I have always been a big advocate of literacy in the classroom, I may not have always known exactly what that meant, but I did know it meant more than being able to read and write. This class has helped me to cement my theories and thoughts on the subject, well maybe cement is the wrong word as a classroom in a living thing and should never be so strict as to hinder movement in any direction, especially thoughts. So I will put it another way, this class has assisted me by allowing me to gain knowledge that I will be able to pass on to my students in the future.
A sketchbook is important in the art field it is where your ideas go to be grown, but a white page can be daunting, so I will require my students to have a notebook, college ruled, to keep as a journal/notebook. How many people that are not artists doodle while, or instead of taking notes, and aren't the little doodles great? Yes they are. So by having that, I want to encourage experimentation, doodling, composition practice, and write write write,
Learning how to be literate in an art classroom is knowing the basics of art, form, line, shadow, etc, but also realizing that that knowledge means very little without imagination. The ability to create from whole cloth versus the ability to render well are very different and both are important aspects of art. I hope to give my students the tools to practice both skills, and to teach them that they can only practice, no one in art is ever finished, they should constantly learn and improve, that to me is the wonderful part of art, you are never truly finished learning.
