Point of View: Where Do We Go from Here?

In the summer of 1980, I went on a guided white-water rafting trip with my family down the Nantahala River in North Carolina. Looking out the tour bus window, I noticed how the river changed from a babbling brook to calm waters, and eventually, to rough rapids. I remember my dad commenting on my white knuckles, but the bus wasn’t going to turn around.

Before we got into the raft, the tour guide walked us down a path to show us the point where we would have to get out and pull the raft past some rocks. Once back in the raft, our guide would lead us through the rapids. Not to worry, he told us; he was with us, and weʼd be fine.

As we started down the river, we were apprehensive but enjoyed the calm water and casual conversation. But when we approached that point, fear crept in as we came face-to-face with the unknown. I remember holding onto the guide’s words that we would be fine and repeated them over and over in my head. And in the end, we were.

Reassessing the Present
I’ve spent the past year in a new teaching environment—pivoting between 100% virtual instruction from home to smaller groups in a hybrid schedule to face-to-face instruction in the art room, and now a hodgepodge of different schedules each week.

Thoughts of summer vacation seem so far from where we are right now. Even further out is September and what our schedules will look like next fall. Perhaps this year could be considered a “gap year,” and we can move back easily to how teaching was before the pandemic. After all is said and done, I can’t help but wonder what from this year’s experiences weʼll retain and what weʼll bid a fond farewell to.

Reflecting upon the new virtual curriculum that took hours to develop, I’m hesitant to leave it behind as we move forward. The default mode of returning to how I used to teach before the pandemic doesn’t interest me either. Instead, I see the present course of art education as a blend of best practices from the pandemic with what worked in the past. We took many risks and tried to find the best way to reach our students from afar. I’m quite fond of the digital art lessons I created and feel optimistic about including them in future years of art instruction.

New Successes

Google Draw: Students all had Chromebooks, so this was an excellent way to teach digital design skills.
Pros: Auto-saves, simple functions, many different applications.
Cons: Manual dexterity issues due to no mouse; student lack of familiarity in the beginning caused initial frustration.
Jamboard
Pros: Auto-saves, simple functions, excellent way to share student work and engage in dialogue and create opportunities for ice-breaker/quick-write posts and group displays.
Cons: Students needed to be shown how to move their image around so as not to cover other students’ images; younger students may have trouble with the drawing tool or accidentally delete images.
Virtual Student Galleries
Pros: Students loved creating their own galleries to showcase their projects; easy-to-use slides; excellent art advocacy tool.
Cons: Can be time-consuming for teachers depending on number of students.
Art Advocacy
Pros: Sharing everything as a link so student art can be posted on district websites, social media, and/or newsletters.
Cons: Teachers must remember to check district protocols for sharing student art and check for parent permission to post.

Déjà Vu
When my school district returned to 100% face-to-face instruction, it felt like the first day of school all over again. Yet, it also felt unfamiliar. Gone were the sights of smiling faces, replaced with a variety of masks. Gone were the shared supplies, replaced with individual art kits and Chromebooks.

So many old ways are simply gone. However, there is something quite comforting about being back in the art room with students because that is what we know and what we do best. Despite all the challenges we’ve experienced recently, I firmly believe there is much to be taken from this crisis. If we knew back then what we know now, would we have done things any differently? Regardless of the continuous schedule changes, one constant remains: We have never wavered from our love and enjoyment of teaching art, and that can never be taken away.