Authenticity Trumps Pedagogy

I guess by now we all know why we ought not say, "Good job!" or "That's pretty!" or "I love it!" when talking about the art, or any endeavor, of preschoolers. Right? It puts the emphasis on external motivation, on the praise of others, when what we're really after are kids who are motivated by their own aesthetic, judgement, vision, and values.

After more than a decade of practice, I'm pretty good at sticking with descriptive and informative comments. The thing is, I'm also committed to being genuine with children, so sometimes I'm faced with a decision.

Last week we were engaged in one of the preschool art "classics," construction paper collage. Some of the kids just stuck a few of the pre-cut shapes to their paper, say a triangle or three, then move on, which is just fine. Others got more engaged with the scissors, cutting without ever sticking anything on paper. Also fine. Some asked the adults to cut specific shapes for them. Not "fine" exactly, but I'm not going to tell anyone that they can't just play with the kids and cutting out shapes to order is a form of play.

That's what was mostly happening at the art table, until I checked out Elena's work. She's an artist of the highest degree anyway, always bent intensely over her canvases, working in a manner that looks sort of feverish to me, blocking out the rest of the world.

When I saw her finished piece, I opted for genuine, "Wow! That's awesome! I want to take a picture of it!" This expressed exactly the feelings her work evoked in me.

Authenticity, I think, trumps pedagogy every day.

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