Transforming Ourselves as Teachers of Children Through Art

Abstract

The focus of this study is to understand children who may demonstrate undesirable behaviors. We are teaching a child, not a label. Many teachers see these children as different (and difficult) and treat them as such. This attitude creates huge barriers between these teachers and their students. It is argued that we should treat all children as normally as possible, and concentrate on their strength rather than their weaknesses. This research provides evidence of the power of art – filtered through the teaching/learning process and the student-teacher relationship - to increase productive creative behavior and eliminate or decrease disruptive behavior, by providing a healthy environment of respect, trust, and love and the freedom for all children to learn and experience comfort and security. As a result, an environment of healthy teaching and learning, substantial progress toward described ends was made. To achieve the goal of becoming more compassionately focused art teachers, three areas of focus were attended to change the child’s disruptive behavior: (a) student-teacher relationship, (b) classroom management, and (c) instructional performance. As a result of improvements in these areas, the child’s disruptive behavior started to change gradually and diminish consistently during the art making experience.