Art Blog - Tales from the Art Side

It is my opinion that self reflection is perhaps one of the most important attributes of a successful teacher. This characteristic is essential because it bears so heavily on the overall quality of education an instructor provides. Whether successful or not, I believe the culmination of every project should lead to some degree of reflective thinking on the part of the educator. These introspective inquiries should be motivated by a sincere desire to further improve the instruction, application, and outcomes involved in the lesson. And I find, more often than not, that the one factor requiring modification or revision is the method in which I am presenting the project… Continue reading… 3 comments

My slightly askew and easily distractible mind often compares the process of teaching kids art to swimming against the current of a rapidly churning river. The implications of this analogy might suggest that I feel some kind of affinity with salmon and the determined effort they make swimming up stream each mating season. The fact is, I do not. The salmon perseveres so that they can eventually spawn, whereas I would simply like a teenager to be able to tell the difference between an abstract painting and a non-objective one. But before I get myself hopelessly off topic, allow me to try and illustrate my point. Teaching kids art, or any subject for that matter, is similar to paddling across the current in that it requires an exorbitant amount of effort… Continue reading… 6 comments