WEEK 6 My*1st*day*teaching*ART*!!!

WEEK #6 10.08.2011It was an *Ah-ha* moment :)  I've had two of those so far in the past year-in-a-half along my journey to becoming an *Art*Teacher.  My first "Ah-ha" moment was on my first day of a computer grahics in the classroom course.  This was my very first *Art*Education* course.  For the first time, I felt like "this is exactly where I am meant to be...this is the path I'm supposed to be on...becoming an Art teacher is what I am meant to do.  Then, my second "Ah-ha" moment came last Saturday, when I taught my first art class :)

I was at the library the other day, and I stumbled upon the book, "Emphasis Art" *SECOND*Edition!!!
I couldn't believe it.  I've purchased the newest (9th edition) over a year ago.  So I checked out the second edition.  I always like to flip through the pages and look at the pictures (call me old fashion)...anyways, I came across a few paragraphs from Chapter #1 and #3 that I would like to share:
 *The Teacher's Role*  Sometimes, more than we often take time to "notice", some things are sent our way in life to send a positive reminder of our vital roles and passions in life.  I was having a conversation with my mom about how time consuming and how much thought, effort, and dedication goes in to lesson planning for an art lesson.  Her response was, "What do you mean? You can't just give the students a box of crayons and tell them to color?"  So here we go...

Chapter#1: INTRODUCTION"We are surfeited with the reassurances of art educators and child psychologists who insist that it is easy to teach art to children.  They speak of 'relatively little effort required' or tell us that 'to be creative, children need only materials and a place to work.' 

Let's keep the record straight.  Art is not easy to teach; that is, if we are speaking about a bona fide art class and not a play session.  It requires as much preparation, intelligence, and organizaitonal skill as any other subject area in the school and, in certain instances, even more.  The teacher's expertise is a major factor in the implementation of a *quality*art program."  (p.6)

Chapter #3: THE TEACHER'S ROLE"A creative, enthusiastic, imaginative, , adaptive, sympathetic, and constantly resourceful teacher is the essential catalyst, the *sine qua non* in the development and implementation of a qualitative program in (elementary) art.  The teacher of the art class must be an organizer, house-keeper, counselor, resource expediter, referee, adventurer, and last but not least, a lover of children...

The reference to the teacher's dedication is deliberate.  Dedication is, and always will be, a vital teaching asset in a democratic society.  It transcends classroom expertise and management.  Nothing is said, it is true, in the teacher's contract about dedication, not even in the small print.  Nor is there anything explicit in the agreement about the requisites of love, patience, and sympathetic understanding that go hand in hand with good teaching.  Unselfish dedication and enthusiastic involvement, whenever and wherever they occur, are in the most instances freewill gifts of a devoted teacher and cannot be measured except perhaps in the amount of inner satisfaction and fulfillment they bring."  (p.15)


*THANK YOU* Frank Wachowiak! :)