What is your goal?

Several very busy days have passed since, but I don’t want to lose the opportunity to acknowledge and reflect upon the fall art teacher in-service.

There is nothing more exhilarating than a back-to-school kickoff event with over 300 art teachers in one place! Now, before you conclude that I must have a very boring life, let me clarify. I don’t mean exhilarating like when you ride a roller coaster or something like that — but having this many like-minded professional educators in one place just before the start of the school year does create an atmosphere where the excitement and anticipation are palpable. And this year, everyone was feeling a little extra enthusiasm because we arranged to meet at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

We were able to take care of business in a general session, had an excellent presentation from our hosts (Thank you, Briana and Elizabeth!), provided opportunities for collaborative teams to meet, and had some much valued time in the galleries.

The day before the in-service, I asked a question of one of my colleagues who was preparing for her own teacher meeting.

What is your goal?

I think I asked this question for myself as much as any reason. Our in-services are only a short half-day and our big opportunity to influence the direction for the whole coming school year within our discipline. Many times in the past I have felt overwhelmed with the number of topics that I felt too important not to address during the meeting, but the reality is most teachers will come away with just one or two ideas they will really carry into their classroom.

With this realization, I have tried to focus these professional development days, and design them with one goal. By happy coincendence, the presentation from the museum staff reflected this line of thinking for teachers. The session was organized first by asking the teachers to consider what type of people they want their students to be in the future, then connecting to those ideas through the discussion activities, and encouraging the teachers to consider their goals for their students as they interacted with the exhibitions.

So, what was my goal?

I kept it simple this year. My goal was for teachers to feel inspired and excited for the new year. Spending time with the art teachers certainly motivated me, and I hope they found some inspiration in the activities and artworks they encountered at the museums!