I started looking into the art of Rosemaling and have had a ton of fun researching and discovering all of the different forms of patterns and designs that can be made. Very exciting stuff and I am ready to include more of it in my lessons.
The Importance of Diversity in Education
I had the opportunity to observe in a few classrooms throughout my education journey. In this process, all of the teachers I got to sit with did not speak Spanish. Having come from an immigrant family and known the struggle of not being able to communicate with others I did my best to locate students who had a language barrier and introduce myself. I like to let students know that I speak Spanish because I know it is so important to students to be able to communicate with someone. I wanted to share a visual representation of this concept. After speaking to a high schooler who primarily spoke Spanish he showed me the painting below.
He asked me how to improve his painting as he was trying to paint leaves falling. In Spanish I gave him quick instructions on how to stipple with a fan brush and create the illusion of leaves falling, this combined with penciled-over drawings helped him create the effect he wanted. He went to his desk and create the center image below, he was so proud of himself afterward he brought the painting over to my desk. I was happy to see how excited he was although sad to see he had thrown the previous image away. I fished it out of the trash and kept it as a reminder of the importance of the work I am doing and how important it is to communicate with all students. Many students who do not primarily speak English feel cast out, I want all my students to know how important they are and how capable they are.
Interviewing Art Educators in the Field: Karissa Lalima
Karissa Lalima brings passion and joy to her classroom every day. Having seen it all in a “post covid” world Karissa is spirited and dedicated to her students. I hope to be half the educator she is come my entry into public school education and know that after this interview I will carry the tools she has provided me into my classroom. My greatest takeaways after this interview would have to be
· Always continue to learn, the landscape in the education world is always changing especially post 2020
· Focus on your students and roll with the rest
· Continue to love art every day and surround yourself with the both old-school and new-school art topics
Thank you to Karissa Lalima for providing me with such a fantastic observational experience and I do hope to continue my push forward into education with as much passion as you have exemplified in the time I was able to observe your classroom.
Researching Artistic Topic Summary
Topics of Choice:
Social emotional learning through art
Gaining self confidence in the art room
Exploring creativity outside of established norms
Accepting failure
Making a safe environment for experimentation
Dealing with emotions through art
Topic exploration:
My interest in teaching art is deeply rooted to my own experience of understanding my emotions and trauma through art. Having come from an immigrant family worrying about my loved ones one day being deported as well as struggling with a home life that was less than stable I had to use art as a tool to understand what I was going through. I hope to one day help my students better understand themselves through their art as well as the world around them.
I was unsure if the path of art therapy or art teaching was right for me, both felt effective to reaching my goals but ultimately I landed on art teaching. I understand not everyone can afford art therapy and for parents who already look down on things like therapy I figured it was a profession that I would not be able to reach the people I most want to help. I want to create a safe space in my classroom and let my students know that they can express themselves when they come through my door no matter what.
Interview Statement:
I would like to interview Karissa Lalima for my research topic. Karissa is the ceramics teacher for Centereach high school and attempts to include social emotional learning through her classroom.
Quotes from my Observations (Teaching Resources)
The art room is filled with sayings and quotes to help instill order and regulation into a sometimes chaotic and fast-paced environment, I gathered a few of my favorite quotes from the educators I have observed that helped guide students without creating a hostile environment.
“My one rule is be respectful, if you think what you’re doing is not respectful its probably breaking my rule”
“Tools not toys”
“No free time just free art”
“Finished not Perfect”
In many ways these quotes help give students a gentle nudge in the right direction, it helps give them an understanding of how they should feel about the work they are doing and how to manage themselves in the classroom, I feel quotes like this can be far more powerful than any long lecture about classroom behavior.