MY SITE
The Educator
Philosophy of Teaching
In my own experience, art was not seen as essential when I was growing up. I developed my interest in painting at a very young age. I never was encouraged to pursue that interest, so I never did. I decided to put the art behind. I decided to focus on other academic subjects and took my last art class in seventh grade. It was not until I was finishing my Associates Degree in Interior Design when I had to take one art course again. This was a life changing circumstance. I found myself enjoying class, this was the first time in years that I had willingly attended class. During one class period, the professor approached me and said, “you should do more of this more often.” I am not sure if she noticed how much I enjoyed the class, but that phrase was a wakeup call. This is the moment I realized I had made the wrong career choice, so I decided to change paths. I had been working with kids for a while at this point and had grown a passion for teaching. All these things together led me to pursue a career in Art Education.
As a teacher there are goals and responsibilities I will adopt in my classroom. I realized that teachers play a very important role in the career choices that students make. Therefore, I want to become a facilitator to their success. Whether it is the arts or not, I can encourage them to work towards what they really want, as well as pointing out skills I see in my students. One of the things that passions me the most about the arts, is the power that art has to connect us to ourselves, to the things that make us, our story and our interests. As a woman of color, inclusion in the classroom is very important. I want to build a safe environment for my students, where they feel comfortable sharing who they are and respect who others are. I want my students to appreciate, respect and empathize with each other. As a teacher, I believe that having high expectations means something different to each student, which is why recognizing our differences is very important. Yet, we should not forget the things that we all share.
As a teacher there are goals and responsibilities I will adopt in my classroom. I realized that teachers play a very important role in the career choices that students make. Therefore, I want to become a facilitator to their success. Whether it is the arts or not, I can encourage them to work towards what they really want, as well as pointing out skills I see in my students. One of the things that passions me the most about the arts, is the power that art has to connect us to ourselves, to the things that make us, our story and our interests. As a woman of color, inclusion in the classroom is very important. I want to build a safe environment for my students, where they feel comfortable sharing who they are and respect who others are. I want my students to appreciate, respect and empathize with each other. As a teacher, I believe that having high expectations means something different to each student, which is why recognizing our differences is very important. Yet, we should not forget the things that we all share.