Blog number 2!!

MY UNDERSTANDING OF CHILDREN!!!


My preconceived ideas on children are pretty vast. I have to say that it goes under a few headings: Their outlook/Their social understanding, Their potential, Their hope.

Their Outlook/ Their Social Understanding: I see their outlook on life as not as completely innocent, but perhaps more willing to understand life. I believe that children are willing to see things in different ways if given the oppertunity. As seen in James And The Giant Peach when children are given a stituation they are able to look around it and see the possiblities that could happen such as with James he would always look into different ways to get out of the problems that he and the bugs faced. He would always return to dreams of his parents which was a single thought of hope but that single thought helped him to get through all of brutal treatment that he endured from his Aunts. Children have that ability to question beyond ideas that adults settle on, it has part to do with the naivety of children and their lack of experience in society and in life, but at the same time they make some of the things that adults do look extremely stupid when they pair their knowledge with what adults do. Children are mirrors in that sense. Children are able to reflect back what they see with basic or even creative understand that has been fed by their past experiences. They are not using personal biases instead they use straight recall of memories. I believe too that children get bullied into being considered "not smart enough" or "inept" because they have little to no experience but I believe that children are fresh minds that can cut through all of the adult biases and social formalities and worries. I believe that children use the little that they have experienced and combine it with the endlessness of the world that they yet do not know. I believe that a large part of why we are so afraid of your children is because they are often so truthful in their feedback. Unless they feel like they will be in trouble they will tell you exactly what they think about something and as a performer for young children it is often very difficult to engage them for the entire performance unless there is enough wonder, magic and excitement for them.

Their potential: I believe that children should be given every opportunity to find their strengths and their weaknesses and should be given the chance to discover how they can work on those weaknesses.
I believe that children as so malleable in the sense that they are blank canvases which have the potential to engage in so many skills and to be able to open their minds into so many directions. I fear teaching young children because I do not want to fill them with knowledge that can be harmful or can cause them to become influenced in a negative way towards things which they have yet to experience for themselves. I understand that in life we learn most of what we know through social interaction and comparison or listening to the experiences of others but for children it seems that it should be better to give them more freedom and responsibility to discover on their own. I also fear children because as children continue to be born they are coming into a world with technology and social pressures that far exceed those of when I was growing up. I worry that as a teacher I will be out of date to teach children. Children do not seem to dwell on problems instead they find an answer or move on to something else that they need to attack. One of the most beautiful and true quotes that I look at as someone who wants to teach in the Fine Arts is, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."- Pablo Picasso. I believe that children may not be making a pretty painting but they are ready to discover the possibilities that each medium holds and how their kinesthetic relationship with that medium will develop a greater knowledge of visual art.

Their Hope: I know it seems harsh and unfair to put so much pressure on children but the way that we help them to learn and the way that we as adults show them the world with affect how they create the world of their own. Each generation is given the pressure of saving or sustaining the world and I believe that is we allow the most enriching and well rounded experiences for each child they will be better able to apply themselves to this demand.


My Ideas On Teaching Children


With respect to how I view children I believe in my teaching I will consider:
-I would want to use a large variety of tools and mediums. I believe it is important for children to have a large skill set so that they can find their strengths and preferences and also so I as a teacher can find out how to better teach and work on weaknesses with my students.
-I believe that experiential and demonstrative (or classical) techniques of using different mediums is important. Experiential discovery is important because at a young age as they learn to master their motor skills, and find which mediums feel the best for them to use they can work at how to express what they feel they need to in a way that they can connect with. In the same sense I believe that showing children how to properly use tools and mediums is important first of all for safety and so that they can see other ways of using art tools.
-I hope to work on a large variety of projects. Some that work with skill so that students may advance their knowledge and further their personal skill set. I would like to work with projects that involve the daily like of the children in my classes. (Both on a class community and an individual level) Children are often so busy learning facts that are displaced from their everyday life while in school I believe that art will give them a chance to talk about what is important to them. I hope to work on projects in groups because children are often have their own personal networks of their friends, family, and teams, but it is always important for them to create a class society and to try working with many different individuals and enjoying peer teaching.

James And the Giant Peach
Today as I sat watching the character James I found the following:
-Children really do expose people for who they are by exposing simply what they see. With characters like the centipede James reflected the characteristics that he saw in the Centipede which helped to give him confidence and it also helped other adults see him for who he is. I think children will always help me to keep my lessons in check as long as I continue to hear their ideas and thoughts.
-Children use creativity to explain what they do not understand. I am intimidated by this in the sense that I am worried I won't be able to keep up to the limitless ideas of children. I am also excited by this with the idea that children will no need extensive tools and supplies to make extraordinary art work as they can create from a very basic plan.
-James had the need to escape, and he was also feeling down due to the horrible treatment of his aunts. Children reflect how they are feeling in their adventures. When he first met everyone he was scared and unsure, but he used his need to escape to work with the bugs and to make the best of his abilities to help him reach his goal. I think it will be important to work with the values of individual students and also to see how their art experience is affecting them. If I am to look into the art of the children I believe I will be able to find how they are recieving the lesson and how I can try to get them to work with their feelings through art.