Joseph Kern

3/5/2018
Teaching Philosophy

As an art educator, my teaching philosophies run in alignment with Humanism and

Progressivism. My teaching philosophy runs off of a basis of using the student’s own interests

and experiences to drive their curriculum and caring for the student as a whole person as

opposed to just being concerned about a student academically. I will discuss how I apply these

philosophical thoughts to how I will treat my students, what I will expect of my students, what

goals are for myself as well as for my students, and will discuss specific examples of teachers of

my own that have guided me towards this model of art education.

Based on the tenants that I talked about before I will treat my student with respect and

care within my classroom. While I will have a set idea for my curriculum with well-established

unit plans I will leave room within for the students to choose how they approach projects. My

unit plans will have a unifying thread of student choice within them. This is to say that students

will be free to pursue what interests them and not feel like they have to make their projects

similar to any of their classmates or any students who have come before them. This will have a

positive effect on students’ autonomy and their feeling of self-worth within the classroom

which will also ensure that everyone feels safe enough to take creative risks and follow their

interests within my classroom. This will also inform my expectations of my students. I firmly

believe that each student that will come into my classroom can succeed at art making

regardless of their prior experience or self-efficacy regarding artmaking. I will expect my

students to give their best effort and to own their artwork. This is to say that they will take

responsibilities for their shortcomings as well as their successes. If a student believes that they

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are in control of their project (that they chose the subject matter, the process, and in general

were present in the decision process) they are more likely to take their work more personally

and will then put more work into it than they would have otherwise. My goals for myself would

be to continue to keep my students to these standards while ensuring that they have all the

tools to succeed and feel safe enough to take risks within my classroom. Because of this I will

always treat my students with the utmost respect and make sure to keep myself in tuned with

my students’ needs artistically and personally.

These philosophies have been modeled for me in a way by teachers who I have had

previously. My High School teachers for example allowed me to focus on my own interests

while mixing them with projects which could help me pursue a college career in Illustration. I

found this invaluable as it allowed me to continue to be excited about art making, something

that may not have happened if they simply drove essential content and had me do standardized

exercises on uniform subject matter. This is where I get my Progressivist views. Once I got into

college my teachers modeled for me my Humanistic views. They are amongst some of the

mentors in my life whom I have felt the closest rapport with and those whom I have felt safest

confiding in. They undoubtedly helped to teach me to better my craft, but they also made sure I

was doing well artistically as well as personally which I found invaluable.

To summarize, I will be focusing on the student as a whole, providing them with the

tools to succeed, the opportunities to do so while pursuing their own interests, and a space and

atmosphere where they feel comfortable doing so. In doing this I provided examples of how my

own teachers in the past have shown that this can be done, and I will follow in their footsteps

to provide my own students with an equally influential education.