My Dream Job Revisited

I thought before going into student teaching I would prefer high school over elementary. Now, I feel the opposite about the two. My dream job would most likely be teaching elementary students in a suburban area. I don't know where yet, but I don't feel ready to leave the Midwest. I like the atmosphere and the people of the Midwest. Not to say that I would never leave, but I'm not in a big hurry to leave my home yet.
Thinking about how I've changed my mind about liking different age groups, I've also thought about what it would be like to teach at a college. There is something that happens to students between elementary and secondary and secondary and college that I can't explain. There is a certain attitude and style about the arts that gets lost that really bothers me. "Working around" this is something that I never thought about, but now that I see this "change" I would prefer to not surround myself in it all day.
I've also been thinking about my work with kids with emotional and psychological needs that I've done for the last 4 years outside of my schooling. I'm somehow still compelled to these types of kids in my student teaching. I'm also considering going and getting my special education certification and working with those kids some more.
Obviously, I still have some work to do when it comes to figuring out what my dream job is, but that doesn't scare me. I'm looking forward to the future and what else I can learn and bring to others.

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

When speaking with the mentor coordinator last week, I learned a lot information that I never even thought about before....some of which I still don't fully understand. When she discussed the 2 year retention rate for rehire, or something along those terms, I thought it was interesting to hear how important that sounded to her--I never thought of that as something that was important to me before.

One thing that I was wondering while there, but didn't ask had to do with getting other certifications and then getting hired to teach in that discipline. If a tenured teacher gets certified in another area, can they still be in the mentee program with a mentor from that new area of certification to get more familiarized with the field? Or do they just have to figure it out?

questions you want answered from employers

What is the general attitude of the staff and community for student success?

What kind of financial support is available for resources for students?

Is there any kind of advocacy for arts in the community?

How is the school able to help students get from high school to a college?

How is the current arts program viewed by the students and the community?

In what ways can I make the art program a better department?

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

Hearing from the authors of our book was a really great experience. While I felt that I had heard some of what they had to say already, there was a lot of new information put out there as well. They both know a lot about what is going on in Iowa schools right now, and it was comforting to know that there are schools hiring right now with the bonus money schools received. It was also good to hear that there may be a lot of retirements coming up soon for this same reason, leaving more opportunities for myself.

I had heard about the International Job Fair from my cooperating teacher, but to get specifics from the authors about an international teaching job was really eye opening. This idea has sparked my curiosity, and I truly want to know what the possibilities are.

The authors really gave good advice on interview questions and how to address tough questions professionally. What I really want to know for the interview is what I should bring. I know there should be a portfolio (maybe an eportfolio will suffice), but do I need to have a standards portfolio too? Should I have one even though I don't have much teaching experience?

Most common 1st interview question- A brief self-introduction

I feel this question is the hardest one out there. You never truly know what they are looking for. It's hard to know how far to delve into the past, and how detailed do you get? I tried to keep my focused on how art did (or didn't) fit into my life and my career path to getting to the point of where I am now.

I was born and raised in Iowa, and have spent most of my adult life living in Iowa as well. From a young age I was always told how good I was at drawing, but wasn’t encouraged enough to think seriously about what that could me for me in the future. I spent most of my high school days in the art room after realizing from my wonderful art teachers how great it truly is to be creative. I went to a community college and got an Interior Design degree then moved to the Chicago suburbs to pursue the industry. I quickly realized that I made the right choice to be in a creative field, but interior design just wasn’t quite the right fit. I moved back to Iowa with hopes to go back to school to become an art teacher. I began working at Tanager Place School, and realized how much I love to work with children. It was then that I finally figured out that being an art teacher was definitely the right career for me. I began back to school at the community college level once again and quickly transferred to The University of Iowa. It was the perfect fit for me; a creative team of teachers along with a structured program. I continued to work at Tanager Place while going to school because it always brought me happiness to be around kids.

What is your “teaching objective”- How did you come up with it?

When thinking about my teaching objectives, I looked back to my rough draft of my teaching philosophy. The ideas were there, I just needed to refine and define them more clearly. I looked to the book, "Getting Hired", and used some of the objectives in there as a sort of cheat or a way to kick off my list. Here goes:

Objective & Skills: Art Education K-12

· Development of student creativity through multiple types of medium and techniques
· Promote advocacy of the arts through student, community and family involvement
· Advance student knowledge of histories, cultures and personal artistry
· Individualized art: Studio centered class times to freely explore and create

It's hard to know what to put in and what to leave out, because there are so many ideas that you want to get to let people know. I feel that these 4 ideas express what I want to accomplish in my classroom without getting too involved or being too vague.

So far I’ve _, but I would still like to _.

As I've been reflecting back on my last eight weeks at the elementary school, I feel there is so much I learned and accomplished, but I also feel that there is so much I still have to learn.

I've been working professionally with kids for almost 4 years now, and I feel that I have a pretty good handle on behavior management and knowing how to maintain a good rapport with kids without being their friend. I still felt that working in the elementary school, but I felt a little out of my element at the same time. I wasn't always sure of the policies and procedures with certain things, so I sometimes turned the other way when little things were brought to me by students. Just the other day, a girl came up to me at recess and told me her friend brought out a radio, and a bunch of other girls were following her around and listening to it. She told me because she didn't want her friend to get in trouble with a teacher or an adult. I not only thought this was funny, because I was supposed to be just as capable of getting someone in "trouble" as any other adult on campus, but because I wasn't going to get her in trouble because I didn't know what the right disciplinary action was.

I feel confident with the teaching part of being a teacher, but my goal going into the high school is to get to know how to deal with discipline problems and figure out a way to help students mediate between one another when having a argument or not getting along.

There are things that college courses cannot teach you, and I feel this is one of them. I'm going to persoanlly sure that I am holding myself accountable with this so that I won't be tiptoeing around when I am the adult who has to do something.