At the beginning of this semester, I was fearful of the workload and teaching expectations of my education courses. It was hard to imagine myself co-teaching a whole elementary art class with one of my peers, leading Brainy sessions, teaching my peers, and teaching multiple lessons at the high school level. Throughout the last couple of years in the art education pathway, we’ve been studying so many concepts, strategies, tools, and methodologies for teaching, but did not entirely get to conceptualize them by putting them into practice. Now that these new teaching experiences are coming to a close this semester, I am recognizing the transformation in my teaching philosophies, perspective, and abilities.
Some of the major transformations I have observed in my perspective and in my journal reflection process are changes in my teaching philosophy based on discoveries I have made through teaching experiences. For a while I had a hard time envisioning myself as a teacher and the style of teacher I am. After a peer teaching experience in my EDUC 450 course at Poudre High School, peers provided feedback about my teaching personality and demeanor in front of a classroom, which ultimately helped me realize my presence in the classroom. I realized both my strengths, being a good listener, calm, prepared, and flexible, as well as my weaknesses, like my quiet voice and energy levels. I have also seen major progressions at Polaris as a co-teacher with Katie, where my confidence levels and classroom management strategies have improved.
Overall, the major concepts and philosophies that are exemplary of my evolution as a teacher are: cultural responsiveness, inclusion, respect, collaboration, and flexibility. It is from these concepts that I developed the art making process for my autoethnographic artwork. When reflecting on the materials and processes that could technically and conceptually represent my teaching journey, I immediately thought of the weaving process and the interconnected nature of fiber arts.
Each week I created a small section or threads of material that I plan to transform into a final woven artwork. This became a process of deconstructing and reconstructing, or threading and rethreading, which gave me the idea of using #threading as the overall autoethnographic artwork theme. The materials used for each journal entry varied over time; one week I used paper to create strands, another week I cut up photographs, and another I used a monoprint from studio class.
The drawings, words, photographs, paperwork, and other artworks that I deconstructed and sewed into threads were representative of my learnings each week. In the final artwork, I plan to weave and sew all of these materials together to create a connection between all the things that I have learned and my experiences from past, present, and future. Through the weaving process, I will interconnect these experiences and materials to create an interwoven symbol and metaphor of my teaching.
Throughout this entire semester, my journal entries have reflected on the nature of teaching as a process of learning, teaching, reflecting, and altering. In the same way, creating a weaving becomes an intricate pattern of threading the weft into the warp and rethreading to alter mistakes that arise. In a weaving, there is consistency in the way the technique is executed, but it also requires spontaneity and flexibility when unexpected moments occur. By the end, there is inevitably a great deal of variation in each woven thread, but the final product is an inclusive, connected, strong work of art.