Kaleena Grasela
As Annika reels from your savage shut down, your teacher purposefully steps forward and clears her throat to get everyone's attention. As the chatter dies down, she says in a clear tone,
"Hey. Everyone, I'm going to make a little speech. Don't worry, it's pretty much my only one, and it's the one I like to give at the start of every semester." She huffs a slightly nervous laugh as she fishes a piece of paper from her pocket,
"You'd think I'd have it memorized by now... in my defense, I do revise it. From time to time."
She looks over the sheet, then says the following while looking up to make eye contact with most of you,
"Good morning. Welcome to third period Art Class. I'm Miss Kaleena Grasela. You can call me Miss Grasela... or Kaleena if you like. Even Teach. I'm flexible." Her smile is natural, not forced. She looks down at her paper again, then back up,
"I believe that art is a challenge, filled with uncertainty and doubt that leads to euphoria. When I first started teaching, I realized I needed to let go of some of my control, that I needed to embrace the art of exploration, of imperfection. My practice in the philosophy of Teaching for Artistic Behavior, or just "TAB", is definitely imperfect, but it has helped me tremendously in developing my own style of art curriculum and instruction. TAB is a choice-based approach in art education where you will all learn art through authentic choice learning opportunities and responsive teaching."
She remains standing at the front of the class and everyone starts paying attention. She continues,
"In my art room, you will develop essential art-making skills in a variety of media, then continue to choose what to create and how to go about doing so. As your art teacher, my goal is to guide you as you problem-solve, and to challenge you to search for meaning…to think like an artist across subject areas. I work to create a safe space for all of you to express yourselves, to help each of you work through moments of uncertainty, whether those moments are related to creation or interaction. Our art room strengthens our sense of community as we are expected to try, to make mistakes, to reflect, and to encourage."
She looks up from her paper to scan the room and says emphatically,
"I hope that you can all be creative and courageous. I hope you learn to trust yourself. I hope I can be a model for you through my own experience as a student, an artist, and quite simply a human being." Her voice softens as she says,
"And lastly... it’s ok to not know what to do, because as Damian Kulash once said, 'You make your best work when you don’t know what you’re making.'" She folds her paper up and stuffs it back in her pocket, then begins organizing everyone getting out crayons and sheets of paper. She talks about the six Elements of Art:
* Line
* Shape / Form
* Value
* Color
* Space
* Texture
and asks each of you to demonstrate an element. What do you choose?
