I found this amazing website

I've seen images like this before and thought how creative they were. I then ran across this webpage www.Tagxedo.com. you put in the info and it does it for you. The first time I did this I used my blog url and it used words from you blog to create an image. The second time I used the word Art and got this. You have so many options to choose from; color, design, font. You could definetly spend a few hours playing on this site

Happy New Year!!!!

December was a busy month for me. I graduated college with my education degree and a BFA in printmaking. I didn’t want to walk across the stage but I’m glad I did, I actually had a little tear in my eye when they were giving the speech. I hope I made me family proud. I also had a graduation party with great friends and family. I had family from out of state come back and I tried to spend all the time I could with them while they were back. I love family and it was a very family celebrated Christmas. Between the husband and me we celebrated Christmas with family 6 times. I thought that I would be all family out but it was a great year. I hope that the New Year will bring great opportunities for us as a family and me for a career.

comments on guest speaker

I really enjoyed the guest speaker; I was interested in hearing about things to expect during the first and second year of teaching. I think that it’s great to have someone to help mentor you. I know how it feels to student teach and have a question that needs answered might as well be doing it all on your own. I think she gave a great handout that had information that I will read more into when I graduated. Teaching all day and then coming to class can take a lot out of you so I’m thankful for the handout to look at later. I’m so overwhelmed with information and graduation that I’m just focusing on graduating and working on my resume.

Questions I would ask a future employer
• Could you tell me about the other educators who would be working with me?
• What classes are offered in the school district for art?
• Are extracurricular assignments available for teachers interested and qualified?
• What professional development opportunities are offered to the staff

professional qualities of my dream job

I should first say that teaching in a classroom is a job that offers many rewards and helps me expand on my knowledge of art. But I would say that my dream job would be to run an open studio that would have spaces that people could rent out for their own use. We would all share the basic equipment and have an art community within. I would like to offer classes to students and adults to come and learn about things that they may not be able to learn in a regular classroom such as papermaking, jewelry making and graphic novels. I sometimes feel in a regular classroom theirs to many restrictions to what students can learn. This would be a place to learn and explore with the materials.

That being said some of the professional qualities, I would like in my dream job would be to have a great relationship with others in my studio and others in my community. Interaction with the group and outside within the community would need to be

I like to always be prepared for every lesson well before the lesson starts. I feel like I don’t get the respect from the classroom if I’m not prepared with all the materials for the lesson. This also applies to working in the studio, making sure that everything is in working condition, bills being paid and working with other artist. Its important to be honest and dependable working with others.

Communication is also an important part of this job. I want a community where everyone is open and encouraging when commenting on others work. I would like to get to know the people that I’m working with on a professional manner but also in a way that they feel like they can trust and depend on me for support if needed. I would always be compassionate and empathetic when responding to concerns and feelings. I will always be encouraging others do step a little further in their work. I think that flexibility is important when working on a project. I don’t like to have due dates, I feel that this limits you on your creativity. I would like to work with people to feel like they can work on an assignment till they feel that their done.

Commentary on guest speakers - something you learned & something you still would lik more clarification on.

I really enjoyed the guest speakers, I’ve meet them before and they have helped me answer a lot of questions. They are always peppy, professional and willing to help you with anything. I wish that I could be that way every day walking into the classroom. I’m definitely going to strive to be more peppy.
I felt like they presented a lot of helpful information even though I was familiar with some of the information. I was surprised to hear about the job opening in the middle of the year and the early retirement. This but a little bit of hope back into finding a job. Being married and not being able to really move, I knew that the job market has seemed almost nonexistent but maybe it’s not going to be so bad. I wish that I could have taken the opportunity to go abroad and teach. It sounds like such a wonderful opportunity. I really enjoyed that these guys really know about what’s going on in the Iowa schools, they didn’t generalize the whole United States when talking to us.
I thought that the authors had some really great advice when it came to interview questions. I guess I’m still not clear on is exactly what to bring to the interview. I know that I will have a copy of my resume but should I bring a computer just in case to show my eportfolio? Should I make a slideshow of images along with lesson plans to show the interviewers or should I bring in a few examples of work that the students did in my classroom.

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.