Polly's+Page

Hello Everyone, I am an Art Teacher at Walton Middle School, and this is my third year teaching. I have been a practicing artist since the early 90s, when I was a Fine Arts major, and originally headed in the direction of Art Therapy. I made a living in various creative fields, from decorative painting to design work, as well as selling through my studio.

About five years ago, I was inspired to share my knowledge with others. I decided to go back to school and acquire a degree in Art Education. I had no idea what I was in for! The field of Education has been so much more complex (And even volatile at times, it seems) than I ever expected. Virginia Commonwealth University's Art Education Department has a strong focus on interdisciplinary learning. There was intense scrutiny of lesson plans, looking for connections to Standards of Learning from all disciplines, as well as the incorporation of all angles of specific approaches to Visual Arts studies alone (not just studio production, but art history, art criticism, and aesthetics). I thought I was just headed in to being certified to teach people to"Create art”!

It was an amazing process for me. During the time I Spent completing my degree, my ideas about the field of education completely transformed. I find that I am inspired to learn more myself, every day that I teach. The possibilities are endless. The opportunities to engage my students in new ways, to give them a new window, to use critical thinking skills to work through what is presented, and to observe how all of this generates even more possibilities...Will this plateau? I hope not! I am continually aware that I am relatively new to the field, and I am aware of my possibly naive place in the grand scheme of things!

My professional goals this year are to connect more outside of my own classroom. I am also trying to incorporate technology more, to make my class interact online if possible, (I attended a conference last Spring, and one workshop focused on use of an interactive wiki space to expand your art program). Then I have the more basic art teacher specific goal of getting more work exhibited in the building and greater community (musing about a grant to build a multi-media showcase in the hallway of our school-something that would incorporate digital art forms...)

On the lighter side, I am a mother of two. Age 11, and 11 months (big age spread there!). I continue to maintain a studio out of my home and am currently showing my work at Maya in C-ville. Balancing those two things with teaching is very consuming to say the least! I am thoroughly enjoying it though, and look forward to what this online PLC endeavor will add to the mix!

__** PLC Characteristics **__  I don't think our PLC at Walton is inclusive enough, but I am also the "art teacher", and part-time at that. However, I feel I have good insights to share on a regular basis, and I also am committed to maintaining an awareness of what my co-teachers are up to, as well as the administration, and other faculty and staff. These insights, attempts to share, and connect, often feel unheard or I get a sense that they are immediately processed as insignificant. When reading through the resource links, I really connected with the idea of no one person or group being isolated. A strong sense of community is essential. My first year I had a whole dialogue via e-mail with a colleague that was misinterpreted with each reply, both ways! It was so frustrating. I think it took a year for me to get around to developing a relationship with this colleague that I was comfortable with. I felt on guard whenever we interacted, and was continually trying to communicate as clearly as possible ( it was exasperating), not wanting to generate anymore misinterpratation. I felt like we were coming from such different places, and with how isolated we both are in the building as "exploratory teachers", there was no real sense of a cohesive, inclusive group ( community) to look to for common ground. Things have improved since then, but sadly, our common ground tends to be the shared observation that our instruction is generally viewed as less important than what is considered the core instruction. What I stand by is the importance of clear communication, as well as the importance of setting aside personal baggage/ grudges/ anger when participating in a PLC. During my internships in three different schools, and at my time in my current position, I have seen so much time wasted by what really amounts to venting, and a self-serving behavior of taking a platform to air out pent-up frustrations because expectations are not being met, but those expectations are often rooted in a very individual perspective, instead of in the community. Communication is key. I entirely agree that tone is very important for the strength, and success of a PLC.