Teacher Interview

I interview Mrs. Katie Delay, Four County Career Center’s Visual Design Instructor, to gain a better understanding in the field of educating visual arts. This interview gave me an opportunity to listen and learn from the experience of an inspiring person I can relate to. One can read books or stories from random teachers to try to scrape the surface of understanding of the art education but when you hear the stories and experience from someone who ignited your inspiration and has lived the life you aspire to have; it means the world. I intend to teach in a similar setting as Four County due to it being a vocational school and given the opportunity to teach practical art skills to enable student with a head start in their career. Being a previous

She has helped me paint a clear picture of what the future holds for me in my career by assisting her in the classroom, giving me insight of what goes behind the scenes of conducting class, and sharing stories of dealing with administrators and the department of education. Being slightly a pessimistic person I commonly seek advice about how to get through the down side of education so I had to ask, what are the perks of being a teacher? Katie first responded with, “If you are really good at your job the administration will kind of leave you alone, you will be able to create your own little world. And that’s pretty good. If you do it right you will be able to create your own classroom, your own studio, a place that is a happy place to be, the kids want to be there” (personal communication, October 23, 2015). Enabling students to to truly learn and making them feel welcome to learn is exactly why I picked this as my career choice. Having this chance to make this environment where not only am I comfortable working in everyday, but where student want to come to everyday makes me want this career tremendously. I want to relay the beneficial and enriching experience I had at Four County to my student because it makes all the difference in a student’s education due to the worthiness of their time. Katie then continues to point out, what seems to me to be the biggest perk of this profession, “Then of course there are summers, consider we only work 180 some days a year. For me that gives me time to be an artist.” Both Katie and I both believe to be first and foremost, an artist. Summer vacations will enable me to work as an artist and fulfill my true passion. Teaching really is a perfect fit as a day job for an artist because it is consistence and will be able to support myself yet have time to do something I enjoy and want to leisurely do. Becoming aware of these perks in the art