Summer Gregory

Artist Statement

My philosophy of teaching is rooted by a personal goal to consistently inspire my students to grow and learn to their full potential. I believe that students can be innovative and use that knowledge further on in their lives when it comes to expressing themselves. I will help students to carry this knowledge further in life by teaching problem-solving skills, critical thinking and ingenious learning. This will allow students to relate the arts to other core subjects and learn to make connections inside and outside of the classroom. My goal as a teacher is to be more of a guide to students on their complex learning journeys in the classroom. By doing this I hope to inspire students to use and apply the skills they have learned to encourage self-expression, creative growth, discovery and new ideas. I want to encourage my students to continuously grow with their creativity and their education.

I decided I wanted to become a teacher at a young age. The desire to make a change in children’s lives has always been important to me. This is one of the reasons I would love to teach elementary school children because I know that learning during this period in their lives is crucial for the children because this is the start of their learning experiences and depending on their experiences, it can influence what path they decide to take during their learning career. All students learn at different paces and in different ways and I would like to be there for my students to help them learn what works best for them when it comes to learning new things in the classroom and have them know that I believe that students self-confidence during this time is important to encourage. How students learn and see themselves during this time can make a difference in their lives and affect their education as a whole as the student gets older based on their level of confidence and whether they had good or bad experiences while in school with their peers and teachers.

Overall, I want to teach students not only how to explore their own creativity and think critically by looking at artwork and connecting it to subjects outside of the art room. But I also want them to know that with me being their teacher that they will always have my support with situations in and out of the classroom. I want not only to be a good teacher to my students when it comes to the material being taught but also someone my students know they can always come to.