Hi everyone! My name is Kristina. I’m a graduate student here at City College and after 3 years in the program I’m in my final semester at City College finishing up my thesis! Being apart of this amazing program has provided me with many memorable experiences and has helped enrich my teaching habits and pedagogical philosophy.
Currently I am a full-time art educator, teaching pre-k through eighth grade, at PS/MS 164 Queens Valley School of the Arts. This is my second year working at this school and I couldn’t be more grateful than to be in this position.
In my undergraduate and graduate studies I have always been very focused on learning more about how to create a student centered curriculum and the effects of this curriculum. Since working at PS/MS 164 I have been trying to create a student centered learning environment. However, I have been facing one challenge in particular which is trying to create a classroom environment that facilitates independent student choice for both an early childhood and secondary arts curriculum. I have found it to be incredibly challenging to be able to achieve this within my curriculum. Since I have been doing this I have become keenly aware that the organization of my classroom’s physical structure and use of procedures within my classroom will either make or break the success of my lesson plan.
In my research for my master’s thesis I chose to investigate the ways in which art educators use procedures and physically choose to structure their classroom in regards to how this impacts the learning environment. My goal in researching this is to shed light on how various classroom structures can have an impact on the learning environment you are creating. So far I have sent out a survey that has provided me with a large amount of data and personal accounts and stories based on this subject. While I have a lot more work to do on my thesis I am now feeling much more confident in this topic after having so much feedback and willingness for individuals to participate.
So far I have found myself constantly reading archived articles from the Art Education Journal which has provided me with a lot of great information. One article I found really interesting is Art and the Open Classroom.
I also have been utilizing the NAEA’s website in regards to implementation of instructional resources that educators have been utilizing in order to structure their classrooms.
