It's so strange, the things you learn once you get out of high school. Responsibility, harder work, and the fact that your teachers are essentially human, possibly more so than you are!
Being at college has definitely taught me this fact. It's not just that, though. I don't think young people realize how much work goes into being a teacher, especially an art teacher. Lesson plans don't come by easy. (The actual plans might because of how amazing the internet is, but there's still having to change things around, getting the materials, assessing the standards, yadda yadda yadda...)
There's a reason they get the summer off, too! Planning nine months worth of lesson plans probably takes about the three months that summer breaks offer. One major part of my Secondary Art Ed. class is field experience. In a few weeks, another classmate (named Laura, who'd have thunk it) and I will go to an elementary school nearby and teach 3rd graders an art lesson plan. It took us half an hour just to brainstorm!! So much goes into it: the skills they learn, how interesting the lesson is artistically, not being too vague but not as specific since only less than two hours are available, etc. etc. It's crazy!
Hopefully our lesson plan will come together, and I really hope that I'll come to love this by the end of my senior year. I love art, and I'd like to be able to teach kids art, but boy... it's tough.
In other news, I'm disheartened I haven't been able to provide a giveaway yet. Perhaps soon something will fall into my lap, and when it does, I'll quickly let you guys know, so keep an eye out for it. ;)
2 comments:
It's sooo true - teaching is hard! I'm almost done my B.Ed TESL and I'm not sure I can do it. People don't realize that teachers do all of the planning and marking outside of school hours. When I did my internships I was so tired when I got home. I don't know if I would have a life if I got a job teaching!! But it can be one of the most rewarding careers ever. Lots to think about. Good luck with your lesson!
When I was in art school, part of my internship was going to teach art at a school on the south side of Chicago. It was a really horrible area but the kids needed to have an art class. I totally walked into it blind and just assumed I'd wing whatever it was that I was going to teach them...I was wrong! I wasn't informed that I needed to find the $ to get art supplies and anything else they'd need. It was rude awakening, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.
I completely agree with you and the above comment. Once I realized how much planning actually went into every class, it consumed most of my free time. After all, I was there to (hopefully) teach them about art, something that profoundly changed my life at a very young age. Looking back I think I did ok, and of course I always wonder about the kids whose lives I was a part of.
Good luck to you and any other teacher out there reading this. I commend you all for doing what you do!
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