Art is an Essential Part of Education for Young Children

Art education has been widely misused as a rare rewarding moment of self expression for young children. Instead art can be used as an engaging, scholastic tool to teach them to make meaning. Teachers often play a key role in the raising of students just as parents and guardians do; it is their responsibility to carefully consider how best to engage and impact each individual student to lead them in a positive direction. Art classes can be a unique opportunity to create a sense of community and school culture amongst diverse groups of people. Although the impact of these resources it is not always calculable, art education can be an opportunity to teach the more conceptual skills to students that will help them be more successful at any path of life or goal they have. Only when proper time and resources are there for students can they gain the special knowledge that art integration has to offer. Art can be related to every subject as music is written mathematically, poetry is written linguistically, and chemicals are in the materials in which we use to create; but still, art has always been on the back burner compared to the core subjects in public schools across the US It is been shrunk into mindless crafts and fun time, which has now made its impression to be seen as a pointless class. The impact of art education on children needs to be presented more publicly in order for this impression to be changed. Also, without quality teachers, the useful skills art education offers will never seep into the minds of young children. It is absolutely essential to analyze teacher pedagogy, teacher-student relationships, and traditional classroom instruction in order to find how to best reach and impact students with art education. With all that in mind, when given quality resources all young children will benefit from art education and in the process they will learn other capacities, although often immeasurable, which will help them move through life more swiftly at whatever they choose to pursue. 

In this paper I will cover the different topics involved with art education in young children. First, how the teachers can create an environment in which they can help children head in a positive direction and the roles and responsibilities they have as educators. Next, I will cover the students firsthand experience, and how the classroom influence impacts their self-concept. Third, I will explain how creating meaningful and relatable lessons impacts student engagement and achievement level. Then, I will address how teaching art as a scholastic subject, and not simplified down to solely time for self expression, will lead students to the all advantages they can have from art education. Lastly, I will cover the specific advantages that students who take art education can have. 

These are things I have begun studying while in the Teacher Credential Preparation program at Otis college for two years now. I have had the opportunity to earn an internship and spend my junior and senior years assisting and observing in an art classroom at an alternative K-8th grade school in Santa Monica, CA. I have also taken a few different courses on teaching pedagogy, which were very informative to me. I am preparing to become an educator after I finish getting my credential and I look forward to running my own classroom one day. I have been spending lots of time reviewing old readings and picking up some new books as I mentally organize my own theory on how I plan to go about having the responsibility to be a part of raising young children. 

The first research topic that I feel should be considered in this Capstone, with regard to working with young children, is that their self concept is still developing. Language is the first indicator to children that they exist, and that they exist in relation to those around them. They are learning to distinguish their “I” self,  themselves as agent, knower, and constructor, from their “me” self, a social self that is made by others, and when others respond to their actions it makes them known or constructed (Harter, 28). This can be seen when they build with blocks, draw a picture, or put on a performance. They are in control of the outcome and the outcome will affect their relation to the group around them. A young child is only able to describe themselves in concrete, observable characteristics, such as physical attributes, material possessions, behaviors, and preferences; which begins at around ages 3-4, according to the Piagetian stage principles (Harter, 29). It is important that children are told about their life story in order to begin creating a stable and reliable idea of who they are which is otherwise called their self knowledge. This can be done with three different types of memories; semantic, episodic, and autobiographical (Harter 32-33). Semantic memories can be things like knowing what a child's teachers and peers names are, where they go to school, or knowing what colors , shapes, and art supplies are. These are generalized pieces of information that do not recognize where the information was learned. Episodic memories are made from a specific time, place, or experience. When reoccurring they create schemas about what a general event will be like and children begin to remember how people look and behave, and what happens at certain places like their art classroom or the nurse’s office, and based on that they can make assumptions about what it will be like to see those people or to be at a certain place again. Lastly, there is autobiographical memories, which combine episodic and semantic memories to create an overarching narrative about what it means to have lived their personal experiences and establishes a stronger memory. This can include what it was like to live in their town, attend their school, or be one of their family members. When children are able to say where they come from and who they are because of it they are able to see themselves as “an independent entity with actions, contributions, affects and thoughts distinct from others to create their autobiographical memory organized by their I and me selves” and they are more likely to engage in the classroom and establish a stronger memory (Harter, 34). 

As much as language can be an imperative part to a developing child’s self concept, it can also have its own negative consequences. Children can have a hard time linguistically describing their experiences, or may create fantasies and use defensive exclusion to make a situation appear as they would like it to (Harter, 34-35). Defensive exclusion is when people leave out the parts of a story that do not fit their desired narrative. It is also common to hear a child say things like they saw a dragon, a witch, or a unicorn and to over-exaggerate their abilities in reading, drawing, or sports. This is because in very early childhood, children are unrealistically positive and have an “ideal self concept” due to their limited social comparisons and cognitive limitations on their perceived competence. Although they are able to only remember several things at once due to working memory constraints, young children still have a sense of self-esteem; which is why it is essential for teachers to look out for low-self esteem students at this age since they will believe they are either all good or all bad due to their all-or-none thinking capability at this age (Harter, 38).

Self-esteem in young children has been linked to their confidence, curiosity, and independence in the classroom but, surprisingly, competence was not correlated to high self-esteem. Self-esteem was observed to be expressed through a students efforts towards mastery and was not linked of their personal competency. Although, we must consider that there are different socializing agents which can affect a child’s behavior in the classroom (Harter, 39-40). One impact on a child’s identification is their relation to their same gender parent, if they are raised by them. Children are observing which behaviors evoke reactions and how to please parents to avoid negative reactions (Harter, 40). Cultural values can also affect self-esteem and behaviors in the classroom, along with the interpretation of different behaviors. This is why it is important for teachers to have racial competence; “the skills and attitudes required to develop and maintain healthy cross-racial relationships, notice and analyze racial dynamics, and confront racism in the environment and oneself” (Theisen, 138). Children create their self-concept based on their caregivers structure of values. In Western culture, taking personal control and being assertive is seen as highly important and an indicator of self esteem in a child, whereas in Eastern cultures maintaining harmonious interdependent relationships is valued more, as Confucian and Taoist philosophies see self-restraint and control of emotional expressiveness as an indication of social maturity (Markus & Kitayama 1991, as cited in Marshall, 20). Much like Eastern cultures, Latino cultures have a primary concern for other people, and value developing empathy and attention to the needs of others. They are likely to focus on respectfulness, and in the Navajo cultures children are expected to observe before attempting to try new things (Marshall, 20). When making judgements of a child’s self-esteem and competence educators need to look beyond the typical Western views of autonomy and assertiveness as signs of a child showing high self-esteem. Children may also show self-esteem through empathy, sensitive to others, modesty, cooperation, and caring (Marshall, 21). "Self-concept influences future achievement and actual achievement shapes and constrains self-perceptions of competence” (Hanley, 106). It is also important to note that what teachers can often interpret as avoiding doing work can be them avoiding demonstrating their lack of ability. Educators need to remember that children are aware of their relationship to others, and their self-concept is influenced by this relation to the greater whole. Marginalized students can provide an interrogation of the normative by including different experiences, and understandings of the world. When educators represent what is valued by a child’s family, and the larger society, that child will be more likely to have a positive self-concept in different contexts, since they will feel they are of value, believe they are competent, and will learn interpersonal skills because of this (Marshall, 21). 

Victoria Pavlou is known for her research on visual arts education and teacher pedagogy. She studied a group of students aged 11-12 to find the role of their perceptions of competency with their involvement and achievement in art classes. She found that student’s perceived competence was linked to their initial engagement and level of engagement in art activities (Pavlou, 99). Pre-adolescent children have been found to start doubting their abilities in art due to their new cognitive abilities, and a greater awareness of realism, interest in details, and therefore are becoming more self-conscious about their work and their shortcomings in art. The framework in which people interpret and create is based on their goal orientations. Students will either demonstrate their developing abilities or they will show an avoidance goal orientation.  This is when students do not engage in a task when there is a fear of failure (Pavlou, 100). High confidence students will naturally engage in art activities at some level simply because they are instructed to do so. Whereas low-confidence pupils often did not engage in art activities or had many unfinished works, indicating that engagement and effort was linked with students perception of competence (Pavlou, 101-102). She also found that there were activities that were especially interesting to both high and low confidence students. These activities were either novel, unusual, complex, challenging, developed useful new skills, used other forms of art like abstraction, allowed room for choice, related to students interests, or allowed for collaboration and social interaction (Pavlou, 103-105).  As the achievement-motivation cycle showed, student’s choice to engage in art activities is directly connected to perceptions of competence or the expectations of success vs failure, feelings of interest or enjoyment towards the activity, valuing of the skills which the activity develops, and whether the effort-related cost was worth it. In other words, researchers came to the conclusion that art activities need to be important, interesting, useful and worthy of students attention in order for them to engage and benefit (Pavlou, 105-106).

The author Bell Hooks sees teaching as a means to take part in the pleasurable act of resisting the overwhelming boredom and apathy that students too often feel in the classroom. She discussed the necessary commitment between both students and teachers alike to make their learning relevant. In Bell Hooks 1994 book “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom” she explains her theory of engaged pedagogy, which she described as “a combination of anti-colonial, critical, and feminist pedagogies…for interrogating biases in curricula that rein scribe systems of domination…while simultaneously providing new ways to teach diverse groups of students” (hooks, 1994c, p.10, as cited by Florence, 75). This is an example of a progressive education, which is based on a movement towards a more individualized curriculum as a way to better fit the needs and interests of students. It was started in the early twentieth century by John Dewey and other prominent educators of the time (Theisen, xxii). This movement was often only afforded to white, middle class students whose parents waned to provide them with a superior and less rigid form of education (Theisen, 94). Bell Hooks, as a black female activist, was able to take the concept of progressive education and expanded it into a more equitable form by interrogating the traditional classroom normalities which favor those whose cultural norms are closest to that of the classroom. I admired her addition of cautioning against the uncritical allegiance to education and cultural norms in society. This insight is reflected in Hooks’ statements suggesting that fair competition to power and privilege is a social myth—i.e. power and privilege are never equitable—which blinds people of the impact of race, gender, and class in schools and society. She criticized the “transfer-of-knowledge” approach, where teachers view knowledge as established truths, and see themselves as the authoritative transmitter of such truths to passive recipients, the students (Florence, 95). I felt that she is correct in her criticism of mono-centric curriculum based theory, as it favors students whose cultural norms best follow the cultural norms of the school; and therefore they were granted more classroom engagement while alienating and subordinating students who came from alternative cultural norms (Florence, 76). Classrooms which use engaged pedagogy seek to provide students a wider perspective than the mono-centric classrooms allows, giving students a chance to understand themselves and the world more thoroughly. It does not see teachers role as all knowing, authoritative, or dominating privileged voices like in a mono-centric classroom and students are not seen as passive recipients of established truths. Students who are seen as whole human beings with complex lives and experiences and contributors to the classroom dynamic will have a larger ability to engage in the learning process and will be more likely to use their agency (Florence, 77), since students who see themselves as part of the responsibility of the classroom dynamic they can offer constructive input (Florence, 117). Educators who see teaching beyond the compartmentalized traditional style of teacher-student-relationships will lead students to develop their critical consciousness, and self-actualization skills by restoring the excitement and will to learn (Florence, 78). 

Gardner’s 1990 research on developmental psychology summarized by Epstein, states how children are more capable of art appreciation than we allow them to be (Epstein, 40). “Who better to teach art appreciation to than children, who’s senses and perceptions are so open and finely attuned to their surroundings?” (Epstein, 38). As a society we do not place high expectations on children to have visual literacy but if adults give them open ended questions children are able to think and reflect upon the artwork they see and construct simple analyses of what they think an artists intentions are and their own feelings in response to the art they are shown (Epstein, 41). “They can regard artwork from the perspective of style and aesthetics, think about artists’ intentions, describe feelings and sensations evoked by viewing works of art, and evidence genuine interest in the historical and cultural forces that shape the creation of art. If we can accept that children can do these things, we must then ask ourselves, how do we create the kind of learning environment and provide the kind of adult support that encourages art appreciation in preschool?” (Epstein, 41). 

Many educators strive to know what they can we do to increase the likelihood that children’s lives are headed in a positive direction. First, they can do their part in co-creating a secure classroom environment with supportive relationships between teachers and students by being accepting, sensitive, caring, and respectful towards others (Osofsky 1997; LaCerva 1999; American Psychological Association 2000 as cited by Thornburg, 4). “This seems so obvious but just treating students as humans before treating them as students” (Theisen, 76). It is important to remember students have lives just as complex and anecdotal as your own happening experience. Teachers should follow up on students interests, really listen and respond to them, and value them for who they are both in and out of the classroom (Theisen, 72). Forming relationships with students requires a great deal of attention to students identities, emotional states, personal goals, learning history and culture (Theisen, xviii). The population a school serves will determine what the needs, interests, assets, and challenges teachers will need to face in the classroom (Theisen, 141). Teachers will need to ask themselves who are they as teachers, whom do they teach, why do they teach, what will they teach, and how will they know that their students are taking away from their lessons (Theisen, 70). These questions will help teachers be informed on different dynamics of their classrooms and how they should go about creating meaningful connections with students, since research has shown that meaningful teacher-student relationships have the power to advance students social and emotional learning and academic power (Theisen, xviii). For students, when they feel safe, will be trusting enough to reveal themselves in class dialogue (Epstein, 41). These experiences have been shown to build self-esteem and provide opportunities for all students to succeed, as they help teach children problem solving skills and ways of finding healthy solutions (Thornburg, 5).

After considering the classroom environment, they educators have to ask themselves: how will I make meaningful lessons? It is important to always consider who your students are when you are addressing them. “We communicate best by choosing [that] way of speaking to and with…the engaged voice must never be fixed and absolute but always changing, always evolving in dialogue with a world beyond itself” (Florence, 132). There are three components of art education which are all essential to having an enriching art curriculum. They are creating art, looking at art, and talking about art (Epstein, 40) which I will go into in the following few paragraphs. 

Creating art teaches children about the elements of art and principles of design. Some of these are things many of us already know such as line, color, and shape. They are known for being part of the objective, technical value that traditional schools historically saw when they included art in their curriculum. During art class children are learning to generate solutions, apply divergent thinking processes, derive meaning, and gain experience with different types of tools and techniques for art making. Different historical and cultural contexts can demonstrate how visual art has been and is used to communicate ideas. It is beneficial for children to begin taking part in processes that require refining and reworking like art making pushes them to do. Art making can also teach aesthetic valuing, interpreting symbols and other forms of visual literacy. It can also teach making informed judgements and have better ability to compare and contrast. Students should be taught the impact of form and content influence the interpretation of a work of art (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing) Students today are growing up in the digital age so they can have major benefits from understanding how visual media influences all aspects of their world. 

The benefits of looking at art require educators to have a good understanding of instructionally effective questions. These are questions, that when properly framed, lead to students self-initiated learning (Hamblen, 175). “Classroom discussions thrive in an atmosphere conductive to discovery learning and open inquiry” (Hamblen, 175) It is the teachers responsibility to engage all students, and to not tolerate rudeness or ridicule in the classroom. It is helpful to set up rules with student input and act consistently in the enforcement of those rules. One most common example of these rules is students should be instructed to raise their hands or call out to respond and only one student should speak at a time. Effective questioning can be used in other cases than just while looking at art, it can also be useful in answering student questions, art critiques, and informal conversations. It is important to remember to avoid asking run on questions, repeating your question, vague questions, and yes-or-no questions; as they do not allow for students to have as meaningful of a learning experience (Hamblen, 175). Some good questions that can be to asked are to point out, find, identify, or explain something in their own words. Teachers should not only focus on the most verbal students and it is even okay to allow more than one student to answer a question. Students are aware of when you ask them obvious questions which are testing them versus those which they can be intrigued to find the answer to (Hamblen, 175). Questioning should never be done to embarrass students who are not paying attention. 

Talking about art should spring from the interests of the children for when things are relevant and when we are engaged we remember more (Epstein, 40). “As adults it is often our role to facilitate and support pupils depth of learning. An important element in this procedure is our willingness to really listen to pupils and understand them…responding to their motivations, conceptions, and attitudes towards the subject they are learning” (Pavlou, 100). Through dialogue both students and teachers are experiencing growth, as engaged pedagogy places teachers in a well-fitted balance between their content, process, subject matter, and subjects (Florence, 105). Discussions which link theory and practice is a great way to allow room to embrace the experience, confessions, and testimonies of the class; which can give vital dimensions to everyones learning process which can create experiences of seeing interrogation, integration, and multiple perspectives (Florence, 105). It allows students to be seen as individuals, turns classrooms into dynamic settings, and exchanges ideas stimulating an intellectual engagement. When students are this thoroughly engaged teachers can better asses students cognitive abilities, and students can learn to question themselves and relating things in and out of the classroom by appropriating information (Florence, 113). Children naturally engage in classrooms if they have higher self esteem, it is shown that children with richly defined selves have more stable behavior and future goals (Harter, 55). Children who suffer from having an impoverished self lack the ability to evaluate or define themselves often due to having too few referrals for comparisons. They may seem disorganized or appear aimless, but impoverished children can be helped with scaffolding self structures of attributes or narratives for themselves. Teachers should keep these students in close proximity and give them things that motivate or excite them, like a special supply or job, and give them tremendous praise after engaging. “Students want knowledge that is meaningful. They rightly expect that my colleagues and I will not offer them information without addressing  the connection between what they are learning and their overall life experiences” (Florence, 116). It is important for art educators to distinguish between thinking in art from thinking about art, as they will need to use a combination of both to give students a more enriching curriculum. Thinking in art is done when planning and doing art activities, while thinking about art is done by reflecting on artists artwork, and their meaning (Epstein, 38). If students are asked to plan and do art activities, and are then asked to discuss their experiences, their memories will be stronger (Epstein, 41). As a classroom we are all one part of the greater whole, and it can be deeply affective to recognize the presence of one another. “Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of differences but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities, and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world” (Florence, 107).

Art class can be a chance to establish a connection between children’s home and school, which has been shown to create a stronger self-concept in their developing stages (Marshall, 21). Talking to children and parents about what they value is a useful way to ensure that children feel that the classroom is a place to help them, and that they can trust the administration (Marshall, 22). Including references to the cultures of your students and other cultures is a great way to spread appreciation for art, different cultures, and can also connect art to nature. Children can be asked things like how light affects the natural world or how different shapes and textures look in order to spark ideas of how to observe new things. Connecting the world around them to their classroom curriculum is a great way to demonstrate how the innately relational information you’re teaching them will carry over out of the classroom. “Enabling young children to appreciate art gives them another mode of learning through direct encounters with people (artists) and objects (the work they create). By helping children grow from art producers to art appreciators, we deepen their understanding of the world and enrich their lives in the process… for the goal of art education is “to help children increase their capacity to create meaning and make sense of themselves and the world around them” (Epstein, 38-41). 

This theory has been the center of “C. R. A. E. ” or the Culturally Relevant Arts Engagement model, which uses internal and external justice work to recognize the roots of internalized oppression. They see critical reflection as a way to analyze the source and power of knowledge and an ability to step back from the world and to perceive it as it is constructed through linguistic codes, cultural signs, race, class, gender, and other hidden modes of power (Hanley, 7). I see this to be very much related to Bell Hooks engaged pedagogy theory as it interrogates the traditional hierarchical paradigm of the classroom which has created negative stereotypes of marginalized groups. They both also link the pursuit of knowledge and a pursuit of freedom (Florence, 129-130). C.R.A.E. sees artists as often being afforded the ability to be empowered by their culture instead of criticized by it, and this leads to motivation, curiosity, and imagination; “artists involved in critical multicultural education pull, push, rupture, resist, analyze, challenge, reframe, and transform that which was ‘natural’ or dominant is open to interrogation and change…” (Hanley, 9). They find that there is empowerment that comes from creative agency and expression, since art making requires constant decision making and compromising. This teaches children that the outcome quality of their work is determined by their decision making and the medium they used, which will both adjust the meaning and the form of their art; showing them that their freedom is their power, but that they are bound to the limitations and consequences of the world (Friere, 2001, as cited by Hanley, 6). C.R.A.E.’s link between art and activism is strategically important to helping transform self and society in profound ways.

It has also been shown that early childhood art curriculum also carries over into students learning math, science, and language arts. Students who used visual arts to learn math or science, or used language arts to learn drama and puppetry, the learning was deeper, there was more engagement, and the understanding was more readily happening (Hanley, 4). This is done through what is called arts integration, as opposed to a less investigative arts education which provides only arts production. Art production is known as activities that artists learn to express ideas and emotions through media, whereas arts integration is the use of the arts to teach and learn non-art objects; like color being scientific, music being mathematical, and poetry is created out of the art of language (Hanley, 7). The reason art curriculum enhances the other core subjects learning success is because art enhances other areas of development; notably perception, cognition, fine motor skills, language, and social interaction (Epstein, 38). It is a shame that the United States, more then in any other country, treats art education as an unimportant part of a child’s scholastic profile (Gerdner 1990, as cited by Epstein 39), since art is as much an intellectual activity as an intuitive one (Arnehim, 1989, as cited by Epstein, 39). There is much that should be considered which goes into creating artwork. There is the perception, memory, and concept formation, along with the use and transformation of symbols, pattern recognition, and the ability to see similarities and differences (Epstein, 39). “Being able to think about something not present and then find a way to express it is a major cognitive accomplishment for young children” (Seefeldt 1195, 34, as cited by Epstein, 39). When school administrators, educators, and parents value art as a valuable scholastic subject, and not only an expressive activity, they are enabling children to have a chance to improve these skills which span across many other disciplines. 

The potential of the United States, or of any nation’s society lies in their ability to pick and choose what pieces of its past knowledge, traditions, values, and worldview they will pass on to their next generation. As the world changes the future generations will determine whether or not the education passed on to them allowed them to have a functional society. “We create representations of our world to better understand it, express our understanding, and engage in the human conversation of being. One of the forms we create is culture, which according to Geertz (1973) is ‘webs of significance,’ signs, symbols, and meaning spun to explain ourselves to each other and to create a common and remembered experience. Culture is what we share, value, teach, and pass along moment to moment, day to day, and generation to generation…The arts are a way to focus the chaos of culture so that everyone, including artists, can grapple with the ever-shifting complexities of human meaning and experience” (Hanley, 4-5). As we choose the pieces of our knowledge-base which we see as significant enough to be passed on, the ideal progressive teacher can lead the way to not only to transmit academic advancement, but to nurture the complete child.  This exchange between student and teacher is reciprocal, as we all take on our own unpredictable human experiences it is important to remember, we are all sometimes students and sometimes teachers. “The resulting relationship is not akin to that of friendship or family, but a different kind of meaningful relationship, one centered around learning and personal growth for both parties” (Theisen, 90). There is no telling when these climacteric moments will come for those involved, but if we consider how a slight change in the direction of a boat can affect it for miles ahead we can imagine how our time together in the classroom can set off the course of the incoming days, weeks, months, and years to come for those students. 

I am very fortunate that my education courses at Otis College consisted of very small classes, each with only a handful of students. This gave us the opportunity to create a very engaged community full of discussions, practicing lesson planning, sharing our personal experiences, observing different schools, and asking questions to our mentors, who understood us as not only future educators but also as artists. During my time at Otis I began to question things differently than I ever have before, and that was due to my newfound knowledge of art and education. I had never taken a course on teaching philosophy and I was inspired by the new network of professors and students alike. After two years in the teaching program I have found many answers  but I have also came up with many new questions. I have become more well informed on the importance of art education for young children and on the techniques that successful teachers use, but some of the important ongoing questions I have are how can I help to convince others that art education is as important as the other core subjects, and how can I go about creating meaningful, impactful lessons in my future classroom. 

I have been doing an internship in a K-8th grade classroom for nearly a year and a half, and I will be continuing with this school until I graduate in May 2021. I have been able to have a great introduction into classroom observations, lesson planning, and classroom management. It has been great to work with other teachers and the art coordinator to discuss how to make the class run smoothly and be most effective for students. The school that I have been working with uses a progressive approach to education, which I have found myself to strongly align with. They use inquiry based learning and have non-graded narrative student evaluations. Their curriculum is project based and they value students input as crucial to the co-creation of research and meaningful learning. In other words, they feel that it is a reciprocal exchange where students are advancing teachers and administration approach to curriculum as they are advancing the students knowledge. They have quoted David Sobel, an American author and academic, on their mission page stating "If we allow children to shape their own small worlds in childhood, then they will grow up knowing and feeling they can participate in shaping the big world of tomorrow.” I think this is profoundly interesting and wise as I watch the world move into a new era of education from the outdated teacher as all-knowing being philosophy that dominated the twentieth century. I too believe that students need to be given agency in order to realize their ability to make change. Students who are told they need to obey what they are told will not believe in their potential to making a difference in their own lives and the world around them, and will be less likely to do so. Children are capable of much more than we give them credit for and when we allow them to step up to the plate more often than not they will impress us. It has been a wonderful experience to gain first hand classroom experience and to get to put my teaching course knowledge into action. The theory and practice have truly gone hand in hand to helping me go from a dreamer into a do-er. It has been a privilege to get to work with other educators who share my beliefs, and have mentors who are very supportive of my potential as a future educator. I am slowly taking on more responsibility and I am now running my own optional hour long art class every Monday for students in kindergarten and first grade. I have also taken over presenting a planned lesson from the teaching artist, when she was not able to attend a class day on zoom. Lastly, I have also been fortunate to be able to do online workshops with the partner high school and get some experience working with 9th grade students. Online learning has made significant impacts on the approach we have in the classroom; we have had to adapt to the technology, new ways to classroom manage, and the potential for art making through video calls, but I am blown away by how my mentor Julianna has handled it. She consistently comes up with new engaging activities  students can create that have meaningful, intellectual conclusions they can take away from class. These have all been great first steps for me to start my journey towards becoming a future educator and experiencing all the greatness and complications that go on behind the scenes to make a classroom run smoothly. 

The more I am consistently exposed to art the more that I can see how obvious it is that all students can have a significant benefit from having access to art in their classrooms. I didn’t always see this, as a child I always thought it was fun and exciting to see a teacher bring in glitter glue, or colorful paper, I always knew it was fun, and a  privilege to get to have art supplies, since every time we did a project the teachers would remind us many times that we had limited supplies to use and to use the supplies sparingly. Children are naturally very imaginistic, meaning they have an intrinsic way of visualizing new ideas, quickly, and being able to run off and bring them to life. I was very lucky growing up because I always had good quality art classes in my public school years. I didn’t know it at the time but our art program was probably better then most other schools in our state. Our high school had a dark room, film cameras, photo paper, and all the chemicals we needed so we could learn how to do analog photography. We were able to tie-dye clothes, paint and stretch our own canvases, use prismacolor colored pencils, and had 6 pottery wheels. We were able to have 4 different full time high school art teachers, and they all were bright and happy, ready to dive into the wonders of art with the students everyday. My high school art teachers were a main inspiration to me to follow my passion for art after graduating high school. I always saw them as the happiest and brightest of all the teachers and I wanted to one day spread happiness and knowledge just like them. 

I learned when I went to college that not every high school was able to have the same kind of program that I had been a part of. Many schools had simpler supplies and some only had a rolled in art cart into a regular classroom for their art class. At Otis, where I met art students who came from many states across the country, and many countries around the globe, it was clear that everyone had come from different backgrounds of all kinds. Some had been exposed to fine art in museums around the country or globe, knew lots of artists by name, movement, date, and style and already had a vision for their skills and what they were going to make once getting to Otis, but others had just been one of the better drawers in their high school classes and decided to pursue the route afterwards. Im sure that both of these types of people were still surprised to discover the elaborate ways in which we would learn to dissect a work of art. 

At Otis we are taught such unique and critical knowledge about how to understand art and I think we have all gained perspective and language we may never have seen on our own. We are pushed to the near brink of insanity with the amount of information that there is for us to take in to become the best artist we could possibly be. We study everything from figure drawing, to color theory, to the principles of design, art history, and building skills. By the time we complete freshman year we are nearly entirely new brains of information and hands with new skills we had no idea we could achieve. We thoroughly discuss how to critique a work of art from the idea to the execution, and although it is not an exact science we learn, we are still taught how to feel out the object within the realm of which all art exists and to address it accordingly. Now the only negative thing that I will say about my high school teachers is this. The students at the top of the classes were not pushed their hardest. They were treated as if they were doing great and that they could continue on working while the teachers would go around and focused on the students who were having trouble. This did the absolute bare minimum of preparing me for the brutal critiques and standards which I would be subjected to while studying art in college. 

I came in to Otis as nothing more then a halfway decent drawer, and I was hit like a brick during my first semester. I was taking life drawing with Marjan Hormozi, an energetic, incredibly talented woman from England who had been studying her whole life as a representational painter. Her work ethic towards creating was mind-blowing, and she expected us all to have that same drive, passion, and output that she put into teaching us. My first week she told me to go home and re-do my drawing assignment, she gave me 150 reasons it was not working, and that I needed to take more time and effort and go back and do it again, and again, until it was better or I was not going to be make progress or pass the class. I spent my first semester at Otis dedicating myself to becoming a better drawer showing her that I was dedicated and that I respected her knowledge and the opportunity to be in her class. By the end of the first semester I was one of the better drawers in the class, and I had pride in my ability to improve from floating around at the bottom tier of talent to being one of the students Marjan saw as most dedicated, skilled and knowledgeable. I didn’t do it for competition with other students, I simply wanted to be better then I was in the beginning. I knew I was capable of more, but I was never before lead in the right direction of how to achieve it. I was stuck in my high school classes telling me how fabulous my drawing looked, even if it was only halfway recognizable, and I was never pushed to achieve my full potential. Now I felt the chance to see myself improve with proper instruction and dedication to my goal. Marjan never left the students at the top of the class alone. She felt that they were the most dedicated and therefore were the most deserving of her feedback and limited resource, time. The students who did not come to class or submit the homework she did not feel she had to worry about, since they were not worried about her class. Although, this only worked because we were all adults, in a specialized program, who all paid a lot to be there and I do not believe a high school art teacher should ever give up on their students who do not appear interested and eager to learn. I did have an especially fond liking of Marjan’s idea that we could be expected to be mature enough to understand why the students who put in the most effort would be able to have the most feedback and respect from her. Her time and respect was not just given, it was earned. 

My mother has always been a big inspiration to me growing up as an only child and a girl. She always had a way of showing me that nothing was as daunting as I had imagined and that there was never a reason to cry so much. She always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. She told me I was talented and bright and that she would do anything to provide me with an opportunity to get me where I wanted to go; and so when I was deciding where I would attend college I told her I wanted to study art, and become a teacher. At first her and my father were resistant to letting their one little duckling move across the country, all alone, and take a risky path of pursuing art, but they have both provided me with every one to the resources I have needed to come to Otis and succeed; from a plane ticket, to an apartment, loans, supplies, books, you name it. They are the reason why I am here today as a senior at Otis, and they are the reason why I wake up everyday and push myself through whatever my to-do list has in store for me that day. They taught me not only how to push through but how to enjoy every second of the journey. I credit my parents to every success I have ever had and to the artist I have become in the last three years.

I have watched myself grow into a captivated student. I have seen how the endless nights of staying awake touching up projects, reading, and submerging myself into my classes has paid off immensely. I have better hand eye coordination, broader perspective, a more thorough understanding of who I am, who others are, and how to more accurately compare myself to others. I am more in touch with my reactions. I understand more why I am drawn to certain things. I am better able to appreciate movies, music, my home, my friends, and everything else because I have focused on the effort that every work of art small or large takes. I am able to see an ambitious goal and feel that it is not out of my reach, since I have developed my problem solving and critical thinking skills. I am more sensitive to the details in life and do not worry about wasting time on things because I know it is actually time invested. I am more persistent, confident, analytical and stable, and I credit this all to my education at Otis. It is only now, as I see graduation in the near future, that I am able to grasp how imperative being an art student has been to all of my happiness, and success. 

As I reflect on where I want to be after school I know that I am on the right track. I am confident in my abilities, and confident in my choice to one day become an educator myself. I think that what goes on in the classroom has the ability to bring out the potential in students and teachers alike which they never saw in themselves. I want to provide kids with the resources they need to succeed by showing art as a valuable opportunity and not just as a fun activity. I want to open them to new ideas, details, and thoughts they never would have had. I want to turn the classroom into a place of growth, exploration and self improvement. For I feel that those who never get the opportunity to do so go their whole lives with thinking art is not essential, and should be one of the first programs to have a budget cut. The more art programs that are cut the less students, parents, and faculty that get to see the immense value that can come from having an art eduction and it is my goal to persuade all of the doubt out of those who do not see it.

My family, along with my high school art teachers and all my college professors have been major influences on my growth as an artist, life-long learner, and human being; but I have also had many other artistic and intellectual influences. One of which is Dr.Seuss, formally known as Theodor Seuss Geisel, a beloved American author and illustrator of children’s books, who I continue to this day to find more and more artistically and intellectually profound. He had such a unique way of taking heavy subjects and real world problems and turning it into something digestible for children. Which, let’s be honest, is no easy task; but it seemed to come so naturally for him. His silly, lively characters and clever wording has helped to teach countless children how to be themselves, how to navigate life, and how to make the world a better place while doing so. His philosophy to never forget your inner child has turned reading, learning and living into something extraordinary for children and adults alike. A favorite quote of mine by Dr.Seuss is from his book “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”, and it states “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go…” This quote fits effortlessly into my philosophy of teaching and approach towards steering children to use their agency in and out of the classroom in order for them to live a healthy and  fulfilling life. 

For purely visual art, Vincent Van Gogh was a highly influential figure for me in my childhood. I remember in elementary school learning about him and realizing that imagination can be just as important or arguably more important than focusing on things as they appear in current reality. He taught me to focus on what could be instead of what already is, and to never give up on my dreams. Finding out that Van Gogh one sold one painting during his lifetime blew me away. He was talented, unique, and turned ordinary things into the extraordinary similarly to Dr.Seuss. I could not understand why, and although he never became famous for his paintings during his lifetime he never stopped creating, and today he has one of my most famous artworks of all time, “The Starry Night”. I find it extremely inspirational for myself as an aspiring artist to remember that art is a commitment that will not pay off immediately; but that doesn’t mean I should ever give up on it. I will need to avoid being discouraged by the obstacles, and it is something that I will have to work for and earn before I am given any credit. These are the kind of figures I need to look up to in order for me to reach my potential and I am so grateful that Van Gogh’s pain and suffering led to his renowned reputation and serves as role model for so many aspiring artists like myself. 

Over the course of the last few years I have been able to watch my progress as  an artist. During my freshman year I became very interested in my figure drawing course, as I had never before been taught how to draw people in a technical way. I took this class with my professor Marjan Hormozi who I mentioned earlier. I started this course as an inexperienced figure drawer, and feeling behind most of the class, I felt the need to spend as much time as possible practicing. I was able to see a drastic change in my performance with proper teaching and my perseverance. It was also especially helpful to be around  peers who had similar interests and to be able to see them growing along side me. I included an image of one of my figure drawings, as I feel that it shows my dedication towards learning how to draw anatomically. It was very useful to learn how to draw with these techniques as they translated over into my ability to draw and paint any subject matter. I took my newfound ability to correctly measure objects and use line weight to create representational paintings. It was key to have this practice before I started to incorporate color into my works and start painting. In this second image you can see how I was able to incorporate color into my technical drawing skills in a still life painting I did a few months later. The more I practiced and improved I began to really enjoy replicating objects and people in front of me. I began to feel more confident in my skills and my ability to succeed as an art student. I see both of these works as part of a major transitional phase in my journey as an artist. 

As I continued through the fine arts program at Otis I began to experiment with other styles of painting. I began doing a checkerboard series where I incorporated my use of depth and space but in a less realistic way. These paintings often border between abstraction, and surrealism as they use composed shapes placed in an unusual spaces. I have included an example of one of my checkerboard paintings for  reference. I enjoy being able to focus on the perspective of realism but put it into a more imaginative context. I have since done several of these paintings and I have also focused a lot on distortions as another way to study imaginative spaces. Distortions and illusions are common themes in my paintings today as I have been inspired by imaginative artists like Vincent Van Gogh, and Salvador Dali. I have found my own way to incorporate replication with imagination and have lots to explore with the possibilities of fusing different art movements such as surrealism, op art, impressionism, and abstraction. 

It is an important time to advocate for the arts as we are living through a world-wide pandemic; where we are all dealing with restrictions, sacrifices, and an excess amount of death. As creators of culture and history, artists can be a spread hope, imagination, and expression. As Oscar Wilde’s famous quote says “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life” (Wilde, 74). We would all like to claim being unique entities, but we cannot escape being influenced by the world we live in. Artists are telling people what we should see. He referenced the idea of fog in London as a subject for beauty and wonder, but only because poets and painters showcased the appeal. Art had created the social appreciation for such scenarios. Today we are seeing an extreme rise in media and how the influence of it plays out on the business and personal lives of people. “Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art” (Wilde, 87). I think that Wilde was ahead of his time with this opinion as we have seen the exponential advancements in electronic technology and its influence on art over the last few decades since his death in 1990. In this present time, as we rely on art to communicate the multifaceted human experience between each other, we cannot allow the importance of the universal language of art to be diminished. As stay-at-home orders still exist in my city, 9 months after the pandemic began, I cannot stress enough how needing we all are for sources of imagination and reflection. Whether we like it or not, most of us end up using technology to engage in art today. It spans across those who watch television, movies, series, Tiktoks, Instagram stories, or Snapchats; those who read books, articles, or poetry; those who listen to music, audiobooks, or talks; or those who get up in the morning and do things to themselves to make themselves “presentable.” They are all engaging in the influential grasp that art has on the lives of the people. When this unstoppable force is able to reach the people far and wide we must consider it a crucial topic to be discussed, and something we will teach the youth how to observe, consider and reflect on. Only then can we set them up to succeed with their personal, intellectual, and social development. 

As I make my way to the final few months of my undergraduate experience, I am finding ways to tie together the different aspects of art and education that I have learned over the last few years. I have invested into studying children’s self-concepts and the socializing agents which impact their development. I have been creating my own opinions on what my role and responsibilities will be as an educator as I am gaining in-class experience with children and questioning how I will make my own engaging, meaningful lessons one day. I plan to do my best to lead the lives of children in a positive direction by creating a safe classroom environment and meaningful relationships with my students. Some things I will continue to examine in the years to come are how can I help convince others who doubt of the importance of art education, and how can I go about creating meaningful, impactful lessons in my future classroom. I see becoming an art educator as an opportunity to make a substantial contribution to a community. I will use the valuable skills that the arts teaches to enable children to gain stronger self-concepts, connect school to home, and increase their capacity to create meaning and make sense of the world around them. Young children are the future of our society and their likelihood to prosper falls on our shoulders. Children are developing into readers, writers, listeners, and learners in the classroom so that they can one day become the speakers and providers of their generation. An enriching, full education requires incorporating art into the classroom, and as parents, educators, and members of a community, we need to advocate for children’s access to a well-rounded education as it is an indispensable asset.

Annotated Bibliography

1.Epstein, Ann S. “Thinking about Art: Encouraging Art Appreciation in Early Childhood Settings.” Young Children, vol. 56, no. 3, 2001, pp. 38–43. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42727947. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.

Ann S. Epstein is an author of novels, short stories, memoirs, craft essays, and book reviews. She won the Pushcart Prize nomination for creative nonfiction, and the Walter Sullivan prize in fiction. In addition to writing, she has a PhD in developmental psychology and MFA. 

2. Florence, Namulundah. “Part II.” A Critical Analysis of Bell Hooks' Engaged Pedagogy: a Transgressive Education for the Development of Critical Consciousness, by Namulundah Florence, Bergin & Garvey, 1998, pp. 75-133.

Mamulundah Florence graduated with her Ph.D. in general education from Forham University in1998, and then went on to write many publications which granted her awards such as the American Education Research Association Critics Award, for Bell Hooks' Engaged Pedagogy: A Transgressive Education for Critical Consciousness, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey (1998), which I used in this paper. Namulundah now does undergraduate and graduate levels of teacher preparation, including Social Foundations of Education at the Undergraduate and Graduate Level, Diversity and the Inclusive Classroom, Integrative and Multidisciplinary Teaching and Learning, and Seminar in Education Research Methods. 

3. Hamblen, Karen A. “‘Don't You Think Some Brighter Colors Would Improve Your Painting?": Or, Constructing Questions for Art Dialogues.” Art Education, vol. 37, no. 1, 1984, pp. 12–14. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3192787. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020. 

Karen A. Hamblen got her Doctorate of Philosophy from U. Oregon in 1981. She has since been a professor of art education, at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, since 1985, Vice chairman art committee National Board Professional Tchg. Studies  since 1990, Studies and reviewer, consultant Getty Center for Education in Arts, 1991-1994.

4. Hanley, Mary Stone, and Mary Stone Hanley. Culturally Relevant Arts Education for Social Justice: a Way out of No Way, Routledge, 2013. 

Mary Stone Hanley is an educator and an artist who has been examining social justice in the context of education and art for more than 40 years. In 2012 she become the founding president of the HanleyArts and Education Associates for research and design for K-12 arts-based curricula and educator development courses such as Arts Education, Imagination and Creativity, Arts Integration, Interactive Theater, Issues of Diversity and Equity. 

5. Harter, Susan. Construction of the Self, Second Edition: Developmental and Sociocultural Foundations. Guilford Press, 2012. 

Susan Harter, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Denver. She has researched self-esteem, false-sense behavior, classroom motivation, emotional development, and school violence. She won the John Evans Professorship Award, the highest honor the University of Denver can award a faculty member. 

6. Marshall, Hermine H. “Cultural Influences on the Development of Self-Concept: Updating Our Thinking.” Young Children, vol. 56, no. 6, 2001, pp. 19–25. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42728020. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.

Hermine Marshall attended graduated from the Department of Elementary Education from San Francisco Sate University, and then received her Ph.D in philosophy. Since then she has had over 37 publications on educational psychology, child development, teacher education and more.

7. Pavlou, Victoria. “Pre-Adolescents' Perceptions of Competence, Motivation and Engagement in Art Activities.” International Journal of Art & Design Education, vol. 25, no. 2, 2006, pp. 194–204., doi:10.1111/j.1476-8070.2006.00484.x. 

Victoria Pavlou is a professor in the department of education at Frederick University since 2016. She has her PhD as a Doctor of Philosophy and has written over thirty publications on art education, perceptions of competence, understanding art, and more. 

8. Theisen-Homer, Victoria. Learning to Connect: Relationships, Race, and Teacher Education. 

Victoria Theisen-Homer is a postdoctoral research fellow at Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation and completed her Doctorate in Education at Harvard University. Her publications are in journals like Journal of Teacher Education, Schools and Theory and Research in Education and the periodical Education Week. She also won the Los Angeles Unified School District Teacher of the Year award. 

Works Cited

1. California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, "Art Subject Matter Requirements Matrix.” 2009, www.ctc.ca.gov/.

2. Dr. Seuss. Oh, the Places You'll Go! Random House, 2020. 

3. Thornburg, Kathy R. “FROM OUR PRESIDENT: Once Again, Early Childhood Professionals Can Help Make a Difference.” Young Children, vol. 56, no. 6, 2001, pp. 4–5. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42728016. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.

4. Wilde, Oscar. “The Decay of Lying: An Observation.” Intentions: The Decay of Lying Pen Pencil and Poison The Critic as Artist The Truth of Masks, 1891.