To reflect on my role as a teacher, I needed to first reflect on my role as a ‘learner’, as this is what led me to pursuing a career in education. My background is in visual art, but what really captivated me to study art, was the joy, often mixed in with the discomfort, of creating art. I was never very fixated on the outcome, but in the experience of creating. Once I decided to pursue art teaching, I reached out to my professor from my BA and asked if he had any books on art education to recommend, as I was, and still am, inspired by the experience of learning during my BA. He recommended John Dewey, which at the time was the first theorist that put into words the joy of the experience of learning. In preparation for writing this task, I delved into my bookshelf to read the books I bought at the first step of my path into teaching. The below quote was underlined, and resonated strongly to this day:
‘for to perceive, a beholder must create his own experience… Without the act of recreation the object is not perceived as a work of art. The artist selected, simplified, clarified, abridged and condensed according to his interest. The beholder must go through these operations according to his point of view or interest.” (Dewey, J. p 56.)
The artist must undergo a series of choices to create any visual piece, even if it seemingly superficial, constant active decisions make an impact no the outcome. However, the viewer may take a totally different message from the intended piece. It is this sense of active experience that draws me to teaching art, and the ability to build confidence, embrace the experience, and actively explore whatever the subject is, that I would like to guide my students to. Ideally, I would like my students to be able to create artwork in which they can embrace genuine exploration, to create work that is unique to them.
In the group exercise, I read the article on ‘Pragmatism-learning as creative imagination’, which helped shape this understanding. By looking at John Dewey from a contemporary lens I was able to question an issue I had not explored much- the lack of power dynamics, and perhaps the fact that are contemporary issues that are not fully embodied in his theory of experience and learning. The idea of discomfort as part of the learning experience made me go back and re-read the first chapter, which also discussed barriers to learning. This is a constant challenge in my teaching, where students who experience the discomfort of a new skills, and their barriers to learning are immediately engaged. This is something I would like to work to help my students overcome.
As I was reading the article, I was reflecting on how John Dewey’s process of inquiry could be updated and understood in my context. I found it helpful to visualise this as a sort of circular river, and I have been reflecting on the idea that there may be ‘tributaries of experience’ that are constantly adding to the students process of learning.
(My visualisation and adapted version of ‘After Dewey’s process of Inquiry’ from Miettinen refenced in Elkjaer.)
My own practical theory of teaching resonates with the contemporary view of John Dewey’s process of inquiry, and I am interested to read more from Elkjaer as I feel this will continue to help me develop. However, I also find my ‘practical theory of teaching’ is being shaped by the context and the culture in which I work. More recently, I have also started to see myself as a teacher of adults, as I have a role as a head of department. One of my team members presented on the adult learning chapter, which has reminded me that as a manger, I am an inevitable a facilitator of learning for adults as well.
Back to my context- I work in a local authority secondary school in London, this does shape how I put into practice my theory. I have learned to become a successful facilitator of skills, and I have developed my department to be very highly achieving, however in this process I worry something has been lost from my original intent. I read a chapter called ‘subjectivities and school art education’ that indicated some of these reasons for this shift:
‘The effect of such models of teaching upon teachers and the fact that they are subject to constant inspection and surveillance has been to reduce the desire to explore other, perhaps more creative approaches to teachers. Teacher and teacher educators in England have therefore been colonised by particular methodologies of practice and assessment expounded by government institutions…’ (Atkinson, D. p. 53)
I have shaped my teaching practice to meet the requirements of my setting. I am also keenly aware, that I want my students to achieve fantastic grades in their qualifications, especially as I work in a very economically disadvantaged area. Getting the experience of learning art in my lessons, and subsequently achieving a qualification, may be their only possible step in pursuing arts. I have altered how I teach, to include more instruction, and by doing so, I have created shortcuts for the ‘disruption’ stage in the process of inquiry. I am reflecting on whether this is creating a damn, or is possibly a necessary adjustment to be able to continue to teach in a challenging context. This thought is starting to change the shape of my practical theory of teaching.
I also wanted to write about how I am interested in teaching as part of a community, and how this is part of my ‘practical theory of teaching’, and how I am starting to relate the process of inquiry more to my role as a ‘teacher’ of ‘teaching’, as I train new staff members and develop my team.
References:
“Atkinson, Dennis. “Art, Equality and Learning.” SensePublishers eBooks, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-454-6.
Dewey, John. Art as Experience. 1934, dx.doi.org/10.2307/2016688.
Contemporary Theories of Learning : Learning Theorists ... in Their Own Words, edited by Knud Illeris, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tampere/detail.action?docID=5323092.
Chapters: 1. A comprehensive understanding of human learning, Knud Illeris
5. Pragmatism learning as creative imagination, Bente Elkjaer