A classroom of 15, 20, or even 30 students can be a microcosm of our larger social systems. Chances are, in any given classroom, there will be a wide variety of interests, personality types, abilities, coping strategies, methods of communication, life experiences, and ways of understanding the world. Thus it follows that we, as educators, need to be highly skilled at not only ‘reading the room,’ but also seeing our students and getting to know them for who they are (not for who we think they are or would like for them to be). I often write about respect, as I believe it is the most fundamental component of any strong relationship, whether that is in your classroom or even in your relationships with family, friends and neighbors.

When I talk about respect in the classroom, I am referring to a much deeper, more profound concept than simply being polite to students. In fact, sometimes we think we are being respectful when, in fact, we are just extending the simplest and most basic courtesies to students. An example would be responding to a student who gives an incorrect answer to a math problem with a phrase like, ‘That’s a good guess, because (x, y, z), but let’s try it another way.’ Of course, this is a good response to give to a student when they give an incorrect answer, because it encourages them to try again and shows them they will be supported in their learning journey, even if they get an answer wrong. The problem arises when teachers stop there, as it is simply not enough to be polite with students. Genuine respect goes far beyond being well-mannered with students (which is, of course, essential in building classroom community), and happens when we take the time to know our students’ personalities and interests, thus respecting the very nature of their being, and showing them ways into learning based on our concern for who they are.

Of course there are limits to how well we can get to know a student’s interests and personalities. Adjunct and full-time Art Professors as well as K-12 Art Teachers often have heavy workloads and see countless students each day or week, on top of doing our own creative work outside of school. We serve on committees, organize exhibitions, and are generally very busy. The good news, however, is that we have a unique perspective as art educators because our subject can be so personal. In my experience, students are usually paying attention to their creative side and have a general, intuitive sense what art they are interested in and what they would like to bring into the world. So, you have a choice to make—-will you support that vision, or not?

My #1 tip for how to respect your art student of any age, from four year olds to returning college students (besides, of course, learning and using their names, is to listen to them when they talk about their goals for their art. Once you know about their ideas and objectives, you can support them to the best of your ability, in a way that also meets the objectives of the class. This can be challenging for a new teacher, who may be eager to jump into complicated or concept-heavy projects, who might feel the need to lecture heavily, or who is too eager to be involved in their students’ decision-making processes. This method fails to provide space for students to make their own decisions, problem-solve, and get to know themselves better through their art. In the worst cases, teachers end up with a classroom full of identical artworks in a ‘cookie cutter’ format. This is detrimental to students and they gain almost no creative skills from participating in these kinds of projects.

It might be tempting to do these sorts of cookie-cutter projects in K-12 education, especially in schools where:

• Lots of pressure is placed on the art teacher to make ‘polished’ or ‘show-ready’ artworks for bulletin boards

• When teachers are overworked and desire more control over what happens in their classroom

  However, these are not excuses to deprive your students of opportunities to genuinely engage in the creative process! Don’t fall for this trap, even if the work your students are making looks wonky or less ‘pretty.’ Your job as a K-12 art teacher is not to decorate the school! You can, of course, enrich the school community by sharing your art projects, but you need to strike a balance between process and product. The product should be so visually engaging that people want to know more about it, and the process should have been so authentic and dynamic that students are excited to tell their curious viewer more about how the work was made. For little ones, a natural solution to this is to have students make their own paper, then make projects from that paper by painting or drawing on it, sculpting with it, or making books. These are scenarios where students engage deeply with a multi-step creative process, while also yielding stunning, impressive, attention-grabbing results. Side note: feel free to see my Early Childhood Papermaking unit plan.

With adults, it is a bit different, as it is developmentally appropriate for adults to want to be equally satisfied with the result as with the process. Take, for instance, an undergraduate observational drawing class. You might have a group of 20 students gathered around a common still life or live model, and each student is tasked with rendering what they see using charcoal or pencil. In these cases, to make sure each student is developing their own voice and perspective, your job is to pay close attention to the way they intuitively draw. Look for idiosyncrasies and little moments where their character or personality shines through in the way they apply charcoal to the paper, or the way they blend from light to dark. Point out these areas, and encourage deeper exploration of these elements that make the work unique. Of course, part of your job is to get the students to draw what they see, so on some level, everyone’s work will be somewhat similar, but remember that the same exact scene can be drawn countless times in countless ways by different artists, and if you are listening and paying attention, you will find those elements that are unique to each particular student. Support those actions and elements by commenting on them, asking questions about them, offering alternatives, and encouraging deeper explorations of them.

Regardless of the age of your students, you have been tasked with helping them find the art that lives within them. We can show deep respect our students by listening, looking, and nurturing the parts of their art that are unique to them.

Interested in other ways of showing respect for students? Check out my blog post, Letter Writing: An Expression of Respect for Your Art Students.