I want to start off by saying I was incredibly anxious about this upcoming school year. How could I not be? The world changed and as a teacher, I was responsible for catching up my classroom to become a true learning environment of 21st century skills with only YouTube tutorials to guide me; I became an example of what it truly meant to implement flexibility, creativity, and productivity!
Now that some time has passed, I am able to grasp this new world of education and proclaim that though it is definitely not perfect, I truly enjoy this school year. I understand there is new policy, education politics, health concerns, and a new level of teacher fatigue, but I am able to really live my true passion for why I do what I do and am still here doing it—I love my students and all we are doing this year. I have never felt more connected to them. One week during a Friday Google Meet, I was actually able to sit and have a conversation with a class small group about artwork and assignments they have been doing. I cannot think of a year in my eleven years of teaching when I have been able to have a sip of coffee and actually reflect and talk with my students as people. We were not rushed or distracted but genuinely able to talk about the monstrous sizes of Jeff Koon’s balloon dog sculptures and how we feel about our class progress. It was a delight. I recognize my experience is my own, but as Art Teachers we have this gift of being able to adapt with the times. When allowed, we are able creatively to reconfigure our piece into the new puzzle of education instead of having to be like core classes that are having to fit a required form into a shape. As an art classroom, we are able to flow and fit into our environments with artistic flair. Our assignments can reflect our emotions, our Art Appreciation can include the entire world, and we can make Virtual Galleries in the same amount of time as a display case. Our Standards allow working with what is presented to us and be there for our students.
This school year is a new normal for us all but not a lost year. Teachers and students alike have become masters of flexibility, creativity, and productivity. Even with supplies and budgets being limited—we create! Even with each day being a new challenge—we create! We get to be mindfully present and actively innovative during a chaotic season, and that is a Masterpiece of a year and an authentic experience for our students.
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AuthorCarlon Steller Grey is a local teacher-artist in the Greenville/Spartanburg community selling and showing her artwork throughout the Upstate. She has her BA in Art Education and Art History, as well as her MEd in Art Education from Converse College. Mrs. Steller Grey was honored as the 2016-17 Beck Academy's Teacher of the Year and the 2017 South Carolina Middle Level Art Educator of the Year by the South Carolina Art Educator's Association. She is a teacher with a passion for all types of art, among her favorites being painting, drawing, and artist books. Archives
April 2024
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