We had the opportunity this week to interview a teacher who is also a recent Stout graduate from the Art Education program. Mr. P was insightful both from his uncontainable enthusiasm as well as his measured realism. I appreciated that he was honest about things that were difficult, and the struggles that he had early on. I’ve always been told that the first few years of teaching can be difficult, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to hear it from someone who had just really started to figure things out. He was able to admit that during his first year, a part of his was already wondering what he would do after teaching. However, with each year that he had under his belt, he started to appreciate the work more, and has positioned himself into a place where he wouldn’t mind teaching for the rest of his career.
He was able to provide a lot of insight into the struggles of teaching through Covid, and how one of the primary antagonists during this time is uncertainty. Both students and instructors are unsure of what the future will bring such as when an outbreak may cause you to have to teach online or in a hybrid environment. His honesty in the difficulty of that situation helped to prepare me mentally to expect the unexpected, and to be comfortable with taking things as they go.
With all of that said, he was quick to smile, even when interrupted by the frequent intercom at his school district. I found his optimism and cavalier attitude infectious, and could imagine it helped in keeping students motivated. He expressed that he was also a painting major at Stout, and that he brings a lot of his love for the medium into his teaching, and shared some of his favorite lesson plans such as a painting final with virtually no restrictions but to contain each and every element and principle of design, which results in many chaotic and creative student work.
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