The Ever Flowing Exchange of Energy in a Great Student-Teacher Relationship The student teacher relationship is a most precious exchange of energy that inspires and rejuvenates everyone involved. We can all think back to teachers who have positively impacted our lives in different ways. Likewise, as teachers in tune with the precious gift each student brings within them can easily reminisce the many powerful memories of being apart of our students growth as artists and individuals. There is no discipline that gets closer to the hearts of students. Everyone, whether overtly, or hidden deep down in side, wants so much to be able to express their ideas in art. It seems to be a core need of human beings, to have their hands and minds be empowered to create their version of the world. And the world seems to be divided by people who feel this ability, and those that can trace back their dissatisfaction with their inability to a certain moment in a certain art class when a certain teacher said a certain thing. It is heartbreaking as it is a story told over and over, by parents of young students hoping to help their children avoid this trauma, and current students with their own recent memories. It is heartening to know that these traumas are easily erased once a student begins to learn art through our methods. When a student is told that everything they do is right, and they are shown that every mistake in art is really an “Oopsertunity” to make the work better, and that the ability to make things look great is absolutely something to be taught and not the result of some magic powers, confidence blossoms. As we said before, success breeds motivation. If a person loves what they are doing, then they will continue to pursue it. These fragile truths are absolutely held in the hands of the teacher. People care so much about their art. We feel it reflects on who we are, and this realization can be both empowering and intimidating. As a teacher we must be sensitive to our student’s emotional relationship to art, and we must be well trained and prepared for all the moments a student may fall into feeling like a failure. Often, teaching feels like holding a person heart in your hands. To drop it or set it aside would be absolutely devastating. Teaching requires us to hold many hearts all at once, and in this role we must stay ever vigilant. And if ever a teacher should fail by being emotionally unavailable or overextended, that teacher must let the students know that it is absolutely through no fault of their own. That the class was too big, or the teacher was distracted, or that the teachers own emotional limitations got it the way. The greatest gift a teacher can give to a student is honest humanity. A teacher should strive for perfection, but be absolutely honest when this mark is not reached. Art is so much about self expression that students must feel the studio is a safe and honest environment in which to work. This is a two way street. A teacher cannot expect risk taking from students without taking risks ourselves. We must be willing to let students see our vulnerability, which I think is the most challenging and empowering part of teaching art. When this relationship is established, it really is a precious place. Here, students learn to trust each other, with the vulnerability of their art out for every one to see. It’s a place where students learn to be sensitive and aware of each others gifts. Its where there is an opportunity to learn how to talk to each other about ideas, and celebrate accomplishments, and empathize with frustrations. All these opportunities for emotional growth must be modeled by the teachers as they will set the tone for all interactions. Let your students see who you are. Let who you are as a teacher be one of your own most shining works of art. You will find that being real to your students, in all your faults and glories, will be the real door to their hearts. There are occasions where students have been so damaged by past experiences that they put up a fortress of defensive attitudes and behaviors to deflect any chance of being hurt again. Often our team of teachers will take turns to find ways of reaching these students. It’s a structure that allows teachers to observe each other and gain insight. In a sense, it’s like the proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Often it is asking too much to expect one person to be everything another needs. The opportunity to share our experiences and gain more insight is so valuable. If a teacher is working alone the challenge may be greater, the solitude more isolating, and the intensity of emotions more demanding. However, even teaching alone, a supporting approach that constantly affirms that what a student is doing is exactly right will eventually prevail. It must be supported by lessons that do actually teach the skills that a student is afraid are too hard. It must be supported by the flexibility to teach these lessons in a way that touches the student. There is no formula here. Some students can only learn successfully through touch and hands on help. Some must be told things verbally while being shown how. Some can simply watch and then do. Some needs to wait and watch others before trying themselves. A great teacher will be prepared to try every method until what works is made evident. It is never enough to stand before a group and demonstrate a skill. A great teacher must immerse her self in each and every student’s project. That personal touch will be what keeps the students trusting. It should also be noted that as a teacher you will stay nimble of wit and character if you develop these habits in your studio. Just as great teachers must be nimble while instructing, so must they be ever vigilant in bringing attention to every single success that happens, large or small. An art class should be full of the sounds of positive affirmations… “That’s how! Now you’ve got it! Do you see what you just did? Step back and take a look at your accomplishment! Hey everybody, come and look at this!” It is absolutely the role of the teacher to help students see their growth and greatness. So many have been so beaten down they often cannot even see their own accomplishments. So many have come from art education environments that are based on the idea that there are a few talented individuals, and the rest should be taught art appreciation. So many have felt frustration with skills and have internalized a belief that they are not capable. This attitude can be a powerful sedative to a students self confidence and must be broken. Explain to them why what they have done is so great. Help them to understand that art is a building process, that small accomplishments lead to limitless possibilities. That so much of making art is learning the little pieces, then putting these together to create original and meaningful work. Don’t let any opportunity to celebrate growth and accomplishment slip by! It is so important to remember that every person, student and teacher alike, brings with them their own unique way of relating to art. Being able to tap into and inspire these differences is one of the greatest responsibilities of an art teacher. Teaching in the context of other artists, art movements, and art history is a way for students to explore the infinite approaches that might lead them to a better understanding of their own nature. Likewise, teaching in a way that clearly shows each teachers personal relationship helps students recognize that they are merely ways, not rules. Our tradition of team teaching at the studio is so effective because it accentuates this truth. Team teaching creates an environment that celebrates and supports the differences of teaching styles and individuality. For the students, it’s a way to see that there are always different ways to approach work, that there is never only one way, or one right answer. So many students express an appreciation for the different advice different teachers give, because they come to clearly understand that it is their choice to incorporate advice their process. In a team environment teachers can also turn to each to each other for support or variation of method when we feel we are not reaching our goals with students. There are so many ways to approach art, and each teacher brings along his or her own perspective, skills, ever nature, to the process. A great example of this how we experience emotion through art. Some find their emotional relationship to their work through the actual physical relationship of hands and materials and vision. For these artists, like Van Gogh and Roudin the rhythm of the physical work, the brushstrokes, the finger markings in clay, the physical interaction with the materials is a hallmark of their emotional presence in their work. Its what gives the work its life. By seeing and feeling the physical markings, we can experience the presence of the artists mood and message and spirit. For others, the connection is clearer when expressed through metaphor, or what the imagery of the creation is saying. In a way, the first is more like music or dance, the latter, like poetry or storytelling. Artists can find themselves on either extreme, or somewhere in the middle, of this scale. As teachers, we must be engaged with these differences in human nature, and we must be able to help our students explore their own unique variation. Team teaching is way for teachers to continue expanding their awareness through their partners. It also keeps the engagement of student differences alive. When a teacher can see a student responding more positively to another teachers approach, all benefit. In a traditional setting where this is not possible, many of the same benefits can be achieved by offering students different solutions, even putting the in the context of how Van Gogh or Picasso might have approached the work. Remember that teaching art should always be suggestive, always respectful of the student’s right to make a different decision. Teachers must remember that their way is just their way, and that there are infinite ways. Instruction should always be shown in the context of goals. It is not enough to tell a person how to do something. A great teacher must explain why so that the student can decide if they share the same desired outcome. Quite often they don’t. Quite often even a great teacher will be not be sure of what is going on in a students head, so keeping this dialogue open insures that a student will have the opportunity to redirect what is going on. It is so important for students to know that the teacher knows this. It is vital for every student to feel that they are ultimately in control of every decision they will make. There is no more common complaint about ineffective art classes than a teacher requiring that students do it their way. This is the fastest route to shutting down and causing resentment in a vibrant creative mind. We like to say that we as teachers are there to provide the how, and that it is up to the student to provide the what. Students must always feel ownership of their art. They must always feel in control of their destinies. Essentially- it is not about you, it is about the student. To teach art effectively, one must embrace that the student is at the core of his or her experience, and we are tasked with keeping this sacred center in tact. In essence, great teaching comes from true empathy, or the ability to feel the emotions another person is experiencing first hand. When asked how we can teach the same lessons over and over again without getting bored, the answer is that every time we teach we must get into the emotional state of the students experiencing the lesson for the first time. By experiencing the lesson through the feelings of students; the frustrations, the revelations, the joys, a teacher can be actually rejuvenated. By feeling the freshness of the experience through empathy, lessons never cease to be fun and new. Fundamentally, this philosophy encourages us all to broaden our experience of life through empathy. Teaching is a great way to model a youthfully exuberant and fresh way of being alive that is not often seen. In these relationships, the best teachers will celebrate the surprise and excitement inherent in supporting the dreams of their students. Great teachers allow their own creativity to flourish in how they relates to each individual student. A great teacher will see teaching as an opportunity to develop her own flexibility and imagination as a teacher rather than thinking of it as exercise on martyrdom. To have longevity in a teaching career we must be ultimately in it for ourselves. What this motivation is exactly will be as unique as each of us. But know that your students will know if you want to be there, and they will follow your emotional lead. Keep your own dialogue about why you teach fresh. The human condition is one of constant change. Be excited to get to know yourself every day.

The Ever Flowing Exchange of Energy in a

Great Student-Teacher Relationship

The student teacher relationship is a most precious exchange of energy that inspires and rejuvenates everyone involved. We can all think back to teachers who have positively impacted our lives in different ways. Likewise, as teachers in tune with the precious gift each student brings within them can easily reminisce the many powerful memories of being apart of our students growth as artists and individuals. There is no discipline that gets closer to the hearts of students. Everyone, whether overtly, or hidden deep down in side, wants so much to be able to express their ideas in art. It seems to be a core need of human beings, to have their hands and minds be empowered to create their version of the world. And the world seems to be divided by people who feel this ability, and those that can trace back their dissatisfaction with their inability to a certain moment in a certain art class when a certain teacher said a certain thing. It is heartbreaking as it is a story told over and over, by parents of young students hoping to help their children avoid this trauma, and current students with their own recent memories. It is heartening to know that these traumas are easily erased once a student begins to learn art through our methods. When a student is told that everything they do is right, and they are shown that every mistake in art is really an “Oopsertunity” to make the work better, and that the ability to make things look great is absolutely something to be taught and not the result of some magic powers, confidence blossoms. As we said before, success breeds motivation. If a person loves what they are doing, then they will continue to pursue it.

These fragile truths are absolutely held in the hands of the teacher. People care so much about their art. We feel it reflects on who we are, and this realization can be both empowering and intimidating. As a teacher we must be sensitive to our student’s emotional relationship to art, and we must be well trained and prepared for all the moments a student may fall into feeling like a failure. Often, teaching feels like holding a person heart in your hands. To drop it or set it aside would be absolutely devastating. Teaching requires us to hold many hearts all at once, and in this role we must stay ever vigilant. And if ever a teacher should fail by being emotionally unavailable or overextended, that teacher must let the students know that it is absolutely through no fault of their own. That the class was too big, or the teacher was distracted, or that the teachers own emotional limitations got it the way. The greatest gift a teacher can give to a student is honest humanity. A teacher should strive for perfection, but be absolutely honest when this mark is not reached. Art is so much about self expression that students must feel the studio is a safe and honest environment in which to work. This is a two way street. A teacher cannot expect risk taking from students without taking risks ourselves. We must be willing to let students see our vulnerability, which I think is the most challenging and empowering part of teaching art. When this relationship is established, it really is a precious place. Here, students learn to trust each other, with the vulnerability of their art out for every one to see. It’s a place where students learn to be sensitive and aware of each others gifts. Its where there is an opportunity to learn how to talk to each other about ideas, and celebrate accomplishments, and empathize with frustrations. All these opportunities for emotional growth must be modeled by the teachers as they will set the tone for all interactions. Let your students see who you are. Let who you are as a teacher be one of your own most shining works of art. You will find that being real to your students, in all your faults and glories, will be the real door to their hearts.

There are occasions where students have been so damaged by past experiences that they put up a fortress of defensive attitudes and behaviors to deflect any chance of being hurt again. Often our team of teachers will take turns to find ways of reaching these students. It’s a structure that allows teachers to observe each other and gain insight. In a sense, it’s like the proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Often it is asking too much to expect one person to be everything another needs. The opportunity to share our experiences and gain more insight is so valuable. If a teacher is working alone the challenge may be greater, the solitude more isolating, and the intensity of emotions more demanding. However, even teaching alone, a supporting approach that constantly affirms that what a student is doing is exactly right will eventually prevail. It must be supported by lessons that do actually teach the skills that a student is afraid are too hard. It must be supported by the flexibility to teach these lessons in a way that touches the student. There is no formula here. Some students can only learn successfully through touch and hands on help. Some must be told things verbally while being shown how. Some can simply watch and then do. Some needs to wait and watch others before trying themselves. A great teacher will be prepared to try every method until what works is made evident. It is never enough to stand before a group and demonstrate a skill. A great teacher must immerse her self in each and every student’s project. That personal touch will be what keeps the students trusting. It should also be noted that as a teacher you will stay nimble of wit and character if you develop these habits in your studio.

Just as great teachers must be nimble while instructing, so must they be ever vigilant in bringing attention to every single success that happens, large or small. An art class should be full of the sounds of positive affirmations… “That’s how! Now you’ve got it! Do you see what you just did? Step back and take a look at your accomplishment! Hey everybody, come and look at this!” It is absolutely the role of the teacher to help students see their growth and greatness. So many have been so beaten down they often cannot even see their own accomplishments. So many have come from art education environments that are based on the idea that there are a few talented individuals, and the rest should be taught art appreciation. So many have felt frustration with skills and have internalized a belief that they are not capable. This attitude can be a powerful sedative to a students self confidence and must be broken. Explain to them why what they have done is so great. Help them to understand that art is a building process, that small accomplishments lead to limitless possibilities. That so much of making art is learning the little pieces, then putting these together to create original and meaningful work. Don’t let any opportunity to celebrate growth and accomplishment slip by!

It is so important to remember that every person, student and teacher alike, brings with them their own unique way of relating to art. Being able to tap into and inspire these differences is one of the greatest responsibilities of an art teacher. Teaching in the context of other artists, art movements, and art history is a way for students to explore the infinite approaches that might lead them to a better understanding of their own nature. Likewise, teaching in a way that clearly shows each teachers personal relationship helps students recognize that they are merely ways, not rules. Our tradition of team teaching at the studio is so effective because it accentuates this truth. Team teaching creates an environment that celebrates and supports the differences of teaching styles and individuality. For the students, it’s a way to see that there are always different ways to approach work, that there is never only one way, or one right answer. So many students express an appreciation for the different advice different teachers give, because they come to clearly understand that it is their choice to incorporate advice their process. In a team environment teachers can also turn to each to each other for support or variation of method when we feel we are not reaching our goals with students. There are so many ways to approach art, and each teacher brings along his or her own perspective, skills, ever nature, to the process.

A great example of this how we experience emotion through art. Some find their emotional relationship to their work through the actual physical relationship of hands and materials and vision. For these artists, like Van Gogh and Roudin the rhythm of the physical work, the brushstrokes, the finger markings in clay, the physical interaction with the materials is a hallmark of their emotional presence in their work. Its what gives the work its life. By seeing and feeling the physical markings, we can experience the presence of the artists mood and message and spirit. For others, the connection is clearer when expressed through metaphor, or what the imagery of the creation is saying. In a way, the first is more like music or dance, the latter, like poetry or storytelling. Artists can find themselves on either extreme, or somewhere in the middle, of this scale. As teachers, we must be engaged with these differences in human nature, and we must be able to help our students explore their own unique variation. Team teaching is way for teachers to continue expanding their awareness through their partners. It also keeps the engagement of student differences alive. When a teacher can see a student responding more positively to another teachers approach, all benefit. In a traditional setting where this is not possible, many of the same benefits can be achieved by offering students different solutions, even putting the in the context of how Van Gogh or Picasso might have approached the work.

Remember that teaching art should always be suggestive, always respectful of the student’s right to make a different decision. Teachers must remember that their way is just their way, and that there are infinite ways. Instruction should always be shown in the context of goals. It is not enough to tell a person how to do something. A great teacher must explain why so that the student can decide if they share the same desired outcome. Quite often they don’t. Quite often even a great teacher will be not be sure of what is going on in a students head, so keeping this dialogue open insures that a student will have the opportunity to redirect what is going on. It is so important for students to know that the teacher knows this. It is vital for every student to feel that they are ultimately in control of every decision they will make. There is no more common complaint about ineffective art classes than a teacher requiring that students do it their way. This is the fastest route to shutting down and causing resentment in a vibrant creative mind. We like to say that we as teachers are there to provide the how, and that it is up to the student to provide the what. Students must always feel ownership of their art. They must always feel in control of their destinies. Essentially- it is not about you, it is about the student. To teach art effectively, one must embrace that the student is at the core of his or her experience, and we are tasked with keeping this sacred center in tact.

In essence, great teaching comes from true empathy, or the ability to feel the emotions another person is experiencing first hand. When asked how we can teach the same lessons over and over again without getting bored, the answer is that every time we teach we must get into the emotional state of the students experiencing the lesson for the first time. By experiencing the lesson through the feelings of students; the frustrations, the revelations, the joys, a teacher can be actually rejuvenated. By feeling the freshness of the experience through empathy, lessons never cease to be fun and new. Fundamentally, this philosophy encourages us all to broaden our experience of life through empathy. Teaching is a great way to model a youthfully exuberant and fresh way of being alive that is not often seen.

In these relationships, the best teachers will celebrate the surprise and excitement inherent in supporting the dreams of their students. Great teachers allow their own creativity to flourish in how they relates to each individual student. A great teacher will see teaching as an opportunity to develop her own flexibility and imagination as a teacher rather than thinking of it as exercise on martyrdom. To have longevity in a teaching career we must be ultimately in it for ourselves. What this motivation is exactly will be as unique as each of us. But know that your students will know if you want to be there, and they will follow your emotional lead. Keep your own dialogue about why you teach fresh. The human condition is one of constant change. Be excited to get to know yourself every day.