Hello! My name is Annie Dew and I am an art educator in training! I am currently enrolled at Illinois State University and I will graduate in December of 2025 with a double major in Art Education and Drawing. My dream is to teach in a secondary school, specifically grades 6th-8th. During my clinical placements this semester I discovered my love for teaching younger learners.
Teaching Philosophy:
I believe students require a learning environment that embraces failure, nurtures curiosity, and encourages independence. I consider these skills necessary for students to thrive in school and the ever-changing world around us. I plan on creating this learning environment in my future art classroom through the routines I have in place and the lessons I plan. I began building this kind of classroom in the clinicals I have been a part of this past school year. One of my clinical placements was at Evans Jr. High, where I worked with 7th graders. I was able to curate a lesson that encouraged failure and built on the big idea of embracing imperfection. The students were tasked to create a blind contour self-portrait and fill it in with acrylic paint. A blind contour drawing is done using one continuous line and the artist is only allowed to look at their reference, not at what they’re drawing. This was a challenging project for my students to accomplish. Each of them wanted a realistic drawing of themselves, which is an impossible task for a blind contour. Students had to fail multiple times before getting a portrait they wanted to paint. This lesson challenged the way students thought about drawing, taught them how to fail and try again, and changed the way they viewed themselves.
My second clinical placement this past semester was at University High School, teaching freshmen through seniors in art fundamentals. I taught a mini unit over the course of three days. My unit was on distorted portraiture, which built off a previous unit they had done on realistic portraits. Using Snapchat, a popular social media platform, students were asked to distort a photo of themselves or someone else and then use that image as a reference for their hand drawn distorted portrait. The use of technology, and particularly a popular app, sparked curiosity in all my students, and they began this project with lots of excitement. The curiosity and excitement drove my students to complete compelling and successful works of art.
When working with 7th graders at Evans Jr. High, I was able to build solid classroom routines with them over the course of three weeks. Everyday at that start of class, I would greet the students by asking them how they were doing. After the students had the opportunity to share, I would direct their attention to the smart board where our goals for the day/objectives to be accomplished were listed. Then we would start a PowerPoint presentation, class discussion, or work time. When there were 10 minutes left of class, I would assign eight students to four cleaning stations around the classroom. Two students would clean brushes, two students would clean paint pallets, two would collect paint from the tables, and two would wipe down tables. This simple class routine was a great way to teach students how to work as a team. I believe this is a wonderful way to start the year with young learners. As the year continues, I would slowly remove the scaffolding in place, taking away one station at a time and requiring students to slowly begin to clean up after themselves. This routine overtime helps students gain independence.
Through these three experiences at my clinical placements, I started to create a learning environment that embraces failure, nurtures curiosity, and encourages independence. I believe those three things will prepare all my students for the future.