The visual arts have shown me that to be a well educated, knowledgeable adult, one needs be proficient in the arts. The arts have contributed to the literacy of students by providing expression of ideas through images. Teaching children to solve problems through the divergent thinking skills of the visual arts is a complimentary balance to the convergent thinking skills of reading, writing and computing. The arts affect almost every discipline, making the curriculum work as a whole. Cultivating this philosophy in the classroom has been a major goal of my teaching.