What I really leaned by teaching this class was how to manage my mistakes and keep on going with the lesson. Contrary to what I used to believe, not all students will even know that you made a mistake and when you do happen to make a noticeable one, its ok to share that with your students. I used to think that you had to cover up what you did but what I learned was that its important to let your'e students know that what you do isn't always perfect. I made the mistake in class with giving the wrong description of an artist and after, I shared with them that I made the mistake of the medium the artist used. The students then appreciated the fact that I wasn't perfect with everything and allowed them to feel comfortable with making mistakes in their own art making.
Everyone will make a mistake in their art practice and its important to learn from what you did. Something that Mrs. Noel tells us to tell our students is to make our "oops" into a "beautiful oops" meaning that we must take what we think we messed up on and continue to work with it to make it into something aesthetic. Moreover to be ok with our mistakes and continue on without giving up. Art reflects this concept with the idea that not everything we are going to make will be "perfect" yet we must persevere and continue our practices. For this particular work of art, I started out with painting a face which in my opinion did not look good. I decided to work through this "stuck" felling I encountered and turn my painting into an abstract form. To accomplish this, I had to take a risk and persevere through the uncomfortable feelings that i felt to make the piece into something that I was proud of. I used acrylic to get more of the messy abstract look to it and that decision in material was crucial to the change in appearance the piece changed into.
Not only do you have to persevere through mistakes that you will make as a teacher, but also in your own art making practice. You must learn that not everything you create will be what it intended to be in the beginning and that's ok. Knowing how to overcome these obstacles will help you become a better teacher because it will put you into a position to where you will understand how your students feel when they are felling like they are in the same position.
