Developing Expertise: Seeking Ways to Improve Knowledge and Skills

“Probably nothing in a school has more impact on students in terms of skills development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth of their teachers.” (Barth 1990)

How does one grow and develop expertise as a teacher? One important route is through professional interactions. Regardless of whether one is the only art teacher in the school or a member of an art department, it is important to actively seek out and become part of the teaching and learning community.

Here are three areas within which your professional growth can be nurtured. The first area is within the school. During the school day, what professional activities and interactions do you engage in when you’re not meeting with students? Because your primary responsibility is teaching art, a major part of your non-teaching time should be devoted to working on program development: writing instructional plans, researching and preparing resource materials, creating visuals to support instruction, and setting up displays of student work. A secondary responsibility is to work with your colleagues to advance the school’s mission and curricular goals. You can develop professional relationships and become an active and contributing member of the school community through such activities as:

 interdisciplinary/cross-curricular/co-curricular planning
 participating on school committees to plan mission focused, curriculum-based professional development activities
 working with colleagues to address school-wide issues and concerns such as establishing a school-wide behavior policy or planning educational events for the community, etc.
 sharing instructional strategies and techniques with colleagues

The second area for professional growth is working with your art peers. Conduct professional activities by networking with your feeder school colleagues, look for opportunities to work with other art teachers at the system/district level (consider planning an educational exhibit of K-12 work or sharing and looking at each others’ student work to discuss ways to assess and improve student work), or look into teacher workshops sponsored by your local state art education association, museums and arts organizations. If your interest is to develop greater expertise in a particular area, consider pursuing a Masters or Doctoral program where you can immerse yourself in intense studies related to artmaking and art education.

Joining the greater educational community is the third area for professional growth: extend your learning by attending regional, national and international art conferences (e.g. 2012 NAEA National Convention March 1-4 in New York City and/or your state art education association annual conference) and other conferences or workshops sponsored by general educational organizations (e.g. ASCD Annual Conference 2012, March 24-26 in Philadelphia) to see what professional learning opportunities they offer. Browse the NAEA website for other professional growth opportunities. Increase your professional skills by being open to a variety of experiences that focus not only on your specific content area, but on educational issues and ideas in general.

A basic tenet of excellence in teaching is continuous improvement and collaboration. The expert art teacher is a professional who is a proactive, creative, and resourceful manager of the material and human resources available to him/her.  

 

-Daisy McTighe