Leading Class As An Artist and A Teacher

I believe that everyone learns differently, in any subject. For instance, I have found that in drawing, it was beneficial for me to see my instructor do an example piece of whatever exercise we were doing for the day. After I would see an example, I could practice and work on what needed to be improved. However, in my oil painting class, I valued my instructors style of teaching. We were allowed to develop our own approach to oil painting, were allowed to choose projects based on what inspired us, and just her enthusiasm alone for our freedom, our art, our inspirations was a lesson that I hope to carry into my classroom. What I am saying is that, when I am teaching a lesson to my students I want to remember not as a teacher, but as an artist, that I learn different techniques in different ways and need to allow my students the opportunity to do the same. Artists have the desire to want to practice with a medium that inspires them....to keep creating pieces based on a theme or subject that inspires them....to keep improving on what they have already accomplished. Just as an artist would not say,"Well, that painting went well, glad I don't have to ever paint again.", as a teacher you are not going to say, "Well that lesson went well/ didn't go well, I guess I'm done now." As a teacher, you are going to want your students to succeed, to enjoy their time in your classroom, to connect with a piece they have created, a medium that they enjoy. You will not simply give up after one shot at it. You will continue to work on your methods of teaching, to perfect how you connect and inspire your students, etc. I will incorporate my artwork into my teaching by sharing with them what inspires me. I think that sometimes that can be a very personal thing. Questions arise about what exactly inspired you, what you felt while you created a certain piece, etc. And if you can share that with your students it allows them to be able to invest that sort of personal connection into their own art, and hopefully be able to share it with you.