Pat Grubb

Personal Statement

            I believe that in order to raise happy, healthy children it is crucial to limit the time they sit in front of TV and computer screens, get them up and moving around, exploring the outdoors, and engaged in as many arts experiences as possible. With the pressures of “No Child Left Behind” students (and teachers) are being forced into more stressful learning environments and into a curriculum where there is less time for creative play.  Those students who cannot learn in the same manner as “the majority” are often, indeed, left behind.  Ironically, the very classes that allow all students to express themselves and succeed at their own level are often the first to be cut because of budgets, as well as competition for time to be fit into tight schedules.

             Our future global society demands that children be taught different ways to think, emphasizing right-brain processes.  The “whole” child has attained a balance of the logical, sequential thinking of the left side of the brain with the emotional, random thoughts of the right-brain. Acceptance and appreciation of others, and other affective learning skills are developed when children look at art forms from around the world and throughout history, and then make connections to their own lives. The arts develop critical thinking skills, and instead of having one, convergent answer to a problem, there are many divergent answers.

            Teaching art has been a rewarding and fulfilling career.  I see how excited and proud children are of the images they create, the ideas they invent, and the problems they solve in their own, individual way.  The arts allow each student to express themselves, often in ways that words cannot. There is magic that occurs in a classroom where young imaginations are stimulated and nurtured, and I feel fortunate to witness it every day.