Thinking about becoming an art teacher

There were 2 different art teachers during my duration at high school. One was a grumpy older man, who only made me want to avoid him. The other was a younger, energetic, beatnic kinda man, who I liked a lot. He did his own art on the side, and sold his paintings for money. He took us to see his art gallery, which was in a wine shop about 30 min away as a field trip. He also set up classes that would paint murals on the school walls. His classes were always entertaining, and we learned a lot too. He'd rearrange the art room in all sorts of really cool ways. One time he dragged in a ton of dead branches and put them up all along the ceiling and strung Christmas lights up. He'd usually make himself an 'office' around his desk by building himself a type of fortress out of scrap materials and cardboard and other things he'd find lying around the school. He also had a pet rabbit named Luna that was litter box trained that he'd let run around the room wearing a cape.

I think if you are a creative, energetic teacher who is passionate about their subject, you will make an impact on the students and make it memorable and inspiring for them. You won't reach everyone, as there are always kids who resist, but you'll make a great impression on many.

I had two art teachers that were very influentual actually.

One was Ms Whitmire who taught art at the school I went to as well as 5th grade. It was a school that was K-12 but you started art at 5th I believe. Anyway, I wouldn't have called her energetic. You couldn't get anything past her, she was a strict teacher both to have as your regular teacher in 5th and as the art teacher. One thing she did teach me was that presentation was important and she would give low marks to you on your history project if your artwork was lacking. We learned to put together projects and to care how it looked. This helped me for every grade there after and I remember thinking when I went on to high school and looked at some of the posters people put up on the walls that Ms Whitmire would have failed them had they been graded on those..

She taught us that tracing was cheating, and while as an adult there might be reasons to do this, it was a good lesson for a young artist or just a general student to learn for the sake of honesty and effort. Most of all she believed that I was capable of something and pushed me to work on it at a time when kids transition from everyone being an artist and happily drawing stick figures and crayon houses to a time when you saw something real and you wanted your art to look like what you saw. I read once that frustration sets in around age 10 and that is when most people give up art and decide they aren't good at it, before that time most every kid draws.

The other was my freshman high school art teacher. He was the energetic sort, rode his bicycle to school, wore hawaiian shirts and had long hair. Mr K was a ceramics artist by trade on the side but he taught an awesome art class. It was fun and interesting while at the same time he tried various things to prepare people for later. For instance he tried the grading by comments and common opinion of your peers on some pieces in order for people to understand how other people saw their work. It did not quite work in this school; we had some loud people who shouted for high marks for their friends and low marks for anyone else. I argued with him about the grades on some of them which I guess he found amusing. One of mine went from a D to a B based on my going to bat for it. He made us draw artwork upside down, used complementary colours for one piece and gave us extra large paper... I swear he was enjoying watching students stare at these two colours for long periods of time and watching their eyes twitch. I later realized that a lot of the lessons were from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain but they worked very well and motivated people that had previously believed they couldn't draw.

I think you could be an excellent art teacher. On NS I found many of the things you had to say encouraging and you were always willing to answer a question. I was happy to find that you were one of those really cool artists who got plenty of praise there but still continued to speak to everyone no matter how skilled or unskilled they were as if they all deserved equal time.

I never got to take art in HS. The teacher tried to get me in my senior year, but the class was full and they wouldn't let me transfer :/ I did have her as my French teacher tho. Really flighty young thing lol.

As to your becoming a teacher, Julie... I think you'd be great at it. I totally agree with Mai about you being one of those that we all loved to drool on, yet you remained open about sharing how you did things when asked, without making us feel like idiots I might add. If I had to pick one person that has influenced me on my path to 3d, it would be you. I may never get that great at freehand, but at least I can make pretty pictures without the need of screenshots anymore My goal is to be able to use just the figure in Poser and be able to draw my own clothes and everything else, including the background. I have several of your pieces saved, and now and then I open them up just for inspiration. Probably my all time fav of yours, is the dark elf beast lord.

So to sum it up.... Yeah, I think you'd make a kick ass teacher

I did not like my art teachers, but ironically I did well in art. I haven't thought about it in years actually. My first art teacher was in the 6th grade who did it on the side, mostly. I can't recall her name, only that she was a white woman who loved to wear muumuus (lived in hawaii). My piece of a tree I drew hastily and without thought got featured at the major mall there. I didn't know until until after it had been taken down. I won an award for it too, but again it didn't mean much to me at the time.

My 2nd art teacher I HATED. Ms. Liu. She hated me right back. She was a very angry asian woman who was very very strict and again ironically, i did well in her class but I didn't give two shits. She had us draw the person sitting in front of us without looking at our paper. I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remember that the girl I drew was named Emily and when I looked down at my paper, I was shocked to see that I had drawn her pretty damn accurately.

I remember thinking that I didn't like art and it would never be anything I could ever pursue. It's funny, I really hadn't thought about this until right just now. 20 years later, here I am on an art board which has become a huge part of my life. I might try drawing Catherine later, I think.

You said yesterday, 'Those who can't, teach.' I don't think that's true, Julie, but I don't think you should see teaching as 'settling'. It's far from it. There's nothing more inspiring that someone who wants to share their talents. I still think you should pursue your dream, whether you become a teacher or not. Just because you're at a point in your life where you're feeling you left your passion behind and there's too much time and pressure for you to continue is crap. You can and still do inspire.

I can really only echo what has been said. I don't remember art, as I only took it in elementary school and after that the art room was a very mysterious place.

I was in theater in HS and the art teacher would come and help us with set design and he was a very fun and engaging man who just seemed to have a love for life and art and all that they encompass.

I think if you look at teaching as settling and a means to an end, you will never be happy. However if you look at teaching as a way to inspire and grow the minds of our children then you will love what you do.

My daughter loves her teacher, because her teacher has a passion for their education. She loves her art and theater arts teacher, because they too have that same passion. She isn't terribly fond of either her PE or Music teacher because they just seem to be doing a job.

Our children need bright amazing people like you in our schools to show them there is so much more to art than putting paint on a piece of paper.

I took art from 7th all the way to 12th. I had some decent to seriously sucky teachers. I can say that my JrHS teacher Mrs Rhodes really had an impact on me and my views, techs of art. She always encouraged me to do my best and not halfassed attempts and would often make me do things harder then the class because she knew I could do it. Made me experiment with everything from cocking to coffee to watercolor to dirt. I really look up to her and everytime I go back to visit my mom I always drop in my old JHS to visit her. I donno if she still there now its been a few years tho =(

My 12th grade teacher on the other hand was a total ass. He told the class "you'll never be as good as me" and pretty much never let up on it. I always did my assignments during rolecall and managed to get A's on them (I didn't want to fail) but his attitude and teaching made me stop having anything to do with art for years =/. Thought I couldnt draw for crap and it was just a waste of time .. the sad thing is ... Allot of my 10 min assignments where way better then his crap he had posted in the room .... and all those years missing out on something I used to LOVE to do daily mainly because of the way he treated us in class. So yeah, I'd have to say they had a impact on me for sure *nodnod*

hmmm...Well, I went to a performing and visual arts academy for high school so I wouldn't be in the norm. I *loved* our art teachers and found them to be interesting people in and out of school. They were very inspiring indeed. Of course, my school's art courses were much more varied (i.e. art history, theory, drawing, painting, photography, sculpting, etc.).

A teacher's salary in just about any state is nothing grand. This was a big factor in why I didn't continue with teaching English. Most of the single teachers I knew were roomies with the others and the married ones usually had spouses who made plenty in their own fields of work. This isn't to say you shouldn't consider teaching at all, but your reasons behind going ahead would have to be some other than the salary.

I wanna thank you all for your (insert blushy emoticon here!) comments! I told Roz "awe I'm gettin all weepy" My husband and I talked this over at length at lunch today. He's open to the idea of me going back to school and though he thinks its a cool idea he's not so sure two teachers salaries will cut it. That will have to be one for the budget to decide unfortunately. One thing I didnt know is that he's is allowed to work on his 4yr degree while getting certified because of the special transition from military to teaching. Especially into critically shorthanded subjects. I, however, need to be done with mine. So I still have 2 yrs of school to go to finish my BFA before I can certify as a teacher.

I dont consider teaching as settling. I'm just very lost (and very stressed) in looking for work. I've asked professionals for some direction and I've gotten the pat 'google it!' answer which is super irritating. Its hard to look when you're not even sure what you're looking for. I've also been told to check the greeting card industry or publishing companies that do textbooks and cookbooks. My first peek at Hallmark yeilded a 'BFA required' which floored me.

I do like teaching. I taught my own kids how to read. I volunteered as an assistant for 4 yrs at my kids elementary school when we lived in WA though I never made it to the substitute teaching circuit. I even did a little art with the kids.

My own experience with art teachers has always been a mostly positive one. My two sr high art teachers were victims of class overcrowding so I never really felt I got a lot of direction. Whatever I decide I hope to make some kind of a difference and not keep feeling like I've botched my planning once again.

One of my favorite teachers was a member of a two teacher household. In fact they both taught at my highschool. They supplemented their income with a part time summer job working at the Baseball stadium. I think she sold tickets and he drove the tram thingy.

They only worked about half the summer since they didn't go to away games and they never worked Sunday games. It gave them that little extra boost they needed to live comfortably and it they still spent the majority of their summer "off"

I had only 2 art teachers in high school. I'd have to say they're pretty much the sole reason I'm an artist today. My college instructors... I didn't like so much.

But yeah, 2 high school teachers... Mr Stefl and Mrs Michaelson. They actually had their other students track me down and try to talk me into taking art classes with them one day when they saw me drawing in the cafeteria. lol. They expected quality work from you and made you work for it, but I did well in their classes. I WAS going to go into engineering, but they sat me down and told me I HAD to go into art and that my parents were wrong for suggesting engineering. lol

Course, when I was unemployed and struggling, I cursed those 2 for talking me out of engineering for a while

I'm told they have temp companies for graphic artists...might be something you can look into in the meantime. I may be looking for a new job myself when I get back from maternity leave and I was going to try finding one.

Really? That's awesome.