As a young girl, I loved art. I loved making it, learning about it, showing other people it, going to museums with my mother, and hanging it on my walls. What I did not love about art, however, was the lack of appreciation for the potential for learning, improving mental health, and importance of understanding and respecting it that many school systems do not seem to stress.
When I began doing art, I was a child. I did art for the absolute purity of enjoying it and wanting to do it. As I got older, it became evident that wanting to do it would not be enough. Especially not for my small town that decided sports were more important and deserved more funding even if that meant that my high school art teacher, the only art teacher in my school, would receive 200 dollars per semester while teaching 7 classes, all with at least 30 students, yes, 30, and was expected to make due. Did I mention that at least one art was required by every student in the school before graduation? Despite her being the only art teacher, other than my mother and babysitter, that I had witnessed, there was no time, and no funding to make my dreams of an amazing art class during high school come true. The reality of this story is that there are so many schools in America- and all over the world, just like this. There are also teachers who don’t care, teachers who don’t know, and schools without art programs. Period. It can be a sad reality for many students.
So, when I decided that my idea to make money in a field I was unhappy in would make my life better was a bad idea, art is where I went back to. I always run back to art. It’s kind of my first love. Bad day? art. Stressed? art. Happy, sad, confused, mad, absolutely everything in my life went right back to art. I had an art program and a teacher who cared deeply. That was enough. Yes, the program was falling apart, yes, there was no funding and it made things hard, BUT, my teacher cared, and there was a small opportunity. I want to be that opportunity for someone that needs one. To be the absolute best person I can be to help the child that I was. To help the child who was lost and not good at math, succeed and feel apart of something, to have a sense of identity and community. To educate to my best ability, help students rise above their odds, to help make a good change, to help students to succeed to the best of their abilities.
That is my teaching philosophy. It is long and complicated, but in my defense, people are complicated. Students deserve to be treated like people and have every available opportunity and angle to help them.
I have learned a lot. I’m still learning. I will continue to learn.
Riley's ART 267 Blog 