For the past nine years, the Children’s Arts Guild has been pioneering an education technique we call “Authenticity-Based Social-Emotional Learning” that provides exactly the kind of mirrors and windows needed to accomplish New York’s new Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education goals. 

It actually surpassed my expectations. There was time for reflection about our current teaching practices and an emphasis on the importance of students practicing mindfulness in the classroom. The course provided insight that the teacher could be a model of perseverance and resilience for a student. I liked the method of using an art project that could help students express their feelings. 

Central to my beliefs about teaching is that students are humans and it’s my responsibility to honor and support that in every interaction. Being human is a tricky business. Humans make mistakes; that’s how we learn. Humans also have emotions that are connected in part to our sense of belonging. Belonging is important. In every interaction with my students, I try to hold these two beliefs central to the choices I make about how I respond. Whether we are celebrating a piece of work a student has done, giving suggestions about how to improve something, or redirecting a child who’s throwing rocks into an icy pond, I am conscious of their humanity.

Teaching has been described as both an art and a science. Looking to the discipline of art - the seriousness with which artists learn to see, draw, paint, and create - can transform our classrooms. Rather than seeing art as “extra”curricular or as a “special” subject, what would it mean to take art seriously in our schools? To place it at the core of what and how we teach children. Beauty should not be reserved for the lucky few but insisted upon for all.