Students

I teach in inner city.  I love my students and would not consider teaching anywhere else.  WE all have daily “baggage” we bring to school.  Middle class adults have different ”baggage” than the children I teach.  Sometimes the differences are so great that it is remarkable that I am accepted by them as their “art teacher”.  I am humbled by their needs and the desires. 

Physically and financially, their needs are great.  I cannot begin to fulfill those needs.  There are needs that their spirits share aesthetically.  Here is my expertise.  I love to find the aesthetic interests in each individual.  Tapping into these interests keeps me busy providing resources and trying to keep up with the latest cartoons, movies, and trends.  Many times I can tap into their aesthetic interests through the 82 binders I have developed of art historical and current topics.  And personal styles in art can begin to develop and blossom. 

Their worlds can expand and open with art.  Not every child I teach will be a Frida or Pablo.  But I have found the enjoyment they receive from looking at and knowing about other artwork.  It informs their artwork and life.  It makes artwork come off the pedestal and into their paradigm.  I want to provide them with something that no one else can provide them with: a separate discourse, multiple perspectives, and the ability to think through and within a material.  (Eisner, 2002)

Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind. Yale University Press. 
 
-Dr. Judith Haynes