Title: Thinking About The Shape of My Teaching

I am thrilled to be the new Advocacy Chair for
the WAEA! I just recently took on the role as Advocacy Chair for WAEA, after
having been the Awards Chair for about four years. I have taught art for 27
years in Cashton, Wisconsin and still live with my farming/hunting husband (of
26 years) in Viroqua.  
My desire is that people understand that art
skills are needed in a wide variety of careers. I want every student to feel
success in art and do not want that success to go unnoticed. To accomplish this,
I involve my students in Youth Art Month and in Visual Arts Classic. We display
art year-round, but have a large public art show near the end of the year. My
goal is to celebrate the artist in every
student!
I continue to re-shape my teaching in response to
a changing world. As technology becomes commonplace, the expectation is that all
of us will use it to conduct our daily work and incorporate technology into our
classes. The delivery of my art units has changed with the accessibility of the
Internet. These days, I use my projection screen more than my marker board. I
document student learning using the iPad on a regular basis and used these
visuals on our school's Facebook page—giving more visibility to the art program.
I train students to use software as an artist and through my webpage I post
homework assignments and resources students need for class. In addition, I
insist my seniors create a digital portfolio of their best works before leaving
school.
While technology has been an asset in my
classroom, I wonder, as students become more adept using social media and become
quicker to respond to input, are they doing it without much thought?  When
we work on an artwork we might have an idea of what to do, but sometimes it does
not turn out as we planned. We respond to it in a different way or we take a new
approach. We reflect on what we have done. Do our students take the time to
reflect on their learning? We need to model this kind of reflection. I am
concerned that technology does not always support the reflective nature of the
human soul. Art can teach. Art speaks in ways text cannot. Deeper meanings can
hide in a work of art and thoughtful observation and reflection can reveal it.
The future of art education depends on those who value its power to communicate
and interconnect the rest of our lives. 
 
Ann Schedivy-Tollefson