The Art of Education
as it appeared in The Beaumont Enterprise, April 8, 2002
Before I became a teacher of the visually impaired, I was an art teacher. After 10 years in regular classrooms followed by eight years as an itinerant teacher, I am convinced that art is one of the best teaching tools available and should be made accessible to all students.
I studied long hours in preparation for becoming a teacher of the visually impaired. What I learned from the university courses, however, cannot compare with what I learned from the students that I taught. My students enriched my life.
When I left the employment of the schools, I began to share art more with students who have visual impairments in my home and at camps. They created fascinating pieces using clay, cloth, wire, foil, paper and paint. Their enthusiastic reactions inspired me. In the process they learned concepts that I had not even considered while planning the activity. I certainly encourage art for its own sake, but I also advocate the use of art in correlation with other lessons.
Studies show that participating in the arts benefits all students. The Association for the Advancement of Arts Education in Ohio commissioned a review of the research in which 350 universities and independent researchers, 2 million students, 35,000 teachers, tens of thousands of artists, and 20 international business leaders expressed the belief that "the arts are a necessary part of an education that will help our children become successful adults."
I have seen so much change and confusion in education in my lifetime. The saddest of all for me has been the advancement of science and technology at the expense of the arts. It should never be either one or the other.
Art provides thinking activities that carry over to the analytical activities required in the sciences. Art requires sequential planning. It insists on organization. It provides an outlet for stress. It can unleash the inner turmoil in a child and provide an outlet for anger in a constructive way. It gives the student a sense of self that is essential for building confidence.
When I present for educators, as I have in six states, I emphasize the importance of allowing the process of creativity. There is nothing that can be substituted for it because we are creative beings. One of the greatest benefits art provides for a student with a disability is that it levels the playing field. All art is not, and should never be, created equal. It is the process of the creation that counts and each child should have that experience since it offers the essentials on which young souls thrive.
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“All material herein is exclusively the property of the author and is not to be used without written permission from the author.”
Gail Showalter - Seeing U Through - SMORE for Women - All rights reserved. (c) 2009
I studied long hours in preparation for becoming a teacher of the visually impaired. What I learned from the university courses, however, cannot compare with what I learned from the students that I taught. My students enriched my life.
When I left the employment of the schools, I began to share art more with students who have visual impairments in my home and at camps. They created fascinating pieces using clay, cloth, wire, foil, paper and paint. Their enthusiastic reactions inspired me. In the process they learned concepts that I had not even considered while planning the activity. I certainly encourage art for its own sake, but I also advocate the use of art in correlation with other lessons.
Studies show that participating in the arts benefits all students. The Association for the Advancement of Arts Education in Ohio commissioned a review of the research in which 350 universities and independent researchers, 2 million students, 35,000 teachers, tens of thousands of artists, and 20 international business leaders expressed the belief that "the arts are a necessary part of an education that will help our children become successful adults."
I have seen so much change and confusion in education in my lifetime. The saddest of all for me has been the advancement of science and technology at the expense of the arts. It should never be either one or the other.
Art provides thinking activities that carry over to the analytical activities required in the sciences. Art requires sequential planning. It insists on organization. It provides an outlet for stress. It can unleash the inner turmoil in a child and provide an outlet for anger in a constructive way. It gives the student a sense of self that is essential for building confidence.
When I present for educators, as I have in six states, I emphasize the importance of allowing the process of creativity. There is nothing that can be substituted for it because we are creative beings. One of the greatest benefits art provides for a student with a disability is that it levels the playing field. All art is not, and should never be, created equal. It is the process of the creation that counts and each child should have that experience since it offers the essentials on which young souls thrive.
####
“All material herein is exclusively the property of the author and is not to be used without written permission from the author.”
Gail Showalter - Seeing U Through - SMORE for Women - All rights reserved. (c) 2009
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