Sunday 28 March 2010

Digital...art?


Walking by Hannah Taylor
I am finding that as an Art teacher many assumptions are made about you and what goes on in the classroom; you either spend all you time teaching Photoshop on Mac's and that everything you do is digital or your teaching is described as "Arty Farty" through lack of understanding.
Teaching for an art teacher is really no different to any other subject. As a teacher you:
  • Share your enthusiasm to encourage students to be inquisitive, investigate and develop their skills.
  • Use examples from history and current culture to make learning relevant to their lives.
  • Employ everything in your arsenal of tools, materials and techniques  to make teaching and learning possible.
Yes I do teach very traditional drawing and painting but I also teach Photoshop. I teach collage yet I also teach stop frame animation. I am struggling to put into words what a 21st century Art Teacher is, all I know is that we can no longer be pigeon holed the way we once were.

2 comments:

  1. I hear your struggle very well. Many jobs in schools get misunderstood because of the change that technology has made. I have several colleagues who have become the head of assessment because the tools are now computer based. The test might be computer based but that doesn't mean the computer teacher should become the expert.

    Just remember, there is a lot of value in hearing your thoughts like this. We need to have more open discussion on how our fields and jobs are changing. Dr. Jason Ohler has done a nice job of pointing this out as he talks about Art as the next "R" equivalent to the others.

    Great thoughts ... Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks I will follow up and look at the work of Dr. Jason Ohler.

    ReplyDelete