Frank Abbott
K-8 Visual Arts Teacher
falston@philasd.org
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My Journey Thus Far;
Teaching, Learning, & Parenting
My Journey Thus Far;
Teaching, Learning, & Parenting
In 2022 I joined the Philadelphia School District as an emergency hire, ready for a more stable teaching transition. The same year, I entered my first year of graduate school, and had our second born child. In the 4 school years since then, I have learned and grown remarkably in each of these dimensions.
In my studies over the past few years, a meta-discourse on the ‘journey’ has emerged for me. As I've worked to recieve my masters' degree (M. Ed The ‘journey’ has emerged in my reading as Nepantla (Anzaldua 1987), “Intermezzo, or feelings of being between” (Karlsson & Hellman, 2024) and even the idea of developing or “becoming” as artists or art teachers (Irwin 2015). This portfolio and summary is to serve as a reflection of my journey thus far, but also to use a reference as I continue my journey into the coming years of my service.
My Teaching Philosophy
My Teaching Philosophy
Every student should be supported to ensure they are safe, cared for, and heard. As a starting point, these are basic natural and social needs for every human. In addressing student success in the classroom, we first must address our basic needs. When our basic needs are taken care of, the pro social goals for our classroom community become easier to attain.
Education is something I view as being responsible, in part, for helping to build critical creative thinkers, give space to vulnerability, promote resiliency & self-sufficiency, and develop a sense of self. These goals are often listed as secondary or supportive to academic goals, but they form an overarching and lifelong set of skills for any student.
The classroom and classroom teacher must operate in community to run smoothly as a whole, but also to meet the individualized needs of many of our students. Any classroom focused on student success should employ equity; being fair and just while considering varying inequalities faced and supports needed. An equitable teacher will be able to reflect on their own positioning and reflexively respond to the needs of their classroom, having specific research-based approaches to support.
In my classroom, I have found that the standout aspects of my teaching have been; classroom management, relationship building, growth mindset, constructivism, research-based frameworks.
While there is clearly a hierarchy of needs a student might have, a successful teacher in support of their classroom is constantly in a dance of proactivity, reflection, and reflexivity. It is my belief that a successful classroom requires all of these hats to be worn–often multiple at a time & interchangeable–and for us to have the wherewithal to differentiate when it is needed.
Professional Approaches in Art/Research/Teaching
Professional Approaches in Art/Research/Teaching
In my research, a framework that I have taken to heart is A/r/tography. Written about extensively by Rita L. Irwin, she examined the intersection of the practicing art teacher as Artist, Researcher, Instructor/Teacher, and cartographer. A/r/tography is an “inquiring process that lingers in the liminal spaces between a (artist), and r (researcher), and t (teacher)...living a life of inquiry with, in, and through their art forms, writing practices, and roles as artist, researcher, and teacher” (Springgay et al., 2005). This framework has allowed me reflect on the process of balancing my roles as an artist, a student, and an instructor. As you scroll, within each highlighted aspect of my approach to teaching there are connections made within the A/r/t/ography framework of my students' and my own artwork, my research as a student, and implementation as an instructor.
Classroom Management Strategies
Classroom Management Strategies
Generally, Classroom management is any practices or approaches a teacher might take to ensuring
learning can happen safely and effectively.
In any given classroom setting, there are circumstances and cultures unique to that school, that class, or that student. In implementing successful strategies it’s important to research and familiarize yourself with various approaches, but it is also necessary to have them become reflexive and proactive, and most importantly, consistent.
Art:
Powerful Hands (Inspired by Hank Willis Thomas)
8th Grade Students @ Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy
2024-2025
Research
Research
One study by Beaudoin & D’Amico, (2025) aimed to inform avenues for intervention and policy by shedding light on teachers’ perceptions of barriers to addressing problem behavior. They determined;
Motivation and Self-affirmation create positive pro-social choices
Teachers view home-based factors more impactful than school-based ones; including stress at home, and lack of communication between school and home.
Staff specialists and school-wide initiatives were listed among top school based factors of behavior.
Teaching
Teaching
A teacher’s approach should be considering factors of the student and the classroom.
Reinforcing positive behavior is most effective
Give student the chance to correct themselves
Building strong relationships motivates the student toward pro-social choices
Management should be proactive, and should not take away from whole class instruction
Relationship Building
Relationship Building
The oldest and most valuable currency we have as people is social connection. For students, engagement and seeding a interest for learning starts with having a social buy in. Relationship building focuses on strengthening emotional, social, and academic support of students to teachers, teachers to families, and families to students.
Art:
Circles Project (Inspired by Howardena Pindell)
8th Grade Students
2024-2025
Research
Research
Evaluated by Wentzel (1998), Peer support is a positive predictor of prosocial goal pursuit, teacher support is a positive predictor of both types of interest and of social responsibility goal pursuit, and parent support is a positive predictor of school-related interest and goal orientations. All of these help to build positive engagement and interest in our students–a want to succeed and achieve.
Teaching
Teaching
Allowing students to examine their relationship with their classroom and teachers can lead to stronger feeling of responsibility and connection. As Beaudoin states, many students who may have questioned or undermined perceived power in a classroom, may have trouble imagining themselves as part of the web of relationships in a classroom.
“Try employing art as research:
Arts-based methods contribute to this end by providing youth with an accessible means of self-discovery as well as insight into how to identify and respond to institutionalized discrimination and bias.”
(Beaudoin & D’Amico, 2025)
Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset
Within every journey in education, there are points that may see friction or conflict; whether this be in learning adaptation, peer resolutions, or classroom behavior. In education, one such mindset that helps us confront and understand conflict is the Growth Mindset; originally outlined by Carol Dweck in 2006, Growth Mindset is the learner's belief that their learning or intelligence is something that can expand or develop. This means as we see more challenges, we can learn from them and apply our new knowledge
Art:
2022NewYear
Frank Alston
2021
Research
Research
“Children’s cognitive involvement occurs when conversations revolve around their theories and questions... The lack of an understanding goal and the type of thinking needed to understand the topic impeded the teacher from offering opportunities (understanding performances) to propel learning”
(Salmon et al., 2021)
Middle School can be a difficult transition for many students, but especially those with lower perceived socioeconomic status. Project iLead Consortium–a educational research group associated with UCSF–was led by Jessica Wise Younger and Zoe D'Esposito to explore the result of a growth mindset. They found that while “lower SES is indeed associated with lower academic achievement, but that a growth mindset can lead to higher academic achievement for these at-risk students, supporting growth mindset as a protective factor” (Younger et al., 2024).
Teaching
Teaching
Employing chances for a student to fail and learn from that failure is a fortunate aspect of art class. Students can invest in the process, but also talk through and be guided when mistakes are made, critically thinking and expanding on what’s possible in a safe and supportive environment.
Constructivism & Process Based Learning
Constructivism & Process Based Learning
Constructivism is defined as a social theory that learners do not simply absorb and apply their knowledge. Rather, they receive, apply, and test knowledge that is given to build their own understanding through active participation and social collaboration.
Hand in hand with this theory, is the newer concept of process or project based learning. Process based learning is an educational approach focusing on how students learn, not just what they learn, emphasizing skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-direction by engaging them in authentic, hands-on activities, questioning, and reflection. In art class, this makes the art we make just as important as the context we are making it in.
Art:
Until You Are Better Rewarded
Frank Alston
2017
Research
Research
“The teacher’s questions should be clear and understandable to all of the students, and his/her attitude towards the students should be friendly and stimulating, so as to help them feel safe enough to express their thoughts and ideas.”
(Tomljenović, 2015)
“As this article has demonstrated, artistic practice can be a good place for exposing and exploring, looping back and forth... some calls made by young people for flexibility within progressive politics in Palestine, offering these students... the chance to make something new”
(Underhill, 2023)
Teaching
Teaching
Using a constructivist paradigm, students and artists can use art pedagogy to develop their own important takeaways and understandings based on their own experiences. Allowing open ended questions, process focused rather than specific end goal focused work can help us as instructors.
Even in realms outside of art education, these pedagogies can be applied. One such study used physicians in continuing medical education who were involved in workshops using art pedagogies such as visual thinking strategies; “Participants also noted the power of arts-based pedagogies in enhancing cognition and critical thinking. They felt empowered to draw their own conclusions while recognising their assumptions.” (Balhara et al., 2025)
Social, Behavioral, and Teaching Models & Frameworks
Social, Behavioral, and Teaching Models & Frameworks
Frameworks often shift the lift in learning from teacher delivery, to recognizing the responsibility the student has in participating in their own education. These various frameworks overlap in each aspect of teaching.
The frameworks most referenced in my teaching journey thus far include; educational equity, CASEL, Restorative Practices, Visual Thinking Strategies & the ABC model. Rather than using all dimensions of a/r/tography on this page, I defer to the dimension of researcher, because of the breadth of approaches. On the narrative side, my models & framework page will explore the Art, Teacher, and topography separately.
Art:
When I’m Gone (a painting of forgetmenots)
Frank Alston
2017
Research
Research
Kraehe’s (2016) equity framework that conceptualizes educational justice along six different dimensions; Recognition, Distribution of resources, participation, effects, transformation, and access. Each dimension works in tandem with the others, thus contributing to a more comprehensive consideration of the challenges of educational equity
In one study, Stuebe (2018) explored the effectiveness of an art-based antecedent intervention on the reduction of a child’s off-task and disruptive behaviors and increases in on-task behavior in a preschool setting. Direct observations conducting A-B-C (antecedent, behavior, consequence) Contingency Assessments of the behavior and direct manipulation were implemented. They found that the best predictor for disruptive behaviors was thorough understanding and relationship building to recognize behavior triggers, and giving positive pro-social attention needed.
“Sustained engagement in the arts might lead to improved emotional self-regulation, responsibility and collaboration, or confidence in expressing complex ideas stemming from personal thoughts and feelings... Rather than young people needing to be “taught” perseverance or empathy, we would instead ask what opportunities a given setting or activity provides to draw forth these social-emotional competencies waiting in potential.”
(Farrington, 2020)
Leyshon (2025) research begging the question on how early teachers can create a restorative classroom. Leyshon came to 3 important findings:
Routines and procedures are important
Reflecting and Receiving feedback supports change
Exclusionary discipline is not effective
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