Now that I have been formally introduced to what I Webquest is, I am excited to start to explore some ideas on creating one of my own. So the main focus of a Webquest is to cause those that are on your quest to use higher level thinking skills, using the web as the focus of your lesson, and causing those on the quest to interact with others as well as the content. With that in mind, I want my Webquest to go along with my fundamental idea of anthropology and cultural history.  Thus I want my Webquest to focus on exploring their identity, and zoning in on one factor that helps to define who they are. For instance the class I plan to be working with has students that enjoy hunting, fishing, and football. A big part of how they identify themselves and their culture could be through these hobbies, thus I want them to chose one to further explore. For instance they could use the web to explore the origin and cultural background of hunting, they could then go and interview others on their views toward hunting, or interview their family members and better understand how their family got involved in the sport. Each kids Webquest will be unique and individualized based on the subject they chose that they identify with. After extensive research, they will then create a form of artwork, using materials that go along with the subject they chose, and that can further reflect their identity. They must explain why they chose that particular material and how it reflects on their identity. Within the Webquest I can include different website sources that provide a great resource for research, I can also include several links to different artists that also explore their identity, as well as artists that explore the historical meaning and origins of the culture that they identify with. So far this is a rough idea of my Webquest, if you have any further ideas or comments on how I can improve this interaction please feel free to leave a comment.

So far I have had some difficulty uploading my animation, but it starts with the idea of identity. I feel that within art education it is important to help the kids understand and express how they identify with themselves. Within the animation different photos of how people can negatively or differently view themselves pop up. Stressing the ideas of identity crisis, such as a person born into the wrong gender, as well as body image issues, such as anorexia. I then include pictures of different cultures and backgrounds, since your origin and the culture you live in has a huge influence over identity. The next point I bring up within the animation is world issues. I flash pictures of issues that occur around the world, such as starvation, war, the cruelty of animals, pollution, and litter. I then express in the animation that the best way to explore and express these issues within your own identity and even around the world, is through the use of creativity, which is another important part of art education.

animation2The personal experiences that I have encountered within my life and how art has supported me through my hardships is the reason I have such a desire to be an art educator. I want to show my students what a great impact art can have on their lives, because if  I did not have art within my life I would not be the person I am today.

For me art has the ability to temporarily take you away from your problems. To me art has a way of making time stop, because when you are absorbed within an art project, time no longer matters. Art makes me feel powerful, it gives me the ability to create, to express myself, and art was the one thing that gave me proof that I was worth something, I was good at something, my art gave me pride. Art was something I was acknowledged for.

As I get older art no longer has as much of a critical stance in my life because I now have control and freedom over my own life, the only person I need to rely on is myself. However as a child you do not maintain any control over what happens in your life , you are dragged into whatever situations your parents or guardians are going through. During that part of a persons life, in my opinion, an artistic outlet becomes the most valuable. I want to provide that outlet to my students, and allow them to see how much art can truly impact their lives.

For those reasons I think exploring identity and realizing your beliefs and struggles that you are experiencing within life is incredibly important to bring into the classroom. These issues are not necessarily something that needs to be discussed openly, since that may be hard for the student, but I feel that it is important to put them into perspective within your own self, and perhaps express them within your work.  If a student is going through a hard time, and they do not want to discuss it, it is important for them to be given an outlet to express this pain, whether that be through art or music or even poetry.

In being an art educator my key goal is to allow my students to discover a safe, private outlet that can allow them to be free from the burdens that are put upon them, whether that may be problems at home, problems at school, or even problems they are fighting within themselves.

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“What are five things that are really important that you hope your students learn from you as a teacher in this imagined teaching context in 2025?”

-I hope to help my students find themselves. Allow them to think about what they feel or how they view certain topics. I want them to explore their identity and how they define themselves. I want them to explore their family history. What do they believe in? What is of importance to them? How do they feel others view them? How do they view themselves?

-I hope my students learn about certain issues that are going on in the world, or even within their school and how they feel toward these problems. Do these problems effect them personally? Do they contribute to these problems? Is there anything that they can do to help alleviate these issues?

-I want to allow my students a new way to view the world. Let creativity take control. There are no boundaries or set rules within art. I want my students to have the freedom, and feel safe enough within my classroom, to explore the possibilities art offers. I want them to realize that art is a broad definition.

-However I still feel that it is important to teach my students the fundamentals of art, though allow them the freedom to ignore these rules.  I want them to understand the elements of art; line, color, texture, shape, value, form, and space, along with balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, and unity and how these elements work.

-Another important factor of art is its history, and I feel this is important to discuss and teach students. I want to discuss what use to be considered acceptable art and how the definition of art has evolved. I want them to discover an artist that they can relate to, from the past or present.