My high school experience was pretty typical, but I was had a lot of apathy towards my peers. I really despised the trivialities of teen socializing, mainly gossiping. Art was my main interest, and I put most of my effort into my artwork rather than my school work. I didn’t have bad grades, but I frequently would “coast” my way through classes because they didn’t matter to me. I was involved with the Art Club and Drama Club, and spent most of my weekends building sets for theater. I was defiantly an art kid, and made strong, personal bonds with my art teachers.
What I fear most about teaching is handling defiance, mainly about being productive. I slacked off a lot in high school, and I know that the art room is an environment where this behavior may occur more easily. I’m not so much worried about how to immediately respond, but more interested in making students respond to the material positively so that they want to be productive.
I know I’ll learn a lot from my first few years teaching. What I am most excited about is helping students through their processes, and learning simultaneously with the students. The process of experimenting while making art increases my interest a lot, and I think students will be more interested when they start experimenting on their ideas.
I find it very interesting that you made strong personal bonds with your art teachers. The reason why I am interested is that I believe I may have made some strong bonds with the very same people. I noticed your letter jacket is from Rock Island, I graduated from Rock Island myself! I loved Mr. C and Mr. Adams, they were the teachers that convinced me to stick with art and become a teacher. Did you have the pleasure of being in their classes? I was an art kid myself!
ReplyDeleteSlacking and general apathy is something I worry about in my classrooms also. I remember being very motivated in my HS art classes but I also remember how contagious an a-motivational attitude could be in those very same rooms I was so eager to get to everyday.
ReplyDeleteI also made some pretty strong connections with some of my HS art teachers and still communicate with one of them to this day. It's that kind of rewarding relationship that I think is going to help me from getting to deterred by those who don't feel like doing their work.
Defiance is also a very worrisome subject for me. I was really enthusiastic about art in high school (everyone in our class probably was), so I don't know what to say to someone who doesn't understand or want to participate in art. I constantly got the "Why would you do art OUTSIDE of class?" when I was in high school. I never understood why I wouldn't, so I worry about how to motivate kids who aren't passionate about art.
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