As a life-long learner, I set goals for myself to shape and guide my academic and career path. My goals will shape my students into 21st century learners and myself as an innovative educator. I tell my students to ask themselves, “What will make my artwork stronger?” and, “How can I be more successful?” I encourage my students to critically examine their work and think about how they can improve during the creation of their artwork and at the end. I ask these questions to myself when contemplating my goals as an educator. I feel to be a stronger art educator I need to expand my personal learning network (PLN), create an atmosphere that champions exploration and the creative thought, attend education conferences, and present my work to inspire others. I not only want to expand my knowledge of art, technology and education, but I want to grow and deepen my connection to other educators.

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I have a wide personal learning network consisting of resources in education, technology and art. Although I read a lot of content, most times mixing all three main source topics, I rarely contribute. My goal is to produce thoughtful and shareable content to my PLN that blends my love of technology with my passion for the arts. I also want to comment and begin dialogues with my peers to establish and foster meaningful partnerships with educators and artists from around the world. In the art education community, one name that stands out is Cassie Stephens. Through her website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, she inspires other educators to expand their curriculum and blend technology into the classroom. Her dedication to the subject of art education is my inspiration behind creating an interactive database of art lessons and curriculum. These connections create a powerful well of information that can transform a traditional classroom into an environment that encourages creative thinking and collaboration. 

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I have been enamored with the idea of a TAB, teaching for artistic behavior, based classroom since I attended a seminar on the topic at a Michigan Art Education Association conference several years ago. By encouraging students to choose their artistic medium of choice in order to complete a lesson that is based on a theme or idea creates an atmosphere of exploration and creative thinking. This exploration will lead to failures that will make the triumphs for my students. The result will be my students creating authentic art that blends technology and innovative themes in ways that is beyond their years. To develop an artistic voice and style at a young age is a gift and one that many adult artists have difficulties achieving. To encourage my students not to be afraid to question and wonder will not only benefit them in the art room but in all other areas of academic study.

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Finally, I want to continue my education through attending conferences such as Michigan Art Education Association (MAEA), National Art Education Association (NAEA) and Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL). I have attended conferences in the past and the amount that I learn in a few short days is incredible. I had the opportunity to present at a conference during my student teaching internship discussing grant-writing tips and the struggles of a teaching intern. I was able to follow up this experience during my master’s program on the topic of creating visual models in the classroom. In the future, I hope to present at conferences yearly with lessons that blend technology and art in a cross-curricular setting.  These conferences not only educate, but they inspire. It is through these conferences that I learn about new techniques with traditional art supplies along with new strategies of classroom management. It is through these conferences that I expand my PLN and get the courage to create my own content to share with the world. Finally, it is through these conferences that I am able to fill my educational tank up and develop new plans for my students to help them become fearless 21st century learners who are willing to explore but most importantly fail.