Art Teacher Interview

Sandy Skoglund has been in the forefront of contemporary art in the United States, as well as overseas, for nearly two decades. Her dramatic impact to the art world didn’t begin overnight. After sheer dedication to art education she received her BA degree in Studio Art in 1968 from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. Upon getting her BA, she pursued further education at the University of Iowa where she received her MD. With her remarkable educational background, Skoglund decided to expand her horizons by teaching. Her teaching career grew at a rapid pace and she found herself teaching at the University of Hartford from 1973 to 1976. In late 1976, she was offered a position at Rutgers University, New Jersey,

Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” During my past career as an art teacher at Intel Academy, introducing and demonstrating aesthetic techniques and materials have thrilled me as much as completing an art piece. Through workshops and demonstrations, I learned how to communicate and suggest better ways of developing their ideas and expressions. Some children had difficulties encountering art due to their behavioral problems; however, respecting their accomplishments and encouraging their process of following the curriculum became a part of the solution. My decision to apply to masters program in art education was pursued as I faced these

When observing Mrs. Mott, she knows all your student’s needs. Each day she continues to ask each student how they are doing every day. I like how Mrs. Mott has a great class and it’s good to have good control of your classroom and it’s because she makes the students feel comfortable. Each day I see Mrs. Mott work with several students who have diverse needs and I could tell that her goals addressed as much as her students’ needs as possible. When students are working at their desk very diligently, they love the one on one attention Mrs. Mott gives them because after they work with Mrs. Mott they can’t stop smiling , with the look of joy on their face. Mrs. Mott is very motivated to get the students to learn and I could tell by her passion

On a recent 70-degree afternoon, Judy Hecker was putting personal notes on the last few invitation letters for the upcoming Spring Benefit Dinner. More than a hundred envelopes were piled up on a nearby table, ready to be mailed out. When she finished, she looked through the office window, and suggested we do the interview outside. The caged elevator took us down to the ground floor, and on a garden bench across the street, we had the conversation about her current role, career path and long-last love of art.

I interviewed Miss Connie McGinnis, last Thursday morning. Mrs. McGinnis is one of the math/algebra teachers at Shawnee community college. She is my Algebra teacher. I chose Mrs. McGinnis because she is a great teacher and because she is a math teacher. I thought it would be interesting to see how much she uses writing since she is a math teacher and mainly uses numbers. It turned out to be very interesting, she had great answers.

The administrator that agreed to be interviewed, arranged by Mr. Carey, was Liz Bastian the Director of Curriculum for grades 6-12 at Henry Ford School for Creative Studies. The interview took place soon after lunch in her small, fairly cluttered office. Mrs. Bastian was not overly forthcoming with information at the start and seemed to have an all business attitude in her answers. Her demeanor resulted in an interview pace that was much quicker than any of the others that have been conducted.

The UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation conducted an evaluation of the educational impact of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Artist in Residence and Teacher (ART) Partnerships. They found that students’ attitude development, motivation, and self-confidence improved in an arts education environment (Williams 286). This participation in the arts improved students’ confidence. The arts can provide a student with the means of reaching for their dreams and expressing their imagination and feelings. This expression helps encourage students to set goals and try to achieve them. Shirley Brice Heath also notes that students who participate in the arts are 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools (Ford and McMahon 2). Students with more self-confidence are more likely to attain these leadership positions. These students strive to shine in their schools and serve as role models for their school and

Located in Lakewood, Washington, I had the opportunity to visit several times with Mrs. Tracey Fortune’s art classes at Lakes High School. Walking through the main office, I was welcomed by the administration and several students. In the main office to the right was a large display case. The case was a display area for the several art classes that is offered to the students of Lakes High school. Walking through the corridor, the atmosphere is bright and airy. The school was rebuilt several years ago and still looked as if the doors were open that morning for the first time. The main corridor lead me to several sets of doors leading to Mrs. Tracey Fortune’s art room.

At Lakes High school, located in Lakewood, Washington, I had the pleasure to interview Kirsten Lawson an Exploring Art teacher. With this visit, the front desk recognized me and knew that I was there for another interview. The displays in the administration building have changed due to Ms. Fortune class. In my previous visit to Lakes High School I interviewed Mrs. Fortune which is in charge of the displays of the administration building. Her class had currently completed anthropomorphic bust that were now on display.

Patricia Buttigieg who currently teaches Art and Design at the Alternative Learning Centre. The information gathered from this interview was vital as Ms. Buttigieg has an insight on the daily routine at the ALP and due to the different system of the institute, Ms. Buttigieg provided a solid insight about the system and presented some of the obstacles that teachers are usually faced with in order to keep the students attentive.

You wrote this letter back when you were beginning your career in art education. This letter is to remind you of the importance of maintaining a high sense of self-efficacy. When reading the assignment I fell in love with the word, "self-efficacy." This word mean a lot to you because you became aware of the difference between what high self-efficacy and what low self-efficacy means. You remember going through school how much you didn't like or enjoy your art teachers. Even though this was the case you continued to pursue your passion for learning and teaching art.

The field of education has been continuously changing since inception. All departments have to adequately encompass students into a learning environment. This conglomeration of a vast number of students into the same classrooms brings certain challenges. Because students perform on different levels, not all needs are found in basic instructional teaching. Art educators are taking new approaches in educating children with needs beyond what is found in the traditional teaching curriculum. One approach is adaptive art education, a new technique that involves art therapists experienced in working with children in different circumstances into an educational role to create a more child-focused, adaptive curriculum. In this sense, no two teaching experiences will be the same, but a child’s need is met in the most productive way. Adaptive art education allows instructors to have more therapeutic roles in a classroom setting, create an inclusion-based environment, and adjust traditional teaching methods to cater to the needs of more students.

Everyone has a passion in life - mine is art. Not going to galleries and looking at paintings by artists from the 1800s but using paint and pencils to show me and my life. The saying " A picture shows a thousand words" which is very true but in my case a painting shows a thousand emotions.

I was roaming around the campus with a piece of white paper that had my new classes printed on it. The first class on my list was Art 1 with Ms. George. I assumed in this class is all you do is pick up any color crayon, and doodled a picture just for fun. However, this class was not as I expected to be.

The cliché and overused posters at the back caught my attention as soon as I entered the art classroom, making me look at the art teacher in disappointment. My young art teacher walked to her seat at the front right corner wearing glasses that made her look sixty. The tables in the art room stood in a u-shape, which supposedly made us students more “social and creative”. The white board in the front of the room filled with scribbles of drawings used for other classes. I could smell the vanilla scented candle in the air that the teacher kept at all times on her desk. I walked to my assigned seat at the front right corner where I saw my friend, Michayla, flash me a smile. All the other seats and desks empty. I came early.