My philosophy to visual arts education follows a humanistic approach to teaching how all individuals are creative. I believe that one’s full creative potential can be formed and developed further through a supportive and stimulating environment. As an art educator, I believe in taking a teaching approach that is supportive in which it can engage a student’s interest to admire art and to think more critically.

As an educator, there are many roles that I take on for an individual to understand their creative potential, to admire art and to think more critically. The most important roles are to understand my students, to support them through various teaching/learning methods and to guide learners to explore their curiosities and ways of artistic expression. With the use of universal ways of learning and questioning in the classroom paired with project-based learning assignments outside of the classroom; students gain the confidence and natural inquisitiveness to learn more about a topic or way of creating art.

My main motivation for my students is to cultivate an inclusive, exciting, caring and safe environment where all students can explore the history of art and the world, and to experiment with various forms of art making. Cultivating this type of environment is established through a simple classroom code of conduct and a multitude of ways to learn about new materials and art processes. When I provide the necessary tools and motivation for exploration of art history and art expression, students can naturally gravitate to research any topic!

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”

-Margaret Mead