I began my teacher career a bit later than most, at age thirty-five.  As a mother of two, and someone who experienced many different jobs and life situations, I developed a strong idea about education and what it means. Education means freedom and choice; freedom from poverty, and the choice to have the life you want, and as a child of poverty myself, my education has been priceless.

            My goals as a teacher are to use my education and life experience to help all of my students to believe that they have the ability to learn and succeed. There is no person who cannot learn and it is an educator’s purpose to ensure that each child has every opportunity possible to learn and succeed.  As an art teacher, my goal is to show my students how beautiful our world is and how art is everywhere, from the clothes they wear, the cases that protects their phones, the covers of the books they read, and almost everything else they see in this world. I want them to understand the opportunities available to them through the arts.  I want them to discover that they can chose from a wide variety of meaningful careers in the arts, or simply find the joy in expressing themselves through art, and appreciating art for what it is.

            I have always had an excellent rapport with my students and I believe it stems from the genuine respect I have for each and every one of them and how hard I work for them.  I know what it is like to come from a poor childhood, and I also know how it feels to be a high achiever with a lot of pressure put upon you. I make sure my classroom is a safe place to express oneself, to ask questions, to work as a community, and to learn how to fail. Failing is a part of learning and a part of life, and it’s important to recognize the lessons within. I try to teach my students that if the never fail, then they have never really taken risks, and taking risks is crucial in building confidence and character. I believe a person will never reach their full potential without failing.

            I am dedicated to being a life long learner and in taking risks with my own teaching. I allow my students to see me fail and model for them how to learn from it. A recent example of this is when I decided to have my fourth grade students produce a still life batik painting. I made the mistake of not making one ahead of time to test the method, and as I was giving the demonstration, with all of their eyes on me, excited to see the outcome, I discovered that the final step did not work. I had failed in from of my whole class. As I stood there, deciding how I was going to go on, the best thing possible happened: the students began talking about why it didn’t work. They began brainstorming how we could make it work. As a class, we tried different ideas until we found a solution. My failure turned out to be one of my best lessons I’ve ever taught.

             I know that the best learning happens in a collaborative community atmosphere. Let students work together and watch them learn so much more besides the subject matter; how to compromise, delegate, and use higher level thinking in order to solve the problems in a group.

            Group-activities are just one way I ensure that all of my students are learning. I work with classroom teachers, parents, and special education teachers to help tailor my lessons to the different learning styles that make up my classes. Every student who comes into my art class will have the opportunity to create art, learn about art and succeed.

            Education is an ever-evolving set of ideas and processes. Teachers can never stop working to find the best methods that work in today’s complex world. I want to further my education in order to continue what truly is a life long process.