Portfolio Semester Reflection

Check out my teaching portfolio here: http://issuu.com/katestieren

HOW HAVE YOUR VIEWS ABOUT ART EDUCATION CHANGED THIS SEMESTER?

            My views about art education were completely changed this semester after learning what an authentic, high-level, engaging curriculum can be applied in the art classroom. Coming into the class, the only information that I knew about art education was based on my own art education. From what I remember, I do not recall spending nearly half the amount of time studying artists and their work as we do in this class. I now believe that this is a critical component of a quality art education and can teacher students how to be visually literate. Visual literacy is a term that is new to me this semester. Understanding what it means to read and write art is important for me as a successful art educator. Students of the 21^st century need to be visually literate in order to not only process the thousands of visuals they are encountering each day, but also to be able to communicate and express themselves visually.

HOW HAVE YOUR EXPERIENCES ALTERED OR ENHANCED YOUR TEACHING THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY? (DISCUSS THE CLASS TOPICS: VIEWING AND RESPONDING TO ART, CREATING ART, TEACHING ART, AND ART CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT)

Viewing and Responding to Art: My ability to view and respond to artwork has grown leaps and bounds since the beginning of the semester. During undergrad in my art classes, I always felt like I was missing information to be able to view and critique art. I felt as though the other students had much more experience than I did in that area. I want to equip my students with the knowledge and vocabulary needed to talk about art. Even if this is on a very basic level, such as dissecting an advertisement, it is an important skill for students to have.

Creating Art: This is one component of an art education that I knew I would be teaching to students. However, I did not realize the importance of the artistic process. I did not realize that students could learn so much by working through the creative process, analyzing and making choices. I want the process to be exciting for my students, and I want them to feel proud of the final work that they create due to the amount of time and thought they put into making the best final product.

Teaching Art: When I first began the semester, I felt somewhat intimidated by the thought of jumping into the classroom, teaching the Tiger Artist lesson, and even creating my own curriculum. The intimidation faded, and was replaced with excitement. I had no idea that curriculum could be so authentic and fun for students. I also learned that the best way to learn, when it comes to teachings, is simply by gaining experience. The more time that I spend with children and in the classroom, the more I learn what does/does not work and strategies that I can apply in my future classroom.

Art Curriculum Development: After seeing the many fabulous units developed by my classmates, I realized that there are endless opportunities to create really exciting projects for my students. Creating curriculum can be a fun task when you know that the limits are endless. I am inspired by the many units I have seen this semester and all of the big ideas woven throughout. Art can be extremely meaningful and I want my students to see that and experience it firsthand.

HOW HAS YOUR IDENTITY AS AN ARTIST TEACHER DEVELOPED AND EVOLVED? WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR STRENGTHS? AREAS OF FURTHER DEVELOPMENT?

I have developed a great deal as an artist teacher over the course of the semester. I feel as if being an art teacher were always my calling, but I could not see this until just a few months ago. And now that I have discovered this, I feel truly passionate about what I am doing. I get excited about the projects we are working on and truly want to do my best work knowing that it is not only for me, but for the students I will be teaching someday in the future.

My areas of strength are developing exciting lessons/curriculum, connecting with the students on a personal level, and experience with a variety of mediums. My areas of weakness are knowledge of classroom management strategies, inspiring students who appear disconnected, and knowledge of art history. I hope that my areas for improvement can be improved over the course of the next year and a half as I gain knowledge and experience. It is important to me that I can make my class engaging for all of the students, not just the majority.

WHAT KINDS OF EVIDENCE WILL YOU ADD TO YOUR PORFOLIO IN THE COMING SEMESTERS?

In the coming semesters I hope to add more lesson and unit plans that showcase the kind of learning that I want to happen in my classroom. I also would like to add examples from a cohesive body of work that has a themed concept throughout. Currently I feel as though I have a large variety of pieces in different mediums that will be great for showing experience, but I would also like to show that I can think conceptually as an artist to create a body of work.