A brief self-introduction.

Hello, I was born and raised in small town Iowa. I’m married to a wonderful husband and have a stepdaughter. My family means the world to me. I graduated from the University of Iowa with a Art Education Degree and a BFA in printmaking. I always knew that I wanted to be an artist, from a very young age 1st grade to be exact. When kids were playing house I was the famous artist who lived in France. I remember wanting a beret because all artists lived in France and wore a beret. So I thought. My dad worked in a factory and he brought home rolls of paper and I would draw and color for hours going thru rolls of paper. My mom was so amazing and put my work up all over the house. I always loved learning about different types of art. My family was always buying me different art materials to experiment with. I had amazing teachers who helped me push myself to be a better person and artist. I knew then that I could be an artist but teaching art was what I was meant to do.

Thursday is my last day

I knew that this day would be difficult but I didn’t know how hard it would really be. I walked in to the classroom after frosting 75 cupcakes this morning and sitting there on my desk is a gift from my wonderful cooperating teacher. She had taken a group photo of me and one of my classes, and put it in a frame and had the students sign it. She also gave me the book “The Dot” I can’t remember the author off the top of my head but it’s a must have for any art teacher. This followed by a wonderful card, I was almost in tears.

I head down for morning breakfast duty and two sisters had brought me a potted plant with a cute card that said that they’re going to miss me. Another student wrote me such a wonderful letter, saying she was going to miss me and hoped that my high school students were nice to me. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it all day without a tear. But throughout the day and tons of hugs and I miss you I made it through the day. The only way I could pull off some of my students from hugging me to death was to promise that I would come back to sub in their classroom.

I will definitely miss the kids. Things will be different starting on Monday, no more “Hello, Mrs. Mass” a hundred times a day, knowing the students names, knowing the schedule and lessons. I’m excited and nervous all at the same time to start High School, I thought that High School was the age that I wanted to teach but maybe it’s not. I will enjoy being able to do more in depth, hands on projects with the students.

So far I’ve enjoyed teaching elementary students, but I would still like to teach secondary students.

I never thought of myself as an elementary art teacher, but I have a new appreciation for the elementary arts. I really enjoy working with the younger students. The projects seem so simple, but the students always seem to enjoy almost any project you do with them. I’m always on my feet running around answering questions, making sure directions are being followed and looking at their masterpieces. After this experience I could see myself as an elementary art teacher, but I still want to teach in the secondary classroom.

Saying goodby to your first placement

I gained a lot of experience and respect for elementary teachers, not just art, but all subjects. When students are having a bad day at least in specials I only have them for 40 min and then you get to change to a whole new group. When you’re the classroom teacher you have those kids the whole day and it can be very stressful. I never realized how busy some art teachers are during the day until I had my student teaching experience. When your classes are coming in as the other class is leaving it’s extremely important to be very organized and well prepared. Especially, when some classes are behind in some subjects, because there’s; fieldtrips, spirit rally’s and other functions. This isn’t my strongest point but I feel that I have gained some organizational skills that will be very valuable to my career when I start teaching. I have also learned a lot of techniques to keep kids on task.

I wasn’t very excited to start my student teaching in the elementary; I never wanted to teach elementary art so I didn’t feel that it was going to be the best experience. I was rather scared to teach kindergarten and first grade. BUT I will say after starting to teach I loved the elementary kids. For the most part the students still enjoy class and they always say hello in the hallways. They are so happy and carefree. I wasn’t for sure how much of some lessons students would get but they are such little sponges and retain a lot of information.

Now that time is getting closer an I have told the students that I will be leaving soon the students give me the puppy dog face and tell me they don’t want me to leave. The constant question asked is when are you coming back? Will you be back on (date) for my birthday? It makes me sad to think that my time is running out with them. I have gotten so close to some of the students that its going to be really hard to say goodbye.