I have an amazing group of educators to thank for leading me down the path that I am on today, they have pushed me to do my best, supported my during my worst, and encouraged me to pursue teaching a subject that I was truly passionate about. And although I have gained so much knowledge from these people, I have also been able to gain a deeper understanding of teaching and my beliefs about teaching throughout college. Throughout my exploration, I believe I have been able to develop the beginnings of a philosophy that I can take with me into the classroom to use within my teaching. One of the most central pieces of my philosophy is creating a choice-centered classroom where students are able to express their own interests and lives within their artworks. An aspect of classroom culture that develops from a choice-centered classroom is the idea that collaboration between students is something that inspires and promotes creativity. Collaboration calls for students to reflect on their life experiences and the culture, which is another central part of my teaching philosophy: that students are not blind to culture and should not be taught to be blind to culture and social issues within art. The last aspect of my teaching philosophy is that I as educator am as much of a learner as my students are, both student and teacher are able to learn from each other. These are ideas central to my philosophy and seem the most critical to me in order to create a nurturing and inspiring art classroom to students, all while pushing them to the best of their abilities. Through a choice-centered classroom philosophy, along with culturally aware teaching, using collaboration within the classroom, and accepting the fact that I am just as much a learner as my students are, I believe that I will be able to create an art classroom that inspires students while pushing them to the best of their abilities.

A Choice Centered Classroom

 While working as an assistant at an art studio in Downtown Littleton called ArtSPARK, something that always stood out to me was the fact that students had the opportunity in the classroom to create whatever they desired. They had a plethora of materials to choose from in the classroom, from paints and drawing materials to sculpture materials. Students were often times inspired by certain materials that they found, and the work they created was something they were always proud to show both the instructors as well as their parents. Some students were inspired to create something different every time and others chose to work on a series of artworks. When it comes to making art within the classroom, choice is essential in keeping students engaged and inspired by their works. As described in Awakening Student Ownership: Transitioning to a Student-Centered Environment the author describes a project that she was instructed to give to her eighth-grade students. The project was to create masks inspired by an African tribe. The first time she gave the assignment she informed students that they were only able to replicate the features seen in the African masks, not using materials or shapes that would make them look different from those used as an example. The teacher reflects on the response of her students, that they were persistent in questioning why they were not allowed to add glitter or add unique shapes to their masks. By forcing students to simply copy the masks, the teacher realized that she was being both culturally irresponsible as well as striking down their creativity. The second time she gave the assignment, students explored masks from different cultures as well as costume within contemporary art. Students were instead encouraged to create masks out of materials that they felt connected to or inspired to. Students were more responsive to this project, encouraged to discuss their ideas with their teacher and use trial and error within their art-making process (McElhany, 2017, p. 30-32). This is an example of how I believe an art classroom should be formatted, with opportunity to choose and exploration based on a student’s interest and desires.

 The idea of a trial and error approach to art is also something that arises out of a choice-centered art classroom. Trial and error is a skill that is not only useful within the art classroom, but useful across disciplines, students must have the skill to fail- but then try again until something works. This is emphasized within Thinking in Education, where author John Dewey states “the first stage of contact with any new material at whatever age of maturity, must inevitably be of the trial and error sort,” and that this process warrants more interaction from a student because they must “carry out his own impulsive activity” (1916, p. 154). This idea of impulse is brought back to choice-centered education, and that a student is going to be more inspired to carry out their impulses and what they are inspired by.

 In another classroom example from: Facilitating Choice Through Painting Without Paintbrushes author Lauren Rago describes a lesson she taught to her first graders. The students were tasked with creating paintbrushes from different materials, and then create a work with the “paintbrushes” they had created. Rago found that the students given this type of freedom within the classroom were more motivated to put effort into their works, coming in during their free time to work on their projects (2018, p. 20-23). This same type of motivation and inspiration is something that can only be created by choice within the classroom, and as Rago states “this freedom and lack of needless extrinsic factors encouraged students to create in ways that were authentic to play, experimentation, and collaboration” (2018, p. 22). Not only were the students more inspired, but they were also more likely to discuss their processes and techniques with their peers, therefore learning from each other.

Students Learn from Collaboration

 As seen within the “Painting without Paintbrushes” lesson, choice-centered learning led to more collaboration within the classroom. Students shared with each other, leading to work inspired by every student’s unique personal experience. This is another aspect that I believe is central to an art classroom, as each student has a different culture and background that effects their art making. This means that every student’s work I going to be unique and different, but also inspired by their peers around them.

 Collaboration between peers can also be more than just those in their grade, while working at the art studio, a practice that I saw benefitted the students creatively was being around students of other ages. An art classroom that hosts a range of different ages allows students to learn from those who are in a different stage of development than they are. In Building School Community Through Cross Grade Collaboration in Art the author discusses the benefits of an art classroom that has different ages of students. The different age groups working together promotes social and cognitive development, especially in the case of the younger students. Younger students are developing their language skills, while the older groups encourage problem solving and cooperation between the students (Taylor, 2020, p. 352). I believe that this type of collaboration is important is important in art classroom in order for students to become engaged and inspired art makers.

Students are not Blind to the Culture of the World- and Shouldn’t be Taught to be

 Creating a strong and aware art classroom means incorporating works from both past and present- this means bringing works of contemporary artists that connect to the world that students are currently experiencing. Many contemporary works are responses to political and social issues in the world. Historically, students have been told the history of the world through rose colored lenses, learning about the art of other cultures and politically charged art without being told the implications of the work. I believe as an art educator, I have the responsibility to not hide the inspiration behind the pieces that I am showing my students, and that there is a way show how these works that demonstrates why they are being made and the injustice that inspired them. An example used in If an Artwork Could Speak, What would it Say? Focusing on Issues for Elementary Art Education author Shirley Hayes Yokley is the artwork Tar Beach by Faith Rinngold. This work can be used in two different ways by an art educator- one that focuses on the racial and gender inequalities that Rinngold addresses within her piece, and one that ignores them. As an art educator though, I believe that not addressing these themes within Rinngold’s work is doing students a disservice. Teaching students about these themes within art not only creates more socially and politically aware students, it also demonstrates how students can use their own personal experiences within their work. As Yokley states: “one problem for students is to determine how these conditions continue to exist and to develop projects of possibility wherein their own artworks ‘speak’ to those issues” (2002, p. 208). By using these types of work within the art classroom, both my students and I as an educator are able to dig deep into works that demonstrate an understanding of the world around them.

 While teaching students about political and social issues within the culture that surround them, it is also important to note that children also have a culture of their own. As an art educator, it is also my job to validate and understand the culture that students share between their peers and others of their age group. In The Hybridity of Children’s Culture author Christine Marmé Thompson asserts that “it [children’s culture] plays a significant role in helping children to amass social and cultural capital, facilitating social life, enriching imagination, and enhancing understanding of a world beyond the confines of circumscribed childhood experience” (2009, 166). The culture of my students is crucial to their development and is a very important aspect of their lives and their art making. It is essential that I learn and understand this culture in order to create a classroom environment where students can choose to use what they are inspired by within their works created in the classroom.

Learning Alongside my Students (they are teachers just as much as I am)

 Something that I have noticed in the art classroom, is that students are often times inspiring me just as much as I inspire them and their works. Students inventing new techniques and using them within their work inspires me to go home and try new techniques and approaches within my work. As an art educator, I believe that it is essential to understand that I will always be learning; preaching to my students and micro-managing their artworks will never inspire them to create works they are motivated by. And by having a solely discipline-based art classroom I am only pushing students away from wanting to create art in the future. An idea that is represented within Awakening Student Ownership: Transitioning to a Student-Centered Environment is the idea that the teacher is a guide, they are simply guiding students through the process that is art making. McElhany describes that “as guides, teachers become fellow inquirers as they step aside and let the students direct their own artmaking” (2017, p. 30). This idea, that students work alongside the art teacher, is something that is central to my teaching philosophy as it encourages students to ask questions and work with their teacher in creating their art. The idea that students are “below” their teacher or have to follow everything they say and do creates an environment where there is little room for students to experience new things and grow as human beings.

 I believe that using a choice-centered philosophy within the classroom is interconnected with all of the topics I have addressed, that choice can lead to collaboration, an understanding of the culture around you, as well as putting the teacher is the role of a guide for their students. As a teacher I cannot fail to acknowledge that the hard work of others has helped me to discover and build my own philosophy, and that their guidance will hopefully help me to create a nurturing and fearlessly creative environment within my classroom. As a future educator I understand that these values will shift and change once I enter the classroom and continue to learn and grow as an art educator. And although I may gain new viewpoints throughout my teaching career, I hope to not simply abandon the philosophies I have outlined in this paper, as I believe they are essential in encouraging students to create work that they are inspired by and proud of.