Entering the Concepts of Art Education classroom I felt this fear of failure for when I have to lead a classroom of my own. I didn't know how to successfully "teach" or if, when I did get my classroom, I'd be prepared to do so. Through the duration of this course, this fear has slowly faded thanks to service-learning experiences, readings, and lesson planning.

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         When it was first introduced that I would be allowed to lead my class setting for the first time, I have to admit I was very wary. I knew I would be able to talk to students because of my experience coaching and shadowing middle school classes, however, to give them a project, and for it to become an actual physical outcome rather than a theory, was admittedly scary and exciting. Teaching in my first class-like setting, I felt very much in my element and I felt alive leaving that day. In his article "I Love to Teach", Phillip Peaks talks about why the field of education is so rewarding based on something William Lyon Phelps said, "I love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a musician loves to play, as a singer loves to sing, as a strong man rejoices to run a race." Beforehand, I knew I wanted to be a teacher because of my coaching experience however, it felt almost therapeutic and exhilarating to get to work with students in this way and I couldn't be more excited for my future as a teacher. 

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          One of my biggest takeaways came from reading from the start of the course. In Hogan, Jaquith, and Gould's "Shifting Perceptions of Quality Art in Art Education", they state that as a teacher you must teach good artistic habits of artistic techniques, but still leave room for choice and freedom in projects. This is something I had been introduced to in previous education courses, but I hadn't gotten the chance to see this in action. I took this theory into all my lesson planning and projects ideas and found some success. Testing this out in my lesson plans and classroom setting showed success because students have the freedom to express themselves while still learning and improving. In testing this teaching theory, I found that there is such thing as too much freedom. This was an important lesson to learn because too much freedom can mean confusion, which gets translated into incomplete projects.

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          I pride myself in being fluid in my ability to stay on my toes and to quickly adapt my plans in the classroom because students never stick to a specific or predictable path. This is mainly due to the theory that students have multiple intelligences and all learn differently. The course text states that it is the teacher's job to provide opportunities, acceptance, unwavering support, investment, and reflective practices. These are all practices of a teacher that uses differentiated instruction to work with every student's specific way o learning. I bring this up because without this theory I'd probably still be against lesson planning, however by creating lesson plans, I can make sure that I am thinking about every possible outcome beforehand and go into my teaching extra prepared despite being able to be adaptable. So, maybe I have to stray from my lesson plan because it's not working in the way I planned, I still will have that framework and timing to keep in mind while teaching. I can focus more on my students rather than focusing on the project itself because I already came prepared.

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          To say the least, this course pushed me to become a better educator and further supported my thoughts that I need to be a teacher. All that is thanks to readings, service-learning, and lesson planning. I will now continue to better myself as an educator every day and never accept failure.

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References

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Fountain, H. (2014). Differentiated instruction in art. Davis.

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Hogan, Jillian, et al. “Shifting Perceptions of Quality in Art Education.” Art Education, vol. 73, no. 4, 2020, pp. 8–13.,

          doi:10.1080/00043125.2020.1746161.

         

Peak, Philip. “I Love to Teach.” The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 32, no. 4, 1950, pp. 143–143. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stabl 

          e/20332026. Accessed 14 Dec. 2020.

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