Teaching Philosophy Becoming a Teacher

Emily Nelson

From an early age I always wanted to be a teacher. I would play school with my two younger brothers and every time I would play the teacher. I changed my career goals a few times since I was 10, wanting to be an architect, a pastry chef, and a graphic designer. But my heart has always been with teaching and I am a creative and artistic person, so pursuing a career in art education feels li e the perfect fit. I plan on teaching younger students in the elementary school level. !y reasoning for wanting to teach this age group is because children"s imaginations at this stage are very vivid. I thin it is an e#citing time to help foster their creativity and witness what they are able to form into tangible pieces of art. I feel my role as an art teacher will be the facilitator$ I will give children the guidance and necessary materials, but let them e#press themselves freely in their artwor . I will not be there to tell them they are not really creating art or doing something wrong, but rather help build their confidence and give tips along the way to being artists in their own forms.

Application of Theories1
%here are a few ey theories and concepts I will use in being the best teacher I can for the students that come through my classroom. First of all, I want to teach using &ygots y"s scaffolding techni'ue, by starting off by wor ing with the students until they grasp what is being taught. (nce they have the self) efficacy, or the feeling of being capable to accomplish tas s, I can step bac and let them ta e control. %a ing this approach to teaching, I can wor with children at all different levels. *ome students may ta e 'uic ly to art and have no problems in wor ing 'uic ly and efficiently. (ther children may need a helping hand a little longer, so I can direct attention to them as long as they need, until they have self) assurance in what they need to do. +nother theory I want to apply to my teaching is recogni,ing -ardner"s !ultiple Intelligences in each of the children. If I can identify each child"s strengths and wea nesses, I can better prepare them for the material throughout the school year. *ome students will have a strong spatial intelligence, the ability to perceive the visual world and transform their perceptions, and feel very confident in producing artwor with limited guidance. .owever, this might /ust be a select few students, so learning the ma/ority of the students" intelligences can help me shape my teaching and apply useful ways to cater to their needs. E#amples would include movement for inesthetic learners, or playing songs for those with a strong musical intelligence, that way every student can use their strengths in a sub/ect matter where they might not be confident with in the beginning. %he third concept that I will put into affect in my classroom is using the same type of parenting style I have at home. I want it to be an authoritative teacher, not permissive, uninvolved, or an authoritarian. %here will of course be rules in place to eep the flow running smoothly and have a safe, respectful environment, but I want my future students to feel comfortable coming to me for any reason. %his could be anything from trouble with school wor , with friends, or even something at home. I want there to be mutual respect and understanding of everyone"s feelings, but I will not tolerate misbehavior. By showing that I care for every student, but laying out the boundaries from the start of the year, I feel we can have a good teacher)student)peer bond in my classroom.

1 0oolfol , +nita. Educational Psychology. 10th ed. Boston1 2earson Education, 3004. 2rint.

Teaching Philosophy Keeping on Track

Emily Nelson

+n important thing to remember about teaching children is that there is always the un nown. *omething may come up that disrupts the class, such as a misbehaving student, a fire drill, or another event that distracts from the lesson. +s a teacher, I plan on being fle#ible and change the plans to fit with the environment. For e#ample, if children are not grasping a topic, I will throw out the schedule and go over what we are discussing until everyone is on the same page. If class time gets interrupted, once we can get settled down, I will redirect the students to the lesson. By not using a rigid structure, but instead going with the natural course of action, the class can prosper and not lose important time trying to get through some sort of mishap. +nother point to eeping the students on trac is having options. I believe it is important to have a couple pro/ects overlap. %he first reason I will implement this idea is to provide the opportunity for the students who wor 'uic er to have another pro/ect to move on to so they will not get bored waiting for the rest of the class to finish. +nother reason is due to the fact many children at that age are still e#panding their attention spans. It may be difficult for some students to focus on /ust one tas at a time. By providing a few pro/ects that overlap, they can choose which to wor on and when, /ust as long as all assignments get finished in the allotted time.

Assessing the Students

0hen it comes to assessing the students, I will utili,e several techni'ues to understand where they are in their learning. In teaching art to young elementary students and any age group, I feel as long as they are following the guidelines of the pro/ect, there is no right or wrong way to produce a final piece. +rt is an e#pression of the self and how individuals interpret the tas at hand will vary between each student. For the pro/ects I assign, I will give them certain specifications they must adhere to, but what they produce will be from their own creativity and how they e#press their understanding. +t the end of each pro/ect, I will use a scoring rubric to determine if each student followed the directions. %he grade will not be based on my personal taste or preference, but whether or not the student produced a piece according to the provisions and correlating to the concepts I have taught. I want to see each child"s creativity come through and develop over the course of the year. I will also have each student store their artwor in a portfolio, so they can see their own progress they made from the start of the school year. For the information about art concepts, such as educating the students about the color wheel, I will use practical applications, or performance assessments, to have the students demonstrate their understanding. Each student will produce a color wheel using some type of media$ each student will mi# primary colors to get the secondary colors. +fter they finish the assignment, I can assess where each child is in their learning of the concepts and determine who needs more assistance to grasp the ideas. 0hen assessing the students" understanding of art history 5 6a &inci, 2icasso, the 7enaissance, or 8ubism 5 I will give short, multiple choice tests, or summative assessments, to ma e sure the students are learning the information.

!y ultimate goal as a teacher is to provide students with a comfortable learning environment, where they are free to e#press themselves through art. I want to cater to their needs and help them build upon their confidence, not /ust in the creative world, but as individuals growing into young adults.