"Ms. Alkire, why did you become an art teacher?"
I have a lot of students ask me this question.
When I was in high school I had a great art teacher my freshmen year, Mrs. Luciano. She was always enthusiastic and had a love of teaching. My sophomore year I signed up for Drawing II and I had a not so good teacher....we just didn't get along at all. So I talked to Mrs. Luciano and she suggested I take Ceramics with Mrs. Sherman. And I did. For the next three years.
Her classroom was my favorite place to be. I'd go in before school, lunch, and after school for art club when I could. I made some of my greatest ceramic pieces of art under her mentorship and even became art club president my senior year. She challenged me and at the same time made me feel life I could be myself in her classroom. She taught me that art was a gateway to expressing everything that I wanted to say, but couldn't figure out how.
It was the safety of her art room and acceptance of who I was that stirred the artist in me and I wanted to create that same place for other kids that needed it. So instead of just going to art school, I went to school to learn how to teach art. It only took one person to show me that I had a voice. ONE PERSON.
And everyday I remind myself that I could be that one person to a student in my class.
This is the reason I became an art teacher.
Why did YOU become an art teacher?