There is, has been, and will always be a certain group of people whom inspiration visits. It’s made up of all those who’ve consciously chosen their calling and do their job with love and imagination….Their work becomes one continuous adventure as long as they manage to keep discovering new challenges in it.
– Wislawa Szymborska, 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature Lecture

Teaching is my chosen calling. It is a challenging yet fulfilling adventure, requiring love and imagination to shape future generations. Believing in lifelong learning, the teaching profession provides an experience to grow daily with students by looking for ways to improve and better serve their individual needs. In addition, I want to be an educator in order to share art with others, to help them learn and appreciate the many outlets and opportunities it provides.

When cultivating creativity in children, it is the art teacher’s role to inspire and challenge students to be innovative. Channeling imagination and ingenuity when developing art lessons, the teacher can address multiple learning styles, promote diverse perspectives and endorse individual expression. By orchestrating unique problem solving circumstances, students engage in critical thinking processes that lead to a deeper level of understanding. It is important to teach students not only how to make art, but to identify its context, to interpret, to evaluate as well as to speak about art. This is achieved through the use of a discipline-based curriculum that includes art history, studio methods, aesthetic inquiry and art criticism.

A place where inspiration and exploration mix, the art classroom also provides students with an opportunity to analyze and reflect on the imagery of their visual culture. Integrating digital media with fine art processes allows students to investigate visual literacy while developing useful technical skills. With a background in graphic design, I will be able to share firsthand knowledge of technology as well as the demands of the creative industry in order to better prepare students for the future, especially those interested in the field.

The arts represent a common thread in humanity. They represent a form of expression that fulfills a desire to create while providing insight into contrasting cultures and people. As the digital age progresses, the world is more interconnected making it essential that students learn to appreciate the diversity around them and to better understand their global community. Since art is an interdisciplinary subject, it can be used to broaden students’ perspectives by connecting to themes in other courses and cultures in addition to helping translate their personal experiences of the world. Thus, the art teacher fills a challenging and important role in developing the whole child by utilizing effective teaching methods that foster essential life skills, understanding, and prepares students to be successful citizens of a constantly evolving world.