Recently, I was in a meeting full of adults, where I found myself daydreaming and zoning out a bit. I quickly caught myself, then scanned the room to see if anyone felt the same. Observing my colleagues, I noticed that their expressions showed boredom, confusion, and a lack of interest. I even think I saw someone sleeping! Have you ever been in a similar situation? I feel confident you probably have. Although I was a student who encountered my share of academic struggles, I found my passion for learning in the arts.
Have you noticed that your students are bored or zoned out during class? As educators, how do we pique learner interest and ignite a spark for learning? It’s these everyday questions that cause me to reflect on student engagement and drive my curiosity. My question focuses on how educators spark ongoing curiosity and student interest at the early childhood level. I find myself abiding in this place of ongoing discovery and exploration. I engage young learners by observing and working with them to understand how they best learn through their senses. I also adapt and differentiate instruction to build learners’ engagement.
The joy of success and the materialization of engagement have always fueled my desire to find answers to my questions. When I first began working with the early childhood population, I didn’t fully understand how their educational and developmental needs differed from those of older learners. I soon learned to observe and connect, gathering knowledge through conversations with coworkers and my learners. I wanted to gain a better understanding of what learners can do when they are invited and involved, regardless of their academic or social challenges.
Most of my students have cognitive disabilities and thus have IEPs, or they are in the process of being identified as Special Education. For me, research involves systematic investigation. This is one of the main reasons I have studied the developmental milestones for children ages birth to five. I observe children at play and focused work using the four developmental milestones: social and emotional, speech and language, cognitive, and physical.
These four milestones serve as a guide for my research. I also use the four milestones to document and track personal growth. Instruction is guided by how learners are playing, creating, communicating, paying attention, following directions, by their physical abilities. In my classroom, there is a teacher and a learner in every seat. Together, we foster new ways of understanding each other.
An example of adapting instruction involves the changes I made after observing a class in which half of the students use forms of communication other than speech. I have adapted by using picture cards with words or visuals to communicate with my learners. Another example is creating a specialized hand grip with a support board after noting a student didn’t have full range of motion in her hands.
My learners and I engage and spark new ideas through research and by helping one another through the way we see and interpret the world around us. I also incorporate breathing techniques and sensory experiences. For example, we did a project where students had to blow bubbles in a cup and place paper on top of the bubbles before they disappeared to make prints. This was a challenging experience because students normally use straws to draw air in and not blow out. Learners had the opportunity to see the bubbles emerge, smell the soap suds, feel the bubbles form, and marvel at the patterns they created.
It’s the ordinary everyday questions that explain how curiosity lives in the art room. It is curiosity that leads us to solve problems and causes sparks to ignite. We’re always researching, whether it is educational blogs and websites, curriculum guides, or by searching the web.
Supporting student growth is an ongoing discovery as I observe, listen, and learn. It’s my curiosity that drives me to learn how I can best serve my students. They deserve nothing less and, believe me, they have made me a better teacher.
Jacquetta Harvey is a visual art educator at James Ryder Randall Elementary School in Clinton, Maryland. Jacquetta.Harvey@PGCPS.org
Art teachers spark curiosity through lessons that encourage material exploration, play, and reflection. Young students create flower petal prints inspired by Andy Warhol, elementary students collaborate to tell stories through installation and photography, middle-school students reconsider material choices and embrace a curriculum that encourages play, high-school students create reflective artworks based on visual journaling exercises, and more.
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