proudly calling myself at Art Educator, I am still in love with my job! It truly is my passion, my life, my love and it has saved me in several ways. But over the years my philosophy has changed from thinking that the MOST important things were the "theories", the DBAE, the elements, the principles, the tests and I began to realize that the most important things in teaching are the STUDENTS! Think about it, we don't teach ART, we teach CHILDREN...the future, our most priceless assets! And if our students are the most important aspect to our teaching, shouldn't we challenge ourselves to teach them to be better, caring human beings? And can't we do this through the art of teaching ART?!
So, my question for the day, WHY do we teach ART? Why do YOU personally teach ART? What makes a GREAT art teacher? What makes a GREAT art student? What makes a GREAT art department? And most importantly, how can we change the world through the arts? What is our PURPOSE and the PURPOSE of ART Education?
I look forward to seeing your comments...more to come!
Debi West, Ed.S, NBCT
North Gwinnett High School
Suwanee, GA
GAEA Past President (2001-2007)
dewestudio@bellsouth.net
http://naea.digication.com/artstuff/Welcome/published
Hello Debi West! Great blog and great questions! I teach art because I absolutely love what I do; I facilitate the creative process with students while helping them gain new knowledge and skills! I love being a facilitator and a catalyst for creativity and the new ideas that are born in my classes everyday. I believe that the positive energy generated through art does change the world for the better--one student at a time! What a joyful experience.
Posted by: Drew Brown | January 02, 2010 at 11:04 PM
Looking back to when I was a teenager and even as a college student I cannot remember of one person every saying, "Geez, Frank...have you ever thought of becoming an art teacher?". Most, if not all, of my art teachers/professors knew I was good at the art making, but why couldn't they put two & two together? Is it because they knew I had the skills, but not the drive nor the maturity of teaching others? Going through those times I was vulnerable in the sense that I was ready to listen and become someone that can give back to what he enjoyed the most, art. Honestly, if it wasn't for a book called, What Color is Your Parachute?, I would not be where I am today. It took a book to guide me in this direction and not someone that I looked up to. How does this relate to some of Deb's questions, well...
As adults we do things differently than what we have been accustomed to or experienced while growing up, in this case, not having someone take interest or encourage others to look into a specific field or interest. I know how it felt to take an alternate route to get where I am today so I have decided to take a direct approach and become someone in a position to inspire, encourage, and to follow up. Teaching art is what I enjoy doing both professionally and personally, but I think what is most important is that we are educators; a profession that is looked upon as experts in our field.
At a parent conference a couple of years ago, I had a parent say to me that I was the only teacher that knew the strengths and weaknesses of her son. Her son was a Junior in high school. This showed that we, as [art] educators, are taught the skills, knowledge, and experience on how to maximize our time and efforts with a goal in mind & that is to assist each and every [art] student to become successful in and out of the classroom.
Thanks for the questions, Deb.
Sincerely,
Frank Juarez
Art Department Chair
Sheboygan North High School
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
www.nhsart.com
Posted by: Frank Juarez | January 04, 2010 at 09:56 AM
Thanks so much for responding Frank and Drew! Great thoughts on my questions and more questions coming, I assure you! Many things to ponder in this wonderful profession of ours! Now, let's get the word out about this blogspot and get more dialogue! If you could pass the word along, we could all benefit! Thanks again, so much, for your GREAT responses!
Debi West, Ed.S, NBCT
Posted by: Debi West | January 04, 2010 at 12:39 PM
I began teaching art as a survival tool. I was in debt, and headed towards a very pivotal time in my life; trying to find out what it was like to be divorced. I had over 100 hours on a degree in graphic design and knew that producing someone else's ideas was not the way I wanted to go. A friend was a high school principal, and he suggested one day " you could teach". Me ? well, maybe. I inquired and found out what I needed to get a degree in art ed and 5 years later, I graduated. 29 years in college total. My first experience was at a middle school and I was scared. The kids were as big as me and seemed smarter. I put on my Gregorian Chant CD and taught them about the Book of Kells and as some of their eyes rolled, more than a lot of them got this look like they were being entertained. That was when I knew that I had found what it was that made me tick. It was natural, and fun. As I like to put it when people want to know what I do, I tell them, "I color, listen to music and mess with kids all day". What could be better ? I am still in debt, but get paid so much more for the experience of being a positive, albeit strange and wacky part of kid's lives every day.
Posted by: Barry Joyce | January 11, 2010 at 03:17 PM