- Posted at 3:52 pm on Wed, Dec 14, 2011
"Most teachers, teach they way they were taught." That's what research says. Apparently by Shymansky, Hedges, and Woodworth, 1990. I googled the phrase, and it is used a lot.
In fact, when I became an art teacher, I specifically set out to do things differently than from the way I was taught in the early 80s. There are some obvious differences: My teacher then used to smoke incessantly. Sometimes his ash would drop off his cigarette onto our art work as he leaned in to look. He would also duck into his store room for a nip of whiskey from his hip flask mid-lesson. There are many reasons why I do not share his practices; legalities not the least of them.
There are some subtle differences as well. It seemed like he was preparing us for a life as a tradesman; a painter or sign-writer. Our materials were also limited to water-colours. Though one year we got to use a silk-screen. It was fun. My teacher thought it a useful skill. Now it is an outdated method, replaced by an inkjet printer. My teacher did not squash my love of art. But I dont think I learned a lot from him, except for a few techniques in lettering and printing, now a redundant novelty. I certainly did not understand art. He was skills focused. It was like a trade course.
However, as a teacher, I still thought that skills were important. Instead of instructing how to develop the skills, I would set students a problem, ask them to research how they could accomplish the task, then they would experiment, with feedback from me, they could learn the skill themselves. What I did not realize till much later, the skill that was most important was the inquiry process they went through, not the end product. I only need to learn how to use a silkscreen, if I need a silkscreen print. But there is likely to be something that can do the task better, in the future. I need to be able to learn how to teach myself to use it, and I need to want to learn. This is how reflection and inquiry has changed my teaching style. Skills are important, but we each develop these to different degrees and we should be able to decide which skills are appropriate for us.
Another way I teach differently from the way I was taught is that I do not teach content. I spent many hours as a student taking dictation. Then memorizing my notes. Now I teach context and concepts. Huge differences. There is no memorizing, but there is knowing.
When my students have finished with my classes, I want them to understand and appreciate art, whether their skills are refined or not.
I want my students to decide what it is they are ready to understand and access about art. Visual art, Like most liberal arts (or all) is an introspective subject. It meets every person in an individual way. There is no correct answer. But learning how to articulate your response to art is our challenge. By applying some skills, our own appreciation of other artists' skills grows. The need to know more about art, is what I want students to get from my lessons, and to understand why art is important.
So I'm not "most teachers". I hope that most of us or not. just in case the research is true, I teach my students with an awareness that some of them may become teachers. I want to show them that I am a reflective inquiring teacher, changing and adapting how I teach. Hopefully it will pay forward.
Patrick O'Connor
Visual Arts Teacher KIS International School
Artist
THAILAND
www.itsapatoconnor.blogspot.com
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