Why Teach Art?
This is a question that I received almost every day for the first 2 weeks of my contract teaching when I introduced myself as a new, untrained Art Teacher who had recently graduated with a Psychology degree - Why teach art? While I had some responses to it, I was initially uncertain if my premature ideas would reflect the reality of Art Education in schools, and unconfident of my own resolution to make it a reality, hence I often left that question hanging.
Through these 4 months of contract teaching, I've experienced so many exciting and nerve-wracking firsts under the tutelage of my fabulous mentor. These experiences were accompanied by a myriad of emotions that strengthened my belief in Art Education and clarified the role I wanted to play in it.
I have witnessed how art lessons have the potential to provide students with authentic learning experiences. For instance, in the P1's lesson on Land Art, students were exposed to natural materials found all around us. In studying land art examples, students were amazed by the artistic possibilities in natural materials that we often took for granted. The awe that nature can elicit in us is further elevated in land art, where artists use the earth as a canvas to highlight the beauty in nature. With a clearer understanding of the world around them, students can better appreciate what they see every day. This engagement with nature also serves as a great starting point for discussions about environmental concerns to enter the classroom. For instance, even though the P1s were unable to go for the nature walk (where we had initially planned for them to collect their natural materials for art-making) due to the haze condition, we turned this situation into an opportunity to have students think about and share on the possible causes and impacts of it on us, allowing students to be acutely aware of global and social concerns.
I believe that art lessons have a strong potential to promote student curiosity and cultivate a joy for learning! Personally, I feel that the PAM subjects may draw more intrinsic motivation from students for there is inherent joy in engaging in PAM activities, allowing self-directed student learning to be tapped to a greater extent. Having a compelling hold over student motivation allows art education to bring learning further and deeper. Furthermore, art imitates life in uncanny ways. The intersection art has with our everyday experiences are seen in more direct and objective ways than the academic subjects. For instance, in learning about 'warm & cool' color categorizations, students have common real-life experiences that allow them to easily link colors of the sun and fire to the 'warm' color grouping. This understanding, in turn, helps them better appreciate the color scheme of artworks as well as the emotions it elicits. Hence, the close relationship between art and daily life allows for transference in learning from both domains, creating a positive learning spiral.
Art has the potential to develop students' thinking dispositions. When looking at a new piece of artwork, students train their observation skills in picking out interesting areas of the artwork and in presenting these observations to the class. When discussing the potential message behind artworks, students also get to explore and consider their classmates' different viewpoints, learning to listen and respond to others' opinions. Through guided explorations, students discover and learn about the usage of various mediums and are trained to reason through the art processes, why certain mediums should be used in certain orders, and how that might affect the end result. Students then make their own decisions responsibly throughout the art-making process with the information at hand. I love that Art education makes concrete the idea that there can be endless possibilities. In knowing that there can be multiple outcomes/ 'answers' to a task, students willingly try and explore, stretching themselves to problem-solve at different stages of art-making! Through this, students will learn to think and work independently. Furthermore, students will learn to appreciate variety and respect differences in ideas, encouraging them to be open to opinions in broadening their perspectives.
With the capacity for variations in outputs since there was no definite 'answer' in art, arts education encourages students to develop skills at their own pace. This provides the space for individual growth as learning may be differentiated more naturally. Each student can find varying degrees of fulfillment in completing their art-task, and this helps in building their own self-confidence, which can spill-over and positively-impact other aspects of learning.
Through these 4 months of contract teaching, I've experienced so many exciting and nerve-wracking firsts under the tutelage of my fabulous mentor. These experiences were accompanied by a myriad of emotions that strengthened my belief in Art Education and clarified the role I wanted to play in it.
I have witnessed how art lessons have the potential to provide students with authentic learning experiences. For instance, in the P1's lesson on Land Art, students were exposed to natural materials found all around us. In studying land art examples, students were amazed by the artistic possibilities in natural materials that we often took for granted. The awe that nature can elicit in us is further elevated in land art, where artists use the earth as a canvas to highlight the beauty in nature. With a clearer understanding of the world around them, students can better appreciate what they see every day. This engagement with nature also serves as a great starting point for discussions about environmental concerns to enter the classroom. For instance, even though the P1s were unable to go for the nature walk (where we had initially planned for them to collect their natural materials for art-making) due to the haze condition, we turned this situation into an opportunity to have students think about and share on the possible causes and impacts of it on us, allowing students to be acutely aware of global and social concerns.
I believe that art lessons have a strong potential to promote student curiosity and cultivate a joy for learning! Personally, I feel that the PAM subjects may draw more intrinsic motivation from students for there is inherent joy in engaging in PAM activities, allowing self-directed student learning to be tapped to a greater extent. Having a compelling hold over student motivation allows art education to bring learning further and deeper. Furthermore, art imitates life in uncanny ways. The intersection art has with our everyday experiences are seen in more direct and objective ways than the academic subjects. For instance, in learning about 'warm & cool' color categorizations, students have common real-life experiences that allow them to easily link colors of the sun and fire to the 'warm' color grouping. This understanding, in turn, helps them better appreciate the color scheme of artworks as well as the emotions it elicits. Hence, the close relationship between art and daily life allows for transference in learning from both domains, creating a positive learning spiral.
Art has the potential to develop students' thinking dispositions. When looking at a new piece of artwork, students train their observation skills in picking out interesting areas of the artwork and in presenting these observations to the class. When discussing the potential message behind artworks, students also get to explore and consider their classmates' different viewpoints, learning to listen and respond to others' opinions. Through guided explorations, students discover and learn about the usage of various mediums and are trained to reason through the art processes, why certain mediums should be used in certain orders, and how that might affect the end result. Students then make their own decisions responsibly throughout the art-making process with the information at hand. I love that Art education makes concrete the idea that there can be endless possibilities. In knowing that there can be multiple outcomes/ 'answers' to a task, students willingly try and explore, stretching themselves to problem-solve at different stages of art-making! Through this, students will learn to think and work independently. Furthermore, students will learn to appreciate variety and respect differences in ideas, encouraging them to be open to opinions in broadening their perspectives.
With the capacity for variations in outputs since there was no definite 'answer' in art, arts education encourages students to develop skills at their own pace. This provides the space for individual growth as learning may be differentiated more naturally. Each student can find varying degrees of fulfillment in completing their art-task, and this helps in building their own self-confidence, which can spill-over and positively-impact other aspects of learning.
Art education exposes students to a new mode of self-expression that goes beyond what words can express. Through the process of art-making, students learn to develop and organize their personal thoughts and experiences to form a response. The process of externalizing their ideas in art-making can also help students deal with internal stressors and tough emotions that students may struggle to verbalize or talk about.
This final point is one that I have personally experienced and benefited from as an art student when I was 16. I believe that art education can catalyze students' self-discovery, bringing them on a journey to learn more about themselves. The art-making process can potentially be very personal, as students reflect on their own responses to themes, think about what they would like to express and try to bring these personal ideas to life. Art-making can be like meaning-making, a process that we engage in to process thoughts in a focused manner, and the product can be a reflection of our private self. The hands-on nature of art is especially enlightening as students explore new mediums and methods of art-making, realize what and how they are able to complete the art task, even surprising themselves in the process sometimes! Through art-making, students develop a keener sense of self-awareness as they would reflect on their art-making while working on it. The final reflection at the end of an art-project also helps externalize and consolidate their learning, not just about art, but about their own personal strengths and weaknesses, which I feel is an indispensable part of learning!
This final point is one that I have personally experienced and benefited from as an art student when I was 16. I believe that art education can catalyze students' self-discovery, bringing them on a journey to learn more about themselves. The art-making process can potentially be very personal, as students reflect on their own responses to themes, think about what they would like to express and try to bring these personal ideas to life. Art-making can be like meaning-making, a process that we engage in to process thoughts in a focused manner, and the product can be a reflection of our private self. The hands-on nature of art is especially enlightening as students explore new mediums and methods of art-making, realize what and how they are able to complete the art task, even surprising themselves in the process sometimes! Through art-making, students develop a keener sense of self-awareness as they would reflect on their art-making while working on it. The final reflection at the end of an art-project also helps externalize and consolidate their learning, not just about art, but about their own personal strengths and weaknesses, which I feel is an indispensable part of learning!
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