My philosophy of education is that each child is unique, and it is our responsibility as educators to create a safe environment where they can express themselves. My goal is to apply and connect what I've learned through the ARC program to cater to each student’s unique backgrounds. I aim to build a community where my students feel free to express themselves, and embrace diversity. I believe presenting a curriculum where the content is relevant to the students’ cultural and daily experiences is essential to life-long learning.
As I see it, it is essential that every student develops in Art to reach their full potential. A large part of art education is the appreciation, understanding, and knowledge of one’s own and other cultures, such as traditions, activities, and history. The ability to create and understand videos, photos, images, and visual information is vital skill in everyday life.
In order to facilitate appreciation, understanding, and knowledge of one’s own and other cultures in the classroom, I must utilize Cultural/Multicultural Literacy practices. In an art classroom, some examples include 1. Creating art with connections to students’ home cultures, 2. Curating appreciation for cultural identities, 3. Creating a safe community to share culture, 4. Allow space to learn about themselves, 5. Facilitate opportunities to learn about a new culture’s art and its differences, and 6. Allowing students to focus on art topics that interest them.
It is vital for students to have the ability to create and understand videos, photos, images, and visual information. By using Visual Literacy practices, every classroom can gain or improve their Visual Literacy. A students’ capability to “read” visual language is not innate, it is a learned behavior. I believe gaining visual literacy is a process of “learning to look”. A student must be guided to 1. Look, 2. Observe, 3. See, 4. Describe, 5. Analyze, and then 6. Interpret. In an art classroom, students can be walked through these steps, and put into collaborative groups to discuss how they personally read the visual. Visual reading can also be influenced by a student’s cultural background experiences, creating a space where Visual Literacy and Cultural/Multicultural Literacy practices work hand-in-hand.
In conclusion, I aim to build a community where my students feel free to express themselves, and embrace cultural differences. I believe presenting a curriculum where the content is relevant to the students’ culture and daily experiences is essential to life-long learning.