Reflecting upon this program of study and how it has affected my views on art and art education there are many things to discuss. Reflective practice in general, the idea of regular pauses for the sake of taking stock of personal and professional progress and efficacy, is a process which I had done informally in my past as a freelance artist and designer, however I missed the major benefits. Formal reflective practice has allowed me to learn more about how I can improve my practice as a professional educator and continue to grow in a constructive and intentional way.
I observe my students and they give me valuable information on their progress and understanding, frustrations, obstacles, and successes. I routinely use the practice of informal observation as a way of professional development. I watch my students work, create, discuss, interact, and process the information and ideas that I am giving them in lessons to assess how they are digesting and using it. This is an additional form of data collection beyond grading and collecting final artistic products. It allows me to see places that I can expand upon or areas where creative implementation can be utilized, such as including more room for choice or collaboration.
I also learn from my peers and observe how they implement lessons, give assessments, manage classrooms, and provide encouragement. I can glean information and practices that are beneficial and see areas where I can improve. Additionally, I can seek innovative ideas from younger educators and witness well founded processes from experienced teachers that I can learn from. I am open-minded and willing to see practices in the STEM fields of study that can aid in my teaching habits just as I hope to impart the benefit of how artistic and creative study can benefit their fields. One thing that I have enjoyed and will miss is the great wealth of knowledge that I have experienced in the discussion groups in this Master of Art in Education course. Routinely addressing curriculum and artistic processes in art education with dozens of educators from a wide variety of fields, age groups, and international locales is a resource that I will not easily replace.
I have been able to take many transformative courses while in this Master course, including Art Education 7767 Critical Analysis of Multicultural Art Education taught by Dr. Joni Boyd Acuff. I have been handed the tools to make me a meaningful multicultural art educator who can be, as Bettina L. Love noted, not an ally, but a co-conspirator (Love, 2019). Teachers must be educated in culture to embrace and teach different cultures of children. Love rejects blame and responsibility in favor of theory and seeking solutions by use of abolitionist teaching. Theory gives you language to fight knowledge and stand up on the humbling reality of what intersectional social justice is up against (Love, 2019). Other readings included Rothstein's The Color of Law. In this book, Rothstein, a Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute, and an Emeritus Senior Fellow of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Legal Defense fund, investigates the history of our government’s involvement in both legal and social programs and influence to keep America segregated by race, specifically black and white.
Additionally, ARTED 7708 Universal Design for Learning: Disability Studies and Art Education taught by Dr. J.T. Eisenhauer Richardson. UDL (Universal Design for Learning) was an eye-opening course that allowed me to see how I could remove barriers to learning that I was unaware of. The published writings of Dr. Richardson and others in the efforts to bring advancement for UDL were especially enlightening. Many studies sought to bring light to the problematic language of inclusionism, which conflicts with the principles of disability justice. Quoting from Wexler and Derby (2015) from an article in Studies in Art Education the authors noted that: Terms such as special needs and special education set up barriers to a shared education and socialization between children and youth with disabilities and their nondisabled peers. Special and other euphemisms prevent the placement of disability, a term representing a large minority with strengths and weaknesses on the same continuum as ability and they inhibit students with disabilities from acknowledging and responding to authentic differences regarding corporeal and sociocultural understanding. (p. 138) Such language justifies sorting of students into distinct categories and shows a system that judges bodies against a “norm.” The authors suggest that the Art Education Research Institute (AERI) take up new language that is more in line with the views of the disability justice movement and remove such oppressive language from pedagogies.
I have undergone some key changes in my views on art education as well as my attitudes towards my student learners. I value the process of teaching through encouragement and finding success in failure. I strive to better know my students, both as a population and as individuals. The students that I intend to educate are my co-researchers and I want them to know and respond as such, giving them respect due to that role. I seek ways to identify best practices as an artist and in art education through reflective exercises. I advocate for the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) model and intend to justify the value of creative thinking and problem solving. Some goals that have not diminished are my intentions to expand post-secondary learning and grant work to give future art students the opportunities provided to me by an art educator.
References
Love, B. L. (2019). We Want to Do More Than Survive. Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Chapters 6-7.
Rothstein, R. (2017). The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Chapters 1-3, 1-59.
Keifer-Boyd, K., Bastos, F., Richardson, J. (Eisenhauer), & Wexler, A. (2018). Disability Justice: Rethinking “Inclusion” in Arts Education Research. Studies in Art Education, 59(3), 267–271. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/10.1080/00393541.2018.1476954