anart said:
You could also just realize (and explain if necessary) that every student is different and what is 'good' for one student may not be 'good' for another student. You tell each student what is appropriate for them.
That's not lying - it's teaching.
Thank you anart! Those are the EXACT words I remember one of my old teachers, Mr Pratt :D taught me and part of what I remember telling my student when I responded with my "lies" to him. I think I need to redefine what I think a lie is and I'm working on that. :)
Aragorn said:
Scarlet said:
We discussed this in front of other students for a few minutes and I felt I was just offering him more lies to cover the truth that sometimes I do say that their art is "good" when really I don't think it is. Inside I was embarrassed for being called a liar to my students by one of my students and in front of my other students. I was confused as to why I was being so inconsistent with my thoughts and acts towards them and ashamed of myself for lying them too.
I know from experience that being a teacher with many students is a very challenging job. At the same time it's a great opportunity to learn about yourself, and how to interact and offer help to the students - every student being unique with their unique personalities and ways of learning. As I see it, my job (and what makes it interesting) is to
give guidance, tools and techniques and to listen to their needs, so that they can learn to help themselves and be good at what they are doing - if they want to. I can't see the product or result of any student as bad, as long as the student is motivated and making efforts.
For example, some of my singing students sing very poorly compared to a professional, but that is their current level of singing and the problems are
almost always caused by excessive tensions and traumas stored in their body. So in no way, as I can see it, is their singing not good, they just have
too much tension in their body and breathing, and we need to work on it. Some students need some form of pep talking in order to not "shut down" and give up. But as I see it,
if you have a clear understanding why and when you should be doing it - there's no lying involved. It's just a tool to help the student see themselves from another perspective and to help them realize that whatever they are doing - if they are making an effort - there's always something unique and valuable in it. Taking singing again as an example: every sound you produce with your body and vocal chords, no matter how ugly it is, can be a great opportunity of self discovery.
It is true, that
some teachers do too much pep talking ("good, good!"), without applying any thought of to who, when or why to say it. This is not constructive, and in many cases the student becomes disillusioned about their capabilities. This would be lying, IMO. In the end, I think that teaching requires a lot of emotional intelligence. I'm not saying that I can master this, but I try to keep these things in mind whenever I teach, hoping to become better at it.
It would be interesting to hear what you feel is your role and task as a teacher, why and in which cases do you think that the work of some students isn't good?
Thank you and I agree with all of the teaching philosophies you mentioned, Aragorn! I think my main focus of work with my students is in building their confidence levels, because most of the populations I teach have learning disabilities and/or are learning English. Plus many are in poor health, because of their lifestyles (diets, sleeping habits, home lives, etc).
When I responded to my student after he questioned me about lying to my students by saying their work was "good" when, while discussing it with him it didn't meet my standards for "good," was a complicated scenario. I teach a college level class to some students while teaching other students with various learning disabilities in an intermediate art class. The room always over-capacity during this hour, but very productive.
What is considered "not good" in terms of artistic development to the student in the AP (advanced placement/college level) class who questioned me in reality is great, because my autistic student in the other class also going on actually followed the directions, completed the project AND turned it in! It never bothered me that his art looked like the artwork a young child would create, because he was improving his drawing and shading abilities and gained confidence about it. He became more enthusiastic about art-making, had more ideas of what to make, and I was able to help him with shading techniques, etc, as the year went on. So the quality of art my AP student was referring to would not be considered "good" work to submit in a portfolio to the College Board for his class, but it WAS GREAT, because this student in the other class was able to follow the directions.
I am proud of my students when they try and I considerately question those who don't. Maybe the student needed some help brainstorming for ideas, or a little demonstration of how to make thumbnail sketches, blend colors, or start a complicated drawing by using basic shapes (all re-teaching on my part). Maybe they could use some images to reference in one of my books or certain materials that they didn't even know existed, but that I know of and have on-hand. Scaffolding lessons by requiring mini-assignments before projects is also an effective way of helping my students gain confidence about their art-making capabilities and methods for working with particular media.
Sometimes some of my students are apathetic (not from being physically ill, sleepy, hungry, etc) and I get urges to question them about their behavior. I like to ask them what they want to do, the things they like and don't, what their plans are, etc. I tell them I don't expect them to know the answers to my questions and that life is a great big journey, but it's good to think about these things, to have plans, IMO.
So, I think my role as a teacher is to help my students improve in their artistic confidence and abilities, but also to help guide them to see their personal vocations while providing a safety net so they can feel comfortable to about taking part in the learning process. I think it's my job to help unlock parts of them that they never knew existed, to teach them a bit about history and to help them grow by just being a constant adult figure in their lives.
I think my problem here lies in the fact that I took what my student told me "to heart" and accepted that I was a "liar" without processing that my feelings of inadequacy were due to my inability to understand the situation. These feelings were also magnified by the poor health I was experiencing at the time, (poor diet, insomnia, stress, etc.). Perhaps my ego got bruised and I know my "superior" side didn't like feeling "inferior." Perhaps I am too "hard on myself" as others often tell me and I do remember operating under a dissociative "mental fog" those last few months.
I see how I mechanically accept others' critiques of me without questioning them sometimes, (and I didn't have much time for that in my classroom, because I had to move on to other things), but when I reflect, my opinions of their critiques can change. I am glad to be able to see my mechanical responses more, though it is hard to deal with these students' questions as much as I would like to sometimes because of time constraints. In retrospect, I think this student who questioned me was not being externally considerate, likely due to his ignorance of the developmental levels of his peers.
Thanks again for the dialogue here!
