Teaching Statement - Sara Stevens

  

My belief is that every young person, no matter their learning level, has a creative side that needs to be released.  As an art educator, I want to give them that opportunity.  I believe that creativity helps ease the mind of the daily drama that comes from life. School can be very stressful and demanding; students having very little time to express what they are feeling.  Art is a way for students to express themselves and release emotions that are bottled up inside, as well as to learn about their time in school and that of other areas.

As I teach them how to make art I will also be able to teach them about art and how it was created in various periods of time. I will teach using the framework of Disiplined-based arts education (DBAE), which covers that students will study production, history, aesthetics, and criticism of the visual arts. Art history plays a very large part in understanding the art world. I don't want the students to moan and groan at the word "history". After the lesson is taught, I want them to be cheering, have questions, and want to research issues. I will purposely leave out information in my lecture, so they will be forced to get onto the Internet and use books to conduct their inquiries. Hopefully as they research they will find more information about other artists and how they practice.

I would like to involve graphic design as part of my instruction. In today's world technology is crucial. Students should become aware that art is all around them including the advertisement that they see everyday. I will keep the guidelines of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skill (TEKS) in mind when I make lessons and unit plans.

As an educator I will have to keep up with the changes in teaching styles. I will attend workshops and seminars throughout the year. This will keep me up to date on the standards that the state requires, such as the TEKS as well as the national standards. I will join select teacher organizations, such as National Art Education Association (NAEA) and I am already a member of the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA).

If I do nothing else I want to be able to have a small impact on the way the students look at art and how they may respond or express themselves to it later on in life. When they leave my classroom they will have been taught diversity and how other cultures express themselves through art.