The Importance of Photography in The Art Classroom

 Photography is a relatively new art medium, and is in a constant battle of whether photography is an art or not. In this day and age everyone has access to some type of camera and photography has become more mainstream than ever. While not every photograph is art, it is on of the most popular art forms. Using photography in the classroom is important too. Sharing and documenting student work is not only important, but super simple now. Teaching students how to document and photograph their work, is a life long skill that they can use for many different reasons.  

Now as a photographer, I would 100% include a photography unit in my future classroom if I had the resources. I work with a camera almost every day. In the age of technology, using a camera is incredibly useful, not only to become a photographer. Since cameras have become so readily accessible the days of having a professional photographer in almost every company have gone away. Now usually someone will hand off a camera to a poor intern who only knows how to push a button. It happened to my sister, I receive an urgent text on "how do I work this thing." Gone are the days of having a professional photographer to work the magic. Now there are few jobs that rely on a photographer, such as architecture and professional portrait photography. Granted there is always free-lancing, but the moment a child decides that they are going to become a free lance photographer, parents generally freak out and bring up the broke artist issue. Now personally I work on my own things, and photograph what I want to, but I am also working on becoming an art teacher so I will have an actual stable, salaried, job. For these reasons I believe everyone should have the basic knowledge to use a camera properly.

Students being shown how to use a camera

My ultimate goal is to teach people how to take the camera off automatic and have them use manual mode, but realistically I know that that would not always be possible. The reason I prefer manual mode is partly because it gives you a boatload of options, but ultimately it produces better quality images. Technology has gotten super far, camera are 100% included in that, but the automatic settings are no where near as accurate as manual ones. Teaching students how to use a camera, not only will help them in their personal lives, but in the professional world as well. 

Now the second half of the importance of photography in the art classroom, is the fact documenting work is more important than ever. Majority of scholarships, contests, and portfolio reviews are all online now ever since the covid-19 pandemic. There is no more mailing in artwork. The pros of this is you don’t have to worry about paying the shipping fees, worrying if the art will get damaged, or if it will be lost forever. The cons of this is the fact everyone expects clear high quality photos. This is a skill that I believe that students need to learn 100%. Not only for the contests, the scholarships, or shows, but for personal documentation as well. In college, we are taught to always have some photos of your work available at all times, as you never know when you'll need or what opportunities arise. On top of that we are expected to keep a digital documentation of our work. Its not as simple anymore to just take a picture with a smart phone, most places expect good lighting, the imaged to be white balanced and color corrected, and for the image to be straight and proportioned. I know many teachers who will photograph students work themselves, but especially in high school the students know more about technology than the teachers, and they have the ability to photograph their own work by themselves. Plus it will save teachers times as having to photograph and edit 15 or more students work, can take hours. As young artists, teaching students the skills to photograph their own work is one of the most useful skills they can learn for the future. 

The Importance of Creativity in The Classroom

 Creativity in the classroom is an important factor to keep in mind. In the past 10-15 years the curriculum across the the united states have been slowly increasing the use and development of creativity in the classrooms. Many educators are believing that creativity now belongs in the classrooms, that it is a necessary skill for students to develop to succeed in the working world. More and more teachers are adding creative based lessons in their plans to help students develop these skills. 

As an artist creativity is a big part of my practice. In my studies on becoming an educator, they're stressing the importance of students learning about creativity on multiple fronts. In psychology for example they showed most of the most of the successful people in the world have shown many creative traits. In my beliefs, the school systems have been crushing majority of the creativity students have. From my experience in the public education system as a student, many of the classes gave us assignments that made us think and work creatively. I believe this has impacted a good portion of my generation in the work world. This is a big reason I think more curriculums are stressing on teaching creative thinking. A big place where that happens is in the art classroom. 

We as art teachers have an important role to play with creativity in the classroom. It has been a big factor in the art curriculums. Giving the students choice. Having them think about their ides. And most of all, working out how to execute those ideas. I've always believed that an art teachers role isn't to teach, but to guide students.

Art Teacher Assisting a Student

Were here to help them and assist them to make it to their goals. Yes we teach technique and how to use different materials, but these are to tools we need to give to the students the tools to work on their projects and their ideas. With teaching students these skills it become almost an instinct for students to think creatively. While teaching them how to think creatively, without teaching them literally "how to be creative" students don't even realize they're doing it. This will not only help students develop amazing individual artwork, but help them create interesting essays, or intriguing business ideas. It will help students work on problem solving skills, and  discover creative solutions. 

The Importance of Arts in The classroom

The arts are usually the first thing to be cut in schools, wether that be from being a program completely, or from a students class schedule due to extra help needs. It is a conflict constantly debated in our education systems, wether we have too much art are not enough. The arts are proven to benefit children and students mentally and in their studies. Working in the arts really helps to refine skills such as fine motor skills, mathematical skills, language skills, and more. Not only that but thinking creatively is incredibly beneficial to function in working society. 

Now I might be biased but I believe that we need to keep the arts in schools as much as possible. I recently began my journey to become an art teacher, and seeing how tings function from the teachers point of view changed a few of my opinions to say the least. In the school district I am observing at, they force the teachers to use an online classroom format, like Google Classroom or Canvas. I'm usually all for the online platforms for materials, but the way it is executed can have an adverse effect on how students think of an art class. Art class is supposed to stimulate students and encourage them to think creatively while simultaneously teaching artistic skills. I've noticed in many schools and different districts they are introducing more "non art" classwork. Basically quizzes, question and answer assignments, and more. It is important for students to have a break in the day and to learn to think creatively, but forcing more non related art assignments into an art class is taking that away. This leads to students participating less, putting forwards less effort, and in result, their grades start to drop. When this happens, along with budget cuts, the arts quickly get pushed aside and soon disappear from the curriculum. In my educational psychology class we talked about how one of the main things successful students and people in the work world have is creativity. It is important because being creative is how you come up with different. Solutions to problems that were unfixable in the past, or coming up with way to better execute a project or task. Art is a great way to teach those skills. Now going back to students needing a break; they are stuck in a building for 7-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, sitting in a desk for up to an hour and a half at a time. Not only that, they are forced to pay attention during class and work on assignments, not just at school, but usually at home for homework as well. This is one of the main reasons electives were put in place, so students could have a break from their general education courses and learn something they are interested in. Many people argue that lunch counts as a break for the students. Which is something I highly disagree with. They are supposed to be eating, they usually only have 30 minutes to even do that. Teachers are required to have lunch breaks too, but they also have a planning period. I equalize planning to students taking an electives. Planning for teachers usually consists of having a little break from students and having time to get work done. Electives are students having break from their general education courses, While still learning and working. Now most of the elective courses are in the arts, studio arts, theater, music, creative writing and more. These give students an outlet not only for their creativity, but also their stress, and feelings.

Students working on a clay project in a classroom

High school students are going through some of the most confusing times of their lives, their emotions and hormones are all over the place, I should know I've been there. The arts are a way for them to harness that into a positive way. On top of that, the arts can help you develop a hobby, which is proven to show positive effects on ones mental health. 

Now I know I have talked a ton about high school and the arts, but what about elementary? High school is what I plan to teach in the future, but I believe elementary schools involvement in the arts is crucial for high school arts to succeed. As with most things, starting young is the way to go. Having them learn while they are young to use the arts as a creative outlet will help students get into the habit of it. On top of that, it will also teach appreciation of the arts while students are young. Everything we consume at some point involved an artist. Whether it's the music you listen to, the social media apps you use everyday, to the design on a bottle of olive oil. We look at art constantly. There is always the stigma of the starving artist, but most artists now a days aren’t starving, they are flourishing in success. Every company in this world has some designer or artist involved in it. The arts shouldn’t be treated as a non successful industry anymore. We are in the age of the internet, It is thousands of times easier to get a job in the arts now then compared to even 20 years ago. Students should be encouraged to study in the arts. Their opportunities shouldn’t be taken from them by schools discontinuing these types of programs.