Hannah Matos

Teaching Philosophy Statement

Art education is seen as the less important school subject to
some people and I want to prove all of them wrong. Art is a crucial
part of the human mind. Without art, everything would be different.
Progressive thinkers like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo wouldnt
have engineered their ideas and changed the world without their
creative processes. Even if some of my students decide to become
businessmen or engineers, I will make sure they learn about how art is
important to every person from every culture. All of my students will
learn that we wouldnt have evolved our minds and created this
technology and knowledge without art and artistic thinking.
Teaching is very important to minds, young and old, that need to
figure out what they want to do with their lives. Being creative means
having fun and exploring new experiences as well as learning and
broadening knowledge. Being creative is very important because you
can make mistakes and learn from them, those mistakes could be
academic or otherwise. Art education is important to those students
who think in different ways and need a place where they can develop
their artistic practice and ways of thinking. Every student thinks
differently. As an art teacher, I expose my students to different types
of learning can help shape their favorite and most effective learning
strategies. When I was in school, art class was crucial for me because

after I finished a project or worked on my sketchbook, it helped my

focus more intently on my other class work from my other subjects. As
I progressed through school, my artistic practice helped me get
through the harder subjects. I was able to teach myself through
turning subjects I thought were dull and boring into new artistic
challenges. Some ways I did this are drawing characters in my
notebooks that were telling me the notes I wrote down. They had
talking bubbles where the notes were written. This technique helped
my mind understand frustrating theories and equations through my
drawing and creative processes. These early practices I used were the
beginnings of developing my teaching philosophy. I provide an outlet
for my students in my art classroom by positivity, structure, and
flexibility. Its important to provide students this outlet because the
amount to stress is significantly high for them. Having and outlet
during the frantic school days is fundamental to the entire student
bodys mental health and well being though the school year.
Teaching should be a passion as well as a profession. In my
classroom, I will convey my passion and joy when it comes to art as a
practice and a profession. I want all my students to learn something
about art by the end of my curriculum and make it practical for their
own lives. My students express themselves but they also have
structured lectures and discussions on art making. For example, one of
my art lessons required a quick lecture on primary and complimentary

colors on the color wheel. I then challenged my students to

incorporate the lectures instructions on color combinations into the
assignment when they created their artwork with primary and
complimentary colors. Another example was when one of my art
lessons required step-by-step instruction to make a monster figurine.
All of the students followed the guidelines of the activity to make the
base of the monster, but when they finished the instructions they
individually chose what materials they wanted to make specific
features of their monsters. Having structure in an art curriculum is
important for the students to advance their imaginative growth.
One idea I have to explain my advanced mind theory earlier in
my philosophy statement is connecting art to everyones lives as much
as possible. For example, everyone has used a camera at some time.
Camera obscura was a concept that many artists used for their
artwork. This eventually perfected the modern cameras design. That
is why cameras are so advanced today.
I connect art with almost everything my students are exposed to
in their lives. From social justice to planning a project for a class, these
could easily be connected to art. Some close-minded thinkers believe
that art is a worthless subject in schools. This presumption has lead to
budget cuts for fine arts programs across the country and even
globally. These ideas were reflected through my secondary school
experience. When I was younger, I constantly changed my mind

whether art was what I was most passionate about because of the
stereotypes revolving around the fine arts. But because of all my
teachers through out my education, especially my fine arts teachers, I
realized becoming a teacher was by far the most exciting and
rewarding profession. Now that Im almost graduating college with my
art education degree and Ive started to get hands-on experience with
teaching different age groups of children I will be efficiently trained and
equipped with the tools I need to be effective in my teaching
curriculum. I hope to become a teacher that all my students can rely
on. I want to help them reach their full potential, not just as artists,
but in any career path they choose.