Thoughts, questions, and concerns...

At the stage of the project, I am ever more eager to continue to research the concepts and practices highlighted by the professional development programs that I completed over the past year. This has always been my goal for this project, to use my love of creating and using art to add significant meaning to these programs in an effort to improve my professional knowledge and practice as an art educator. I want to be the best teacher I can and I acknowledge the importance of a continual push for self improvement. A critical part of that characteristic is self reflection. Where can I improve? What can I change to make myself better? Am I making the right choices that lead to the appropriate actions?

I think this is a good place to ask these same questions of my current process or using arts-based research.

I have created an enhanced understanding of these practices by applying artistic practices. I believe this is an unavoidable consequence of genuine arts practices. Regardless of subject matter or content, diving into your creative imagination to create visual meaning that presents information to others and yourself, produces a personal connection with that subject. Drawing an image of a plant cell provides the artist with insights into the structure and arrangement of all the cell's features and characteristics. A heightened familiarity of the forms and how the relate to one another is produced. Is it any different from the understanding that could be created from reading and seeing a visual representation of these concepts. I believe it absolutely does. Being the creator of such an image forces the artist to be concerned with detail. Construction of the image creates a mental awareness that is unique to this process. The knowledge that is created can then be transferred to other principles and connected to other meanings creating a grander understanding that is constructed through multiple points of view. The more legs that support the table, the more sturdy it becomes.

Are there ways of which I can improve my process? I think it could be beneficial to work through research such as this with another art educator. Having multiple perspectives, ideas, and images to work with would continue to raise questions and new insights. Unfortunately, with the circumstances of my current situation this is not possible. However, I do plan to share this research my schools professional development coordinator during the coming schools years to gain her perspective one my work. I think another improvement to judge the effectiveness of the process will be in evaluating what effect it has in the classroom with my students.