Should I become a high school art teacher?
Apr.20, 2010 in
College Tutoring
I am going through college and have decided to work towards getting an art education degree. I’ve always had a love of art. Personally, I draw and paint and love to look at other people’s artwork. I have done a small amount of teaching from tutoring peers in college math. I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge and helping someone else in doing so. My question is because I do not know what it really is like to be a teacher. Also, I do not know how difficult it is to get a job in that setting. Help?
April 20th, 2010 at 10:40 am
My high school art teacher is crap. Whenever you don’t understand something, (the RULES of how she wants you to paint) she yells it at you. As long as you’re better than her, you’ll be great.
As far as the teaching aspect, keep in mind that the EASY part of teaching is often relating your knowledge to the students…the challenge comes from disiplining them when necessary and working well with parents. Those are some hurdles in the way of my hopes for being a teacher.
April 20th, 2010 at 11:06 am
I would suggest trying to job shadow at a local school and see if you would like the environment with the kids and which environment would suit you best, elementary, middle, or high school students, maybe even college. Thats what I would do.
April 20th, 2010 at 11:16 am
With art as your major course of study, it is going to be difficult finding work, period. I would say that teaching art is one of the most viable plans. I hope it works out for you. Do what you heart tells you to do.
April 20th, 2010 at 11:51 am
I think your love of art and your desire to share it is your answer. I think teaching is and can be one of life’s most rewarding professions. Making a difference in someone’s life is profound enough; doing for a child is really something special.
Obviously it’s not as simple or easy as I just made it there. First, it’s a job, and one that your employer (the school and/or school district) expects you to do in the way they believe it should be done. That doesn’t mean you’ll have to teach their way, but it also doesn’t mean you’ll have free rein to do as you wish.
Also, the utopian ideal of 20 or so hungry minds just salivating at the notion of learning something is one you need to dismiss. You’ll likely be lucky if you can count students like that on both hands. Of course that just means you have to be that much more motivated to find ways to get through to the rest.
I’m sure there’s more, but that’s plenty for now. If you’re starting an Ed. program, you’ll be getting classroom experience soon enough.
The good news is that teaching is still a career choice that can pretty much guarantee you a job. Being new, you’re at the bottom of the pay scale, and thus more desirable to schools than an experienced teacher seeking a job. The trick is ending up somewhere you want to be.
Use your experience learning about teaching to help inform your decision about becoming one. You’ll know soon enough if it’s what you want to do. I’m betting you’ll end up helping influence future artists for some time to come.