Understanding your power over the creative journeys of your students is critical when you decide to become an art teacher, a music teacher, or any teacher of the arts.
A teacher's purpose is not only to provide instruction, but to encourage creativity and to instill a love of the arts in their students.
This is especially true when one is working with children because there is a good chance you will be one of their only guiding stars along their creative path. However you inspire or discourage them will leave a lasting impression.
Patience, encouragement, and gentle criticism is essential. If a student doesn't thrive creatively, it should become your purpose to help them find a niche within your scope of teaching that they enjoy. And if a student does not have natural creative talent, it should be your purpose to seek something unique that shines from them—and there is always something in all of us.
A poor teacher—a teacher who has no real passion for teaching, or whose motivations for teaching are selfish rather than selfless can leave a deeply negative impact on a child; potentially dousing the flames of inspiration in their young students. Not all children are destined to be career artists or musicians, but we all are destined to experience some aspect of art or music that brings us joy.
As a teacher, it is your job to guide them by way of tactile experience, of exposure to a multitude of genres, of encouragement when you see a spark, and of persistence in your attempt to reach a child when you see none.
It is your job to recognize or ignite that spark, to fight to keep it alive, and to help fan it into a flame that will burn for a day, a week, or a lifetime beyond the walls of your classroom.
It is critical for schools to ensure that creative arts teachers are held to just as high of standards as those who teach math, science, STEM, and language arts.
All are very important subjects for day to day life and for many, in earning a living; but the arts teach us to recognize the beauty hidden within all aspects of life. And for some, creative expression is our only means of survival. It is our therapy, our means of communication, our comfort—our discovery of self.
Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I've personally experienced the impact of both extremely discouraging and incredibly inspiring creative educators. In middle school, I was told by a teacher that I was not a good artist. I remember the painting I was working on. I remember the room. The weather. The lighting. I remember the kids who were around me, their paintings, and how the teacher praised them. The moment was etched on me as a pivotal moment in my artistic journey, when everything I had wanted to be "when I grew up" was snatched from me in six words.
I was too young to feel offense or to instinctively know how to fight for myself.
I was too young to realize that there was more to being an artist than just knowing how to paint and draw "realistically". I wasn't yet emotionally equipped to defend my self-esteem—especially against a teacher I looked up to. I just simply believed them. After all, they were an artist. They should know how to spot one.
I gave up on my dream of being an artist.
After taking a year away from art, I tried again in high school. My art teacher inspired me to love art, and to believe in myself again—and it wasn't just me, it was all of his students. Had it not been for that one good teacher, I would not be the artist, Etsy shop owner, happily self-employed graphic designer, and eLucid Designs co-founder that I am now.
This is why it's so important to make sure children have the right kind of encouragement when they are young. When equipped with the right tools, and taught by the right kinds of teachers, they never have to lose the spark that can ignite into the greatest of joys!
Rebecca
Guest Blogger
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