Reflection #2: Visual Arts

What have I learned about visual art-both from the text and class? I have learned that there are many different elements that are associated with visual arts. I have learned that there is deeper meaning than just coloring a picture. There are shapes, lines, texture, value, and many other elements that can be expressed. I learned that there were a few things that I struggled with while learning about the different elements. Texture and value were probably the more difficult elements for me to learn doing. It just shows that I can learn more and there is more room for improvement. Overall, it helped me to teach my own students that there is more to the world of visual arts and creativity than just coloring, it is the elements that can help students enhance their creativity even further.

So what does that mean for me as a teacher? As a person? It means that there are more ways to open up our creativity by using these elements. It can allow me and my students to focus on texture and what that would mean. Books use words that describe a setting or feeling (soft, rigid, hard, prickly, etc.) They can picture that texture in their mind of what the author is talking about. Lines can also be used for math and what kind of lines (90 degree angles, perpendicular, parallel lines, etc.) Many things from the different elements can be integrated into the other subjects as well. It helps me as a person to see that the world is filled with visual arts and the elements make up those things.

How will this change the way I teach my future students through this newer perspective? Yes, this helped to realize that art goes beyond just coloring for fun and for the kids to be quiet. It really enhances their learning and creative thinking which will expand their knowledge and schema for the different subjects they are studying. All of these different elements are very much apart of the math, reading, writing, science, etc. It will allow them to be more creative and be successful in art as well as their other subjects too.