One could say that teaching is in my blood. My great grandparents, grandparents and parents chose teaching as their profession. Growing up I had many dreams of what I wanted to do as a career. Each of these options focused on being creative and interactive. Once I connected the dots, I came to the realization that art education is the perfect fit for me, and I would join the family business. 

 



Being a teacher is the most important job in the world. Teachers inspire young minds and demonstrate the possibilities they could have in the world. I was privileged to have some very talented teachers at Jefferson-Scranton Community School District and the University of Northern Iowa. These teachers share many of the same characteristics. Passion, patience, and creativity are features that I have seen in my favorite teachers and I see myself demonstrating when I become an art teacher. Passion is probably the number one attribute for any teacher. Teachers should have a love of their subject matter as well as a love for sharing and teaching their knowledge with students. While I could say that I will teach art, the more appropriate phrase is that I will teach students art. Students will be the focus in my classroom. I am extremely passionate about art and being a teacher. Patience, encouragement, and the ability to differentiate their teaching approach are key for strong teachers. Students don’t always learn the same way at the same pace. It is often necessary to adapt lesson plans to fit the students, instead of letting students fall through the cracks. I am an extremely patient person, and there are few things less exciting for a teacher than helping a struggling student understand a concept. Creativity is essential in every classroom, especially in art classroom. I have taught several different classrooms and settings, and ingenuity is necessary to make lesson plans, refine and execute those plans, and manage the classroom.

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As a teacher, I hope to be everything that my favorite teachers were to me. I believe that as an art teacher, my most important task is to inspire my students. I want to increase their creativity and be able to build their self-esteem through art, because that is what art has done for me. I aim to be positive and patient with all of my students. I believe art courses are useful and necessary for all students because students are able to learn how to visually problem solve. They will increase their self-esteem by using the ability to create as an outlet. To facilitate Iowa’s increasing Hispanic population with diversity and communication, I have the ability to accommodate Spanish-speaking students. 



Art is a great creative outlet for me. As a child, I was shy and art gave me an avenue to express myself. Today I use art to confront issues and problems within myself and the world, and to bring beauty into places that need some luminosity. Throughout my career, I have used painting, drawing, printing, digital, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and ceramics as tools to problem solve in art. 

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Teaching art has been something I have done ever since my younger sister was born. From there, I volunteered and taught art classes in both middle and high school. At the University of Northern Iowa, I was given the opportunity to lead the art club at St. Patrick Elementary School and the House of Hope. I have taught art as a camp counselor on military bases in Hawai'i and the Netherlands. My first two years in my teaching career I taught 7th and 8th grade in Phoenix, Arizona. I learned so much from my students there, and I will always look at them as some of the most special human beings. From there, I made the difficult decision to move back to the Midwest and have taught at the middle level in both Iowa and Kansas City. I have had wonderful experiences teaching, and I look forward to teaching students in the future.