Writing About Art

    Today, students have access to unlimited information and resources because of the internet. There are now numerous types of literacies they are exposed to compared to just a decade ago. There is digital literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, data literacy, game literacy, health and financial literacy, coding and computational literacy, and so many more. Literacy is more than just reading and writing as many thought many years ago. Our world is evolving and so are our education systems. Knowing this, teachers also need to evolve with this change and teach students the how to be successful within these new literacies.
    As a future art teacher, I want to incorporate technology at the appropriate times in my teaching and also with my student’s projects. I want my students to learn how to properly use internet sources for their projects and for research. I wish for my students to be aware of current day art and artists for them to learn from other artists. I do believe that students should first be taught the importance of safety when using the internet for education and also the skills and techniques to better navigate through sites. 
    Other than using the internet within my teaching, I also plan to incorporate journaling into my classroom. I wish for my students to write about their art that they are making to dig deeper into meaning and for reflections. Journaling is another creative way that students can express themselves besides creating a material based artwork. I believe that journaling can be a great tool for my art students to plan designs, sort out thoughts, and put actual words on paper before creating a work of art. This could potentially help them find a concept within their work which can also help them with creating a title and artist statement.
    Realizing that today’s students are faced with more literacies then students were exposed to a decade ago makes me, as a future art teacher, want to learn how in incorporate more of these into my art classroom. I want to stay current with what my students are being exposed to so I can better teach them. I am excited to teach art in the twenty-first century because of all the endless resources that my students will have access to for their creative minds to use. Now my job is to help my students know how to use those resources to become successful individuals.