The educational theory presented by Franz Cizek, who devoted his life work to the study of children and the way they learn, is one of my models. Cizek said that every child has their own creativeness in art making. He didn’t interfere with his students’ process of art making because he knew their environments influenced them, and this was a good thing. He let them be. He would only guide them if they asked him for help. Cizek states: “The most beautiful things in the creating of the child are his mistakes. The more a child’s work is full of these individual mistakes the more wonderful it is. And the more a teacher removes them from the child’s work the duller, more desolate and impersonal it becomes.”
My goal as an educator is to encourage each student to be himself or herself in their artwork. One of my favorite art lessons is “blind contour drawing,” where you look at an object and draw the object without looking at your paper. This drawing concept was developed by Nicola Kimon in her book The Natural Way to Draw. The students keep focused on the object while their paper is hidden by another piece of paper over it. This exercise prevents the students from becoming self-conscious or wondering if their drawing is like the drawing of other students. Everyone who does this type of drawing ends up making “mistakes” because there is a lack of control built into the exercise. The mistakes are celebrated in the final work as Franz Cizek suggests.
I enjoy working with my hands and teaching kids to express themselves with their hands as well. I like to draw, paint, act, ceramics, build things and do fashion design whenever I have a chance.
The most valuable lesson about teaching I learned from my supervisor Evelyn Serrano was how she adjusted her teaching for students of different grade levels, abilities and kids with special needs. She instilled confidence and inspired the students to feel they could do the assignments. She played music in the classroom while the students did their projects. She did this to help and relax them.
My goal as an educator is to encourage each student to be himself or herself in their artwork. One of my favorite art lessons is “blind contour drawing,” where you look at an object and draw the object without looking at your paper. This drawing concept was developed by Nicola Kimon in her book The Natural Way to Draw. The students keep focused on the object while their paper is hidden by another piece of paper over it. This exercise prevents the students from becoming self-conscious or wondering if their drawing is like the drawing of other students. Everyone who does this type of drawing ends up making “mistakes” because there is a lack of control built into the exercise. The mistakes are celebrated in the final work as Franz Cizek suggests.
I enjoy working with my hands and teaching kids to express themselves with their hands as well. I like to draw, paint, act, ceramics, build things and do fashion design whenever I have a chance.
The most valuable lesson about teaching I learned from my supervisor Evelyn Serrano was how she adjusted her teaching for students of different grade levels, abilities and kids with special needs. She instilled confidence and inspired the students to feel they could do the assignments. She played music in the classroom while the students did their projects. She did this to help and relax them.