Professional Qualities of my dream job

My dream job would be to work as a full time art teacher in at any level, truly. I enjoy every age group and I would like to spend my teaching career at every level, hopefully. My dream job would be at a medium sized school, maybe even in a smaller town for my first year teaching. This would give me a chance to feel confident in my role as a teacher, if it were a smaller population of students I might feel less intimidated. I would like to have comfortable working relationships with the other teachers and staff at my school so that we would have the opportunity to collaborate on some projects. I hope that my principle has a love for the arts and will support my artistic goals for the students. Most of all I want to work in a school that is easy-going and welcoming.
If I were really talking about my dream job however, I might add a few things to my classroom that I would love to have in case my school could offer other courses. I would love to have an entire darkroom attached to my classroom. But I know this will probably never happen unless I were teaching an art history course now :-( it would be so fun for me to teach a film photography/darkroom class. I would love to have a full lab of computers so I could at least do some digital photography/graphic desgin with my students and teach them Photoshop editing as well. I would love to have large drawing tables and a place on campus my students could go draw outside when the weather is nice. It would be nice to have access to multiple types of painting and printmaking and if I'm really dreaming, I would love to have a metal-working studio.

Being a successful teacher...

I believe that being a successful teacher is primarily a matter of devotion to your students and a passion for the arts. Once students see that your primary goal is to share your knowledge of art in a way that allows them personal expression they will begin forming that close personal student/teacher bond that will allow them to grow as artists. Students need a teacher they can trust and can talk to, whether they are excited about something or simply just need the attention of a caring adult. Many times students just want to tell you about their day or what is going on at their house and taking the time to listen to what they are saying will allow the student to trust you even more. To be a teacher means to be a surrogate parent to your students during the time they spend in your classroom. This means that they need just as much attention, discipline and love as you can offer them. In my time student teaching I have found that patience and hugs are the best things I can give my students to help them have a good day.

Teaching Support

My first year teaching will probably be one of the most stressful times in my life. Getting accustomed to a new school as well as a new town will be quite an adjustment, so having people I can turn to when I have questions would be a great asset to my first year as a teacher. After I talked to a school district from Nebraska I began to hear that many schools offer a mentoring program for new teachers in their district. Being placed with a more experienced teacher who knows the in's and out's of the school will really help me feel more comfortable and relaxed. Knowing there is someone who cares about the entire school community and the success of the teachers within that school, can relieve some of the pressure new teachers might experience. I hope that I will be able to form good working relationships with all of the teachers within my school and I also hope that my principle will also be availible if I need assistance or advice. Learning from all of the staff within my school will help me to understand what my students experience around other parts of the school, so making connections with other teachers will help me understand more about my students also.

E-portfolio- Standard J

I use technology in my classes almost daily. Many times I will go through a PowerPoint or slide show just to show students artwork. I feel that showing students famous work helps them understand who the artists were and what they could achieve in their own projects. Having something like a Smartboard in the room is a great tool that lets you show images, but also interact with functions also. In my student teaching we played a game with the students where they had to slowly draw a picture and the rest of the students had to guess. We played this game on the whiteboard once and the students had fun, but the next time we played the game it was on the Smartboard and it was definately a hit. Students had fun choosing different colors and brush sizes. The Active Inspire program is sort of like a simpler version of Photoshop with PowerPoint elements thrown in. I really hope that wherever I get a teaching position I will be lucky enough to have a Smartboard or at least some sort of projector so I can give my students visuals to help them increase their understanding. I also hope I get the chance to teach a design or digital photography class in my teaching career because I love working with Photoshop. I know some students are already learning the program on their own at home so adding new elements and showing students all of the tools available to them on the program can really help them find new ways to express their concepts/ideas.