Jessica Peters

STATEMENT ABOUT TEACHING

As an art educator I am committed to instilling confidence in my students to express themselves in personally meaningful ways. I believe that art experiences allow students to develop insight and affirmation of self in the world. Engaging with art offers an ideal space for meaning-making. Through art students can ponder enduring themes authentically from the point of view of each individual. My pedagogical approach addresses the equipping of skills and fostering creative approaches. This includes a curriculum designed for building experience with materials and technical skill, creative problem solving, exercising the use of expressive visual language, visual critical inquiry, and reflection. I use various instructional strategies that organize art experience into an accessible progression towards complexity. I instruct to multiple modes of learning through the use of visual-verbal presentations, interactive discussions, demonstrations, and formative assessment. I design art projects to strike a balance between structured criteria and open-ended resolution. I solicit reflection to enable insight about ones process and final products, as well as that of their peers. I equally emphasize the significance of the process of art, the art product, and art dialogue. Ultimately my pedagogical goals aim to build a community of visual arts expression and learning that is inspiring and satisfying. This is a learning environment that is physically and emotionally safe, sensitive to students in terms of growth and development, and responsive to the diversity represented across the student population and in the world.