a teaching reflection

This weekend was the beginning of something great for me. I have committed to volunteer two Saturday's a month to help teach art to 5th graders at KIPP Aspire Academy - a free Charter school for inner city kids in San Antonio. And for the first time in my life, I truly felt like a teacher. And I absolutely loved it. (If you have the slightest heart for education, I urge you to check out a KIPP school across the US. There are several dozen, and there needs to be several hundred. Their purpose is simple: high school completion and college admission.)

First of all, I have never regarded myself as a teacher, nor one that would enjoy it. And boy was I wrong! Turns out, I have quite a knack for it. And more than that, a true love for it. I offered to volunteer because of my passion for art, not necessarily passion for teaching. But I guess if you have a passion for something, your enthusiasm exudes – and teaching the subject comes naturally. It kills me that so much funding has been cut from the public school systems. So, I am offering to help guide and teach these kids for free, just as this school is providing an incredible education for them, for free. It’s an education that they cannot get elsewhere because of where they live.

Because this is my first go-round teaching, I am blessed with the opportunity to assist an artist/art teacher during this process. She will be a fabulous person to learn from and I am very excited about gaining my own teaching knowledge during this experience. The time periods are short: Saturday mornings from 8am-12:30pm. We have 4 classes and rotate about 100 kids through, which only gives us an hour for each class. It's tough, but completely rewarding for both us and the kids. One of the greatest parts is how much they enjoy doing art and take pride in their creation. It gets me every time!

I think the most surprising element of Saturday was truly how much I loved the idea of teaching these children and being able to provide a knowledge they had not known before. My desire to teach them everything I know about art is much greater than I had expected. My grandmother was my foundation in art, and I hope to be part of theirs. The art teacher was a bit blown away over my passion and enthusiasm. We spent some time talking and I think she could be a great support person for me as well. The goal is for me to teach one Saturday a month alone. She will take the other. To further illustration of my new love for teaching art, while I write this, I have a huge smile on my face and in my heart. I cannot wait to see them again and teach the next lesson. I think I have found my true calling. And it’s a remarkable feeling.