My Mean Old Art Teacher
Mr. Arnold stands smugly by his classroom door between classes, with his arms proudly crossed over his chest as trails of students trample past his art room each day. Many of the passers-by recognize this man simply as "the scary art teacher." Those who have experienced Mr. Arnold's art class first-hand regard him otherwise.
I had heard many stories about Mr. Arnold before entering his grueling class. "Most people don't like him," some warned me. Others commented, "I've heard his class is really difficult." I can remember my first day in his art class clearly. I entered his room a timid freshman with unpleasant expectations. Maybe I was even a little more than timid. The concept of high school frightened me, and having a teacher with a bad reputation didn't ease my fears. I was a sheltered fourteen-year old girl; a girl who had been babied most of her life. I entered room 28 for the first time on a warm late-summer's afternoon, as the sun's rays attempted to soothe me through the windows. The poignant smell of oil paint filtered through the air, soft classical music drifted from his office and impressive artwork decorated the walls. Mr. Arnold always insisted, much to the students' opposition, that, "Classical music puts you in the right mind set to create art. It will not distract you, it will force you to focus." The shelves juggled piles of aged art supplies and half-filled canvases doffed the edges of the room. Mr. Arnold loomed in front of the class with his pointer, a man with frosty silver hair and an undeniable bald spot, unraveling his list of arduous requirements. "Art is not an easy B", he smirked, making reference to a sign on the wall, and squinting at us with his sharp icy eyes. "Furt...
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...der his tutelege. Mr. Arnold's guidance has made me realize that if I deeply and genuinely love what I do, I can succeed. Art has wisked me into lands of creativity and imagination I never knew. I've learned to expand my boundaries by setting sail on risky bodies of water. I may be somewhat of a timid person, but when I create art, I can fly. Mr. Arnold has helped me gain more of the confidence I so desperately needed to break loose. I spent four years in that same room, a room where I grew to love the familiar smell of oil paint and the sound of classical music, listening to Mr. Arnold holler, narrate, criticize, instruct and laugh. I do know an art teacher, different from the one who stands smugly by the door of his art room, with his arms proudly crossed over his chest, and I will never forget him because his teaching has shaped me as an artist, and as a person.
Pope, Alexander. "The Rape Of The Lock". In The Norton Anthology Of English Literature: The Major Authors . Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 5th Ed. New York: Norton, 1987. 1108-1128
To begin, in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope uses satire to invoke a capricious, melancholy mood to illustrate the absurdity of fighting over the cutting of one's hair. Hidden inside this poem is a crafty criticism of the society that helps create the crisis over the stolen lock. A Society in which appearances ere more important to a person’s sense of identity, and treats the insignificant with utmost importance.
So many things influenced our involvement in the Vietnam War, and Lawrence examines the decisions we made in a greater context than just our own. He argues that international pressures controlled the attitudes and ideas of the United States, for the most part.
Adoption is in place to balance, to nurture and create a structural environment of safety in which the child can thrive and develop into a productive individual contributing to society. Also, it allows older children to abandon old maladaptive behaviors and make their first steps toward the construction of new behaviors influenced by their new environment. In years past, parents who adopted a child as an infant often debated whether to tell him or her about the adoption. Many children grew up not knowing they were adopted, and the birth mother’s identity was kept secret from those who did know (Ashford, LeCroy and Lortie 249). This paper provides facts on widely acceptance option of open adoption rather than the traditional practice of closed adoption. Adoption separates real biological family members, removing the adopter heritage whether the adoption is open or closed. Open adoption can lead to problems, but there are proven facts that open adoption is the best option for all parties working together in the best interest of the children.
Emotional stimulation is a key part of the arts. Before and during adolescence students go through many emotional changes and experiences. It is important that they find a healthy and natural way to release their concerns and feelings. Art is a considerable alternative to bottling up their emotions or other things a young person may do to release their emotions. For example, when a student creates a piece of art, his or her thoughts, dreams, goals and experiences are put into it “often reflecting an event of significance in their recent past or some element on the canvas that reminds them of a favored person or object or color” (Gardener 16). Likewise, when a student looks at a piece of art, they try to determine the emotion that the artist is trying to convey. This, in affect increases his or her emotional awareness. By putting themselves in another persons position, students develop a greater understanding of the emotions of their peers. The arts also helps students to think critically and view things in a different perspective:
“After his second-grade class created self-portraits last year, I noticed that he was the only one not hanging on the classroom wall. His teacher explained that his portrait was ‘a work in progress.’ The
Efland, A. (1990). A history of art education: Intellectual and social currents in teaching the
Kramer, Edith, and Jerome Hellmuth. “Art and ... The troubled kid.” JSTOR. Art Education, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2012. .
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
Peter, S., 1996. The History of American Art Education. 7th ed. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
When high school students are registering for classes, they are advised to take AP, or advanced, classes rather than an art class. Instead of focusing on finding differences among students, schools are trying to cram information into our brains. Teachers do this so that we will pass all the tests that they are forced to give us because of curriculum. There should be a balance between advanced classes and creative classes that spark imagination. “Education isn’t about
Howard Gardner grew up in Pennsylvania in the late 1940’s, although his parents were originally from Germany. He attended Harvard as an undergraduate with the hopes of becoming a lawyer and with a major in history. However, as soon as he became the mentee of Erik Erikson, a well-known psychoanalyst, his interests started to change. Gardner entered the doctoral program at Harvard and received his PhD in 1971 with a dissertation on style sensitivity in children. During his years of doctoral study he became a part of the Project Zero, which does research on arts education, and he now co-directs the project. Gardner’s work with Project Zero led to the Project on Human Potential, which resulted in his first well-known book, Frames of Mind. He has written many books since then including, The Shattered Mind and Multiple Intelligences, and he is “currently Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Har...
Waggoner, T. (1999). The center for educator development in fine arts. Retrieved October 12, 2004 from http://finearts.esc20.net/default.html.
White, Kit. 101 Things to Learn in Art School. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011. 28 March
In today’s society anything can be considered “Art”. From the great sounds of a symphony, to the architecture of a modern structure, or even an elephant painting with its trunk, art is what the viewer perceives it to be. Individuals will always agree or disagree with the message behind a certain piece of art, as pieces can be offensive to some, but beautiful to others. Some argue that funding the arts in school is a waste of money, time, or a combination of both, but the benefits outweigh the negatives by far, due to a variety of reasons.