"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."
~Aristotle
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be four things when I grow up.
They were:
1) An Artist
2) A Singer/Musician
3) A Dancer, and
4) A Teacher
All four pursuits have one thing in common: It cannot be done without using the Heart.
Though I never became a dancer, I did end up being an Artist, a Singer-songwriter and an Art Therapist, and now an Art Teacher.
The aforementioned is about self expression, but being a teacher/therapist is much more than just expressing myself. It is about sharing myself with others.
From Kindergarteners to 7th Graders, I am privileged to not only be their Art Teacher, but to have an opportunity of a lifetime, to revisit what it was like to be a child again, all the way to the beginning stage of teenage years. And here is what I have observed & reflected in the beginning of my Art Teaching journey:
For kindergarteners, everything about art excites them. They are the true artists of all. Now I understand what Picasso meant, when he said "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” Children has no prerequisites, no boundaries, no knowledge of theories or techniques, just pure instincts. Their art amazes and inspires me the most. They are spontaneous in their decision making, and most of all, they are joyful when they create. It makes me want to be as brave and experimental as they are. Everything to them is magical, and everything to them is about touch & affection. They learn with their senses, and that is why their senses are the most heightened out of all age groups. They explore the world kinesthetically. And they are not afraid to say "I love you."
For 1st and 2nd graders, it is about learning and testing boundaries. Boundaries of their own, and boundaries of others. They have the residue of being a child, yet they want to explore new ideas and be acknowledged. This group requires the most attention, because they are not verbally equipped to express themselves, yet they have so much they want to say. Art for them is the best leeway to harness that expression from within. And to help them make shapes and forms of their understandings about themselves & others.
3rd graders are much more comfortable with themselves. They express freely about their emotions and embraces their mistakes. They can verbally express themselves a lot better than when they were younger, hence they would express themselves non-stop (LOL). But it is cute to watch how once given the tool of verbal expression, they want to articulate, as well as to be heard.
4th graders start to realize they are only a year away from the 2 digit mark; a crucial year to develop themselves into a "tween" as they call it. A "tween" is not a child, and not yet a teenager. They are right in be"tween" and it makes it an awkward stage. They have the knowledge, but not quite master their skills. They have the understanding, but not the experience. They have the IQ, but not so much the EQ. So this is when they try all kinds of things, adapt into as much cultural influences as possible, and frantically try their best to fit into any identity they could succumb. Yet secretly, they want to be nurtured like a child, and regress back into their mother's arms. This is the group that wanted to be comforted and encouraged the most.
5th graders are the most fierce. They don't care how others see them. They are not concerned of whether they have an identity or not. They just want to BE, and be as free as possible. They want to try new things, and also have a say when it comes to decision making. They prefer to be left alone by adults, and they want to express as much as possible creatively.
6th & 7th graders are coming to understand that they can't be a child anymore. No one will want to treat them like one, nor would they want to be seen as one. This is the stage when they are journeying into young adulthood, the beginning of the toughest most chaotic stage of anyone's life in my opinion. They are quiet because their minds are the loudest. So much is going on in their minds, it hurts. They are not yet an adult but have tons of adult responsibilities and stresses. And sometimes all they want and need is to relax, chill and just freely express themselves creatively. They are deep, but they don't know it yet.
Human development is fascinating. Who we are now as an adult is shaped by who we were when we were a child. I sometimes forget about this, thinking that who I am now is who I am now. But No, it is my childhood that shaped me. It is all those little awkward stages that made me who I am today. And it is important for me to realize that in order to be anywhere near a good teacher.
Just like my love for Art and Music, it is about using my Heart. Because ART is the language of the Heart & Soul. And I realized to be an art educator is the same thing. It takes time, trials and errors, lots of failures, fears & doubts; alike the process of creating a new painting or song. There are a lot of emotions involved, and without having a courageous and sincere heart, none of it could be achieved.
Besides teaching the foundations of art, the techniques, the compositions, the way how materials and mediums work, or the historical background of art, art education is about REACHING the students' Hearts with mine. Their Hearts is what I am called to touch and to inspire. Without that heart-to-heart connection, teaching will just be a one-way street. And believe me, the students do not want that. They want someone to share themselves with them. To be with them. To create with them. To listen to them. To be patient with them. To understand them when they don't even understand themselves. To hold them when they are on the verge of falling. To catch them and have their backs when they are constantly walking on thin ice. To remind them of their strengths and beauty when they loose confidence. To encourage them when they feel all hopes are gone. And most of all, to love them for who they are.
In many ways, what the students want is also a reflection of what I want. Being with them reminded me of myself when I was their age. And how precious it was, and how much I have neglected, and how much I still need to learn from them, and how much alike we actually are. For as I listened to their hearts, I am also listening to mine.
This new journey I embarked on as an Art Teacher is the biggest masterpiece I could have ever gotten into creating, for it is not a piece to be hung in a museum or acquired by an art gallery, and cannot be done in a week or so, and certainly cannot be done alone; it is a piece that is forever in the creative process, and will continuously surprise me, shape me....and will, I know, deep in my heart, last a lifetime.
(More reflections in the future to come)
xo
AMA
or should I say Ms. AMA the Art Teacher :)