Teaching Philosophy

As an art and design educator I want to focus on creating an inclusive classroom, with flexibility, creativity, respect and experimentation at its roots. 

An art teacher must be aware, considerate, inclusive, engaging and adaptable to the needs of their students as well as creative and able to deliver well thought through lessons. As educators and educational institutions we need to address the unconscious biases within our society and which inevitably seep into the curriculum and its delivery. In my classroom I want learners to feel like their opinions count and that they are represented in the content I provide. 

Experimentation and collaboration are fundamental to creativity and I aim to include these elements in each Unit of Learning(UoL) I deliver. I found that learners embraced experimentation when given a framework and guidance. A group of 5th years that I was teaching during school placement found it difficult to explore materials and styles for their portrait project at first. I helped the learners overcome this by providing guidance for what they could use ie. Choose five pieces of materials/media to use in your work, create three portraits studies in the 1 hour class. This meant that learners had little time to become self conscious and they created some beautiful work, full of experimentation. Their confidence grew from here, and their ability to experiment grew too. In reflection reports, the vast majority of the learners commented on how they really enjoyed experimenting with materials/processes to create artwork. Fostering creativity and experimentation is key to my practice as an educator.   

Areas in which I would like to focus in my classroom in the future

I would like to focus on creating an inclusive classroom, with flexibility, creativity, respect and experimentation at its roots. I will endeavour to create lessons with strong cross-curricular links and with visual culture embedded throughout.

It is important for me to impart knowledge that I have in relation to the variety of creative careers available to students. Art, design, visual culture and creative methodologies are incredibly rewarding areas of interest for students whether they pursue a future role in these areas or not.