The Alabama Art Education Association is developing a state-wide mentoring program specifically for visual art teachers!
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR FAQS:
We believe there is a unique need for a support program here in our state; the majority of our art teachers are isolated in schools and have little opportunity to team with other art teachers. The school districts that already offer mentoring programs are not equipped to address the specific needs of visual art instructors in the classroom, such as materials management as well as managing extremely high numbers of students. Often, novice art teachers are paired with a math or social studies teacher mentor due to the fact that there are no other art teachers in the building.
If we can increase new art teachers' proficiency in instruction as well as keep talented teachers from leaving the field of education, more students will be given the opportunity to participate in the arts, thus improving their ability to exercise creative problem-solving, increase test scores, and a myriad of other benefits that the arts bring to the classroom. The ultimate benefit of this program will be to the children of Alabama! Less than 45% of the schools in Alabama offer visual art classes, and of those schools 78% have only one art teacher. We have 21 counties with no art teachers, and 17 school districts with only one art teacher in the entire district. (data from 2014)
Art teachers, if you would like to advocate for visual arts instruction in Alabama by participating in this program either as a mentee or as a mentor, please contact us at:
Art teachers, if you would like to advocate for visual arts instruction in Alabama by participating in this program either as a mentee or as a mentor, please contact us at:
artteacherhelp4al@gmail.com
Ms. Sharon Christman
Mrs. Anna Nichols
Co-Chairs, AAEA Mentoring
ALABAMA ART TEACHERS FACEBOOK PAGE; We recently started a Facebook group, Alabama Art Teachers. We created this group because we would like to build a more collaborative, supportive community for art teachers in Alabama, especially those of us who are the only art teacher in our school/district/county. This is a great place to "talk shop" with other art teachers all over the state without leaving the house! This is a closed group, so the only people who can see what we post here are members. (The only requirement to join this group is that you teach art in Alabama.)
"Ingersoll has also done extensive research on beginning teacher support and found that teachers who have even just two small initiatives in place (working with a mentor and having regular supportive communication with an administrator) are more likely to stay in the classroom." The Atlantic, "Why Do Teachers Quit?" by Liz Riggs
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