What role has art played in your life?

Alexandra Weinholtz
EDU 431: Art in the Classroom
Reflection #1

Art is one of my passions. I attended the Tuscarora Elementary School where I was able to express my culture through various forms of art. I practiced the different functions of art such as personal, social, and physical that shared a common thread. Through art I was able to convey my ideas or thoughts, when words were no longer adequate and my passion was greater than I was able to express in a usual manner. (Murray Sidlin, conductor) After learning about different parts of our history as people, my class and I would become outraged or proud. We would turn to art, to make political statements depicting the social condition, or our personal status at that moment. As Richard Riley discusses, art sharpens a child’s communication skills, and gives them a better understanding of their own heritage, as well as other cultures. I also found that the personal functions of art became visions of my words that I could not say or speak. Art demanded creativity and another sense of communicating with one another. As Congress found, opportunities in the arts enable persons of all ages with disabilities to participate more fully in school and community activities, art is the one space no one can be judged. Art is truly in the eye of the beholder and no eye is exactly alike.
As a student I also found that art has transformed my education, allowing me as a visual learner to understand and explore concepts. After reading the conclusion by Boyer, I look at art as an essential for every child, classroom, and human. Through art, we can express the feelings and words that we cannot convey, while expanding a child’s creativity and way of knowing. Art also allows children to integrate their learning as we did in my classroom through culture, and discover the connectedness of things while not emotionally or physically restricting them. As we understand art, it is shared between the artist and the viewer; we are able to create a bond of understanding between the student and the teacher. We as future teachers can use art to create a strong community that begins in our classroom, but has no boundaries.
How can I integrate art into the many the aspects of my classroom?