The Disrespected Art Teacher

I was on Facebook reading one of my art teacher pages and a topic of conversation came up on art teachers coming online to vent at the disrespect shown to them. I've been there & I totally get it! I got to thinking this might be a great blog topic for today and I have a few ideas for you to get that respect you deserve!

BE VISIBLE! That's right, BE VISIBLE! Notice how I did that in all caps? That's cause it's that important! If you go to work, do your job, do it well, then go home then you are that invisible art teacher. It's easy to ignore what you don't see. Here's a list of what I do to "be visible".

Art Teacher camoflauge

1. Form relationships! Eat lunch with the staff. Let them get to know you & how awesome you are! Get to know your students - they are the best promoters of your program.
2. Don't be a complainer! Be the positive! When you see someone walking up to you & you just KNOW they are going to complain you're likely to run the other direction. Don't be that person!
3. Get involved. Someone has to be on all those committees. If you aren't on any of them you're probably going to get noticed, but not in a good way. Find something you can do and volunteer to sign up. Let your voice be heard! I'm on the PDC committee & Technology Committee. Both take minimal time, but since administration is at those same meetings they see me sitting at the table giving input on how my students are impacted by the decisions we make.
4. Make your school look good! If they look good, you look good. I promote my program in multiple ways - Instagram, Facebook, the district webpage, our school newspaper. I put an article in every school newspaper (with pictures!). I post cool projects the students really enjoy on our school Facebook & my school Instagram. 
5. Get to know your community. This one is probably the hardest, but getting to know your parents really helps. Know the people on Booster Club or PTO. Go to student events & mingle with the crowd (if your district has staff shirts then wear it so parents know you're a teacher).
6. Use your talents to "WOW" them! I've had students create staff caricatures to hang outside their doors, organized and created videos of the staff to promote learning (we show it to the students before state testing begins), organize the annual staff dance that we perform as a 1/2 time performance at a basketball game, have students create giant canvas paintings to display around the school. I'm an organizer (not to be confused with organized! LOL!) and love getting people together to create experiences.  

Being involved in your school makes you feel connected and gives you a sense of belonging. If you are involved your peers and administration are much more likely to see you as a part of the staff and not as the "support team". Of course there will always be those people who view art as "fluff", and thereby assign your roll in the school as less important, but if you just keep promoting yourself and your program in a positive manner you're sure to start seeing a change. Plus it makes going to work a whole lot more fun!