Philosophy of Teaching
A teacher’s role is fundamental to facilitate learning. My goals as an art educator include:
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Teaching students what art is and how to analyze and discuss it.
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Teaching students basic skills of a variety of visual media.
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Helping students find confidence in their abilities and personal identities.
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Helping students to think critically and develop creative problem-solving skills.
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Encouraging students to consider alternate perspectives that differ from their own.
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Engaging students meaningfully in the learning process.
The classroom should be a place of discovery, collaboration, and mutual respect. Students should feel free to experiment, search, use one another as resources, fail, and try again. Students should have some autonomy in what and how they learn. In the art classroom, this can be achieved by keeping studio assignment prompts broad and open-ended, allowing students the freedom to take their work in a direction that genuinely interests them. I believe this leads to greater student engagement and deeper learning, producing artwork that holds personal meaning beyond the classroom context.
When developing curriculum, I prioritize student-centered learning. The teacher’s role is to facilitate, advise, and guide. Discussion is essential in a student-driven, discovery-based classroom. Writing should also be a required component, as it is a vital skill in both academia and the workforce. Written work may take the form of research papers, critiques, project proposals, artist statements, reflections, or other formats. Students need to be able to articulate their thoughts about art—this not only demonstrates comprehension but also builds literacy and critical thinking.
Assessment criteria should allow room for failures. The creative process, student engagement, and problem-solving efforts should be integral to evaluation. I also believe in assessing students' intentionality—the thought behind their artistic decisions. If students clearly understand their goals and approaches, they should be encouraged to experiment. When experiments fail, they should be given opportunities to revise and improve. Failure, followed by reflection and revision, is an essential part of the creative and design processes, just as in the scientific method. However, students are also responsible for meeting the assignment’s requirements and demonstrating an understanding of the elements and principles of design, as well as any techniques or concepts covered in the unit. An accurate grade must account for all these factors.
I believe art education is both relevant and valuable to everyone. Its inherent ambiguity and flexibility make it uniquely suited to address topics and develop skills not always explicitly covered by state standards. Art teaches creativity—a vital way of thinking that supports all disciplines and is increasingly essential as AI infiltrates society. Art is inherently interdisciplinary, intersecting with civics, history, science, math, and literacy. It creates space for individual voices to be heard, for controversial topics to be explored, and for meaningful dialogue to occur. Art is a medium for self-discovery and inquiry, a tool for navigating complex questions, and something that can enrich the lives of all students.