In her paper, “A Studio Approach to Learning Environments,” Beth Balliro describes the ways in which a studio environment in the classroom can be beneficial to students.  The paper talks about a number of areas: the space of the studio classroom, sensory engagement of students through material explorations, self-driven inquiry by students, cross-cultural celebration, and the studio as a space of freedom.

It seems to me that the studio classroom is a place that is uniquely suited to offering way for students to explore their thoughts, feelings and beliefs in a research-based way.  In my own experience as a student in High School, I felt that the art classroom was a place where I was respected as a maker, and where I could have an important degree of autonomy.  The idea of the art classroom as a refuge for students who need it is one that rings true to me.  I think that students should be at the center of their educational experience, and that the job of an art teacher is to set up a space with the materials needed where students can gain abilities to be makers, creators and critical thinkers.  We have thought and spoken a great deal in every class we have taken in the Art Education department about art education that is culturally relevant to students, wherein the communities that they are part of outside school are celebrated and recognized.  We can do this through selecting culturally relevant models when we talk about artists, and by creating a studio space and a studio practice in which students can explore their experiences through creating art.

I think that in Studio Habits, as in TAB, the message is that the studio is a place of freedom–to think for oneself, to explore one’s identity and to create and explore meaning.  I like the idea in this paper that often the only disruptive behavior in the art classroom happens when the teacher says it is time to stop.