Slow Down for Art

I used to work as a Waldorf class teacher, before working in the public system. Waldorf education is deeply grounded in the arts. All the subject matter is taught through the arts in order to reach directly from the heart of the teacher to the hearts of the students.

As a public school teacher, I teach French to the older students and Arts to the younger ones- giving planning time to other teachers. 

Because the Waldorf students get so much practice in the Arts, they develop comfort exploring their creativity, and also, after time, they begin to develop their own creative voice. It takes time for this to happen, and lots of exposure to different media. In a Waldorf class, there is a period allotted each week for watercolour painting, and another for drawing, another for violin. Other arts are integrated into the "main lessons". And each year, each class in the school puts on a class play- a full-scale dramatic performance- related to the content they are studying.

In public schools, there is (usually) less class time devoted to art, and art is seen as separate from the rest of the curriculum. This creates a time pressure that makes it hard to "fit art in" and when a teacher can "fit it in", it's hard not to rush.

But creativity thrives when it isn't rushed. 

This is the lesson I am trying to bring to what I am doing now. I can't always control how much time is given to art in the day, or how much art becomes part of the "regular curriculum". But in the time I do have with the students for art, I am trying to slow down. I am trying to give myself permission to spend more than one class period working on the same song/ the same piece of art. Sometimes something just needs to take longer than a single period. It's okay to use an art period just for watercolour painting for many months. This is how a student can develop enough technique with the medium that they can start to use it to express their own ideas, in their own voice.

At first it is hard to do this- hard to ignore the temptation to rush through as many different forms/media as possible. But the more I do this, the more I am able to slow down the teaching of art, the deeper and richer the experience becomes. 

This is my favourite resource for teaching art to children.

http://artprojectsforkids.org/

A daily blog with over 200 watercolour projects, 150 drawing lessons, 80 craft projects, 70 collage projects and over 200 fine art projects- all for free.

The projects are very accessible, even if you have very little experience/ comfort teaching art. And the materials are simple and inexpensive- the kind of thing that even the most art-budget-restricted public school is likely to have. 

A Fearless Education

A Fearless Education is what I hope for- for myself and for my students.

I think most educators would agree about the importance of creating a classroom environment that feels safe and secure to students: a place where they can take risks, be willing to experiment, learn, and grow.

But how often do we, as teachers, take risks? How often do we move outside of our comfort zone or routine? Speaking for myself, I can say that I have definitely spent too much energy striving for perfection, and not nearly enough striving to attempt something challenging/ new/ unfamiliar.

Striving for perfection sounds like a nice idea. But it is actually extremely limiting. If you want to be perfect, you cannot, by definition, make mistakes. Not being able to make mistakes means you cannot learn. We know this for our students.

Instead of perfection, I would like to strive for excellence. I would like to let go of my fear of making mistakes, which is also a fear of failure. In order to really grow, I may have to try some things that will fail.  Yikes!

Ironically, I think that it is once I can let go of my fears that the fun can begin.  Once I can laugh at myself, and my mistakes, all that fear loses its power.

I want to start to have more fun in my job. I want to allow myself to make a mess now and again. I want to go out on a limb and stretch myself. I want to be free to explore, play, create and dream.

I'm sure it will help encourage my students to do the same.