Teaching Techniques and Philosophical Perspectives
One of the main guiding principles of my personal teaching philosophy is the idea that we as educators are teaching students, not subjects. In that vein of thinking, the teaching technique I chose to dive into was both process-based learning and product-based learning. In a conversation with my placement teacher, we talked about the shift from product-based learning to process based learning and I wanted to do some research on why it shifted.
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Personally, I had grown up taking art classes when the shift occurred (according to our conversation). When I was in elementary and middle school, the focus was on the end product and if it was good enough. While I was a little more gifted than my peers when it came to art, I did see my friends struggle in art class due to the product being emphasized. There was a lack of process behind the work which churned out very stagnant work with a lack of emotion or feeling behind it. Even looking back at some of my old work from this time I can't really see much of an artistic voice in my work.
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When I got to high school there was a bigger emphasis on the process. I took an IB HL Visual Art class for the last three years of my high school experience and the jump my artwork took personally was night and day. My work finally had a voice and some purpose behind it. I also remember being way more engaged in this class than in any other art class I had taken in school before. Even up through college there was an emphasis on documenting your process which shows how important this approach is to higher education learning. Even within my observation placements, there is such an emphasis on process-based learning. In the elementary school I was in, the students were judged formally on what they were able to complete but more so on the time and effort they put into their art. At the high school in the same district, the teacher there places such an obvious and strong emphasis on the process behind the work. He demonstrates techniques where necessary, but he encourages students to dive deeper and to really plan out and document their work.
Having been exposed to both learning approaches, I think there is merit in blending the two models together. I firmly believe process-based learning is important and fosters skills that students can take outside of the classroom. I also believe there should be some emphasis on the art that is created. If students are taught to only focus on the process, there can be a deficit in the quality of the art. To solve this, I believe it is essential to also encourage students to create their best work and to persevere which also indefinitely translates outside of the classroom. Because of this I also believe there should be some emphasis on the product as well.
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Going into my own classroom I want students to be able to question their process of art making and to shape and modify as they create. Additionally, I would like students to have and use their knowledge of technique to create their best quality of work. While I believe the process is vital, the end product should be able to convey and carry a narrative and my goal as an educator should be to give students the tools necessary to create while encouraging exploration through the process.
