Arts Advocacy

This topic is somewhat complicated and one that, personally, I have been struggling with. It isn't difficult to understand, so much as it is rather difficult to come to terms with. The fact that, as an art educator, it won't be enough to be a good (or even great) teacher, to have an excellent and challenging program, or to be ready and able to do your best at your job of teaching students how to express themselves - you also have to work to prove that your life and work are important enough for a school system to include them. Frankly, I find it insulting and demeaning, not to mention horribly ignorant. I know the many reasons why it has become necessary to stand up for the arts in education, but the need to constantly push and pull and tug at every possible loose end and loophole in order to even include art in a school's curriculum is unfortunate, disrespectful and humiliating.
I work now in a number of ways to prove the value and necessity of art in the world - in fact, it feels like I have been trying to argue the case for years now. One of the biggest stumbling blocks I've encountered is when the value of the arts and that of sports & recreation come into opposition. The values of competitive sport are many, but they have become a money-making industry in and of themselves for many school systems, and I would wager that a number of school communities and school boards would rather drop history or geography from their curriculum than athletics, to say the least of the arts. This may come off as an unfair generalization, but I have encountered a number of individuals over the years whose beliefs back up this idea.
I think there are numerous risks involved in confronting these types of individuals and this sort of mindset, and I don't really know how one could confront / deal with the issues. It would be hard to "go with the flow" if you were at odds with the majority of the community or school establishment, but I would hope that there would be enough understanding and agreement on both sides that a form of consensus could be found.

Connecting Art and the Community

It is very important for us as art teachers to link our lessons, curriculum and classroom environments to the surrounding community. One of the simplest (read economical) reasons would be that it could help to bolster our art programs and make them harder for the school to cut from their budgets. By hosting events like art fairs or performances, having students create art for community contests or displays, or even making artworks for display somewhere in the community, it gets those outside of the schools interested in what you're doing in your art room. Art in general is flexible enough to connect with numerous other school activities (such as sporting events, band / choral concerts, school plays, etc.) that there should be no reason that you couldn't form many interdisciplinary connections and give your art program a higher profile, both in and out of the school building.
Art can also provide a good creative outlet for those students that would rather not be involved in other school programs,and by providing times for these students to create art projects and a safe space to do so will both help the students and let the adults in the community know that there are alternatives for students besides the common examples (sports, study or trouble-making).
Finally, by reaching out to the community, you may find a number of resources that you and your students would not otherwise have known about. This could be individuals with artistic talents that could benefit your program, a business that could provide materials for your class, or just a chance to look at familiar parts of your community in a different way. In addition, large cities may have independent art / community centers (such as the Waterloo Center for the Arts, Blackhawk Children's Theatre, Hearst Center, etc.) that could provide some extra support for your class. For example, if you aren't quite as adept at ceramics or photography, maybe there's an employee of such an institution that could come to your classroom and give a demonstration. Also, they may be willing to host a student art exhibition or child / parent art night. In any case, there are numerous examples of ways that you could connect your art program with the community and both sides could benefit from it.

Making a classroom accessible

I have had a chance to work with a number of individuals, both students and adults, who could be said to have disabilities. I have also discussed this issue in a number of my education classes, not the least of which makes it any less important to talk about. I don't have alot of in-depth experience working with physically handicapped indiviuals, though I did grow up with someone who has muscular dystrophy, and has long been confined to a wheelchair. I wrote a paper on my experiences with him for one of my methods classes, as well as the changes that our school needed to make to accomodate him and his electric wheelchair into as many classes as possible.

While I know that is the point of this article, I find it hard to write about it again. There are so many things that must be done to accomodate students into our classrooms physically, in regards to supply access, adequate room to maneuver, compensating for physical differences, etc. These are all important and should not be ignored, but I think a number of them could be addressed immediately as you prepare your artroom.

A much more important form of accomodation, in my opinion, is internal - how we view those with disabilities, how we see them as humans and students and not just disabled. I feel we also need to think about how we view all disabilities or important student issues - for example, we can tell if a student has a physical or mental disability, but can we as easily tell if they are suffering from an emotional or psycological problem? Again, I don't mean to ignore or short-change students with physical or mental impairments, but many other issues can be difficult for students to deal with and require some help or assistance as well.

In the end, I guess I hope to be the kind of teacher that can be open, approachable and welcoming to every student, no matter their differences. I hope to make my classoom not only easily accessible and maneuverable, but also an open and inviting atmosphere where every student can feel free to be themselves and be creative. That may be a rather cliche answer, but in this case, I feel one should try to be as positive and open as possible.