MY EDUCATION PRINCIPLES
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MY EDUCATION PRINCIPLES ⦁
I believe in gentle teaching in a way that supports many different ways of retaining new information. Sometimes the seemingly uninterested student is actually very intrigued - just needs a different teaching method.
I believe in re-evaluating art censorship in schools and
providing learning minds a safe place to connect with various points in the world of art and express themselves through them - the bright and the dark.
“In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.”
– Bertolt Brecht, The Svenborg Poems
I believe in reserving numeric grading only for works that had freedom in their medium - the idea, expression, thought, is more important than perfect technique. Pieces forced into a certain medium/technique should only be for practice and give students a judgement-free place to explore new ways of self-expression.
re-evaluating
censorship
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Our current art classrooms seem to be holding onto this idea of idealized good in art - when that is only a small part of the entire vast scale of emotions and themes art has to offer.
My master’s thesis plan revolves around this topic: why are we completely omitting a large part of art from our classrooms, places that are safe and have a educated, safe adult in them to guide learners through varied emotions and topics.
I believe including also the darker side of art and the commentary it holds could be beneficial not just to art educators but education as a whole. Art classrooms are a good place to start, since in the school world those are the places where students tap into their inner worlds, their own emotions and express them.
Why not let them express what worries them? What scares them? And maybe, just maybe going through those feelings in a safe environment with others who might have similar thoughts could make those things a little less worrying or scary.
grading - ideas
over technique
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I believe numeric grading should be reserved only on technique-free assignments so learners can apply the things they feel their most confident in.
Technique practices should never receive a numeric grade - it might be the first time a learner ever held a paintbrush! Must we really evaluate their first attempts to express themselves through one then?
My preferred teaching method of portfolio work also heavily leans towards grading the learner’s ideas and thoughts about their art. Maybe the drawing does not exactly look like the model, but maybe that was the whole purpose in the learner’s mind. Maybe they were experimenting.
And if they explain that in words and really think about what they learned from it, maybe that just is more valuable than the fact that the apple looks like an apple.
authority via
empathy
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I aim to create authority as a teacher and educator through kindness and gentleness.
I believe that by being sincere and approaching things from the place of what’s good for the group and the individuals in it creates a space where authority is respected as a figure who makes good things happen.
Kind and gentle guidance is not without limits though - sometimes the kind thing to do is not something a learning student agrees with. But even those situations should be approached with care and gentleness and by explaining rather than ordering.