What events/moments/experiences change or refine on my past perspective to look at teaching and learning now?
What I realized was how much of an impact developing relationships with students mean and what that actually looks like in the classroom. I focused on really getting to know all of the students to the best of my ability (for the first day I had with them) and I was shocked to see how they reacted in the end. I ended up getting hugs from all of the female students at the end of the class when they were leaving as well as a drawing from one of the students who drew me and put a large red hard with the phrase, " I love Miss Erin". My heart honestly melted after I read this and saw how in just one day of me developing a relationship with them could be.
How can I utilize art to represent my change or revision?Â
For me, art speaks as a visual representation of how I can interpret my experience with the absence of words. The more I create art and document how I feel by painting or drawing allows me to develop a history record where I can look back and see the difference between one art piece to the next. For this specific piece I decided to just go all out and paint with out thinking specifically what I was going to do and allow the brush work and small decisions to take control. I can see now how I was feeling based on the painting that I created and how I made something beautiful yet chaotic at the same time which is a perfect representation of how the day went at Beattie.
How can different materials/forms assist me to express the change or revision?
Different materials can alter how the end product will look based on my feelings of the day that I endured. Instead of drawing with pens and markers like I did last time, I decided to use paint which gave me the opportunity to be more fluid and get my subliminal thoughts out faster without me having to over think what I was trying to convey.
How does this experience influence my path of be/coming an artist and educator?
This experience of being at Beattie and teaching for the first time with also the aspect of documenting by painting after the experience created an authentic reflection for me. I can use these paintings to gage how I feel and reflect on my previous experiences to make be a better educator. I can also use these painting in my classroom to show my students what current work I am working on. As for being a better artist, this documentation and reflection allows me to continue my practice of painting and have time to create while still being a teacher.Â
