February 9, 2011

25 Signs You Were Meant To Be An Art Teacher

I came across this fun post from Art Smarts called 25 Signs You Were Born To Be A Teacher (originally from accredited online colleges) and thought it would be fun to make a 25 Signs You Were Born To Be An Art Teacher. 

Hope you don't mind if I have some fun with this!

25 Signs You Were Born To Be An Art Teacher

I'm posting the first ten. . . feel free to post others to make it to 25!


Your best dinner parties involve hats and sunglasses.


1. You've pulled out a Halloween costume in March.
2. Your favorite toys were boxes, toilet paper rolls, and if you had a Barbie she had a haircut.
3. When you go to the museum, all you can think of how much more interesting your kids art is.
4. You find yourself saying "What makes you say that?" and "Tell me more about that" to your spouse. . . only realize how crazy you sound when you get no response and a raised eyebrow.
5. You get really excited when you find/collect 30 of anything. 30 yogurt containers, 30 notebooks on sale, 30 paper towel tubes.
6. You have a macaroni necklace in your jewelry box.
7. When you find an "I love art" note or picture in your drawers you decide to throw out. . . later.
8. When you told your parents that you wanted to go to college to study art they made a half hearted attempt to suggest you go to a liberal arts college and make art your minor.
9. You think the only reason to spend a day at the beach is to make a sand sculpture.
10. You never understand why there's a line at the copy machine at school.

24 comments:

Nellie Mae said...

I love it!! My favorite one is about the 'love' note that you decide to throw away....later.

11. You aren't afraid to use glitter. And you aren't worried about spilling a little either.

12. You bruise easily...no...wait...that is just paint...how did it get there?

13. Everywhere you go you see cool things (magazine piles, chandeliers, a sack of fabric scraps, mini living room furniture) and think, 'wow...that would be so great in my classroom'.

14. You will try ANY supremely messy projects with 25+ kids and no other adult help....at least once...and then keep doing it after you've devised the perfect procedure and organizational structure to keep it fun and the mess to a minimum.

Unknown said...

Ha ha I HAD that bruise today! My husband was trying to figure out how I ended up bruising the top of my hand! Too funny.

Christie - Fine Lines said...

15. You start buying your cereal based on the colors of the box, which you can recycle and turn into something wonderful.

Kreanimo said...

Love the first 10 :-)

The bruise is absolutely true.

15) Many of you school outfits have paint on them ...
(I once thought about buying pants which looked like several cans of paint were spilled over them, that way it wouldn't matter if it got one more stain ... LOL)

I love your blogg btw.
I just started blogging about my art lessons myself.
http://artlessonsfrombelgium.blogspot.com/

Holly B. said...

16. When you plan a really cool school project for the students, you are disappointed when other teachers and faculty don't get as excited about it as you.

Kreanimo said...

@ Holly: that's a good one too!

Phyl said...

17. You purchase clothing for quantity, not quality, as they will always have paint on them anyhow, so it's better to have 3 cheap pairs of black pants than one pair of expensive ones. (along with that, you vow to NEVER wear a white sweater or pants to school).

18. Much to your husband's chagrin, you kee the styrofoam packing and mailing tubes from any packages you receive because you know you can use them "sometime" for "something".

19. Even though you are an adult, you have an extensive collection of children's books and are constantly purchasing more.

20. You aren't afraid to wear sneakers with skirts or dresses; as a matter of fact you prefer to, and if the laces are colorful, that's a bonus.

Rebecca said...

You never thought nail polish was just for fingernails.

Kreanimo said...

So true, all of them :-)
Great topic!

Buffalo Creek said...

I love this! Those are all great you guys! I had a good laugh! Heres a few more...

-You lose your coffee amidst the piles of artwork and supplies after the first two sips

-you make a big deal about dried up markers

-you always have a paper clip handy for repairing a clogged glue bottle

-nailpolish is a good way to hide the oil pastels under your fingernails

-you scoff at the crafts isle at Target and wish they had more REAL art supplies, but cannot resist buying the new glow in the dark marker or slick stix cause they sound so fun!

-your stained clothes begin to define you as an artist, and you're ok with that

-a colored pencil makes an ok coffee stir

Unknown said...

I am getting a real kick out of these! Just nodding my head, thanks for the laugh:)

Hannah- Art.Paper.Scissors.Glue! said...

Haha, these are great!! I love this post! I might compile a whole list to print out and hang out in my room.

- You have so much prep work to do (make stencils, cut fabric, make presentation boards) that you have your husband help you

- You color code your closet (or that could just be me and my OCD)

- You spend more time at Michael's than Michael himself

and probably my biggest one

- At least 25% of the materials you use during the school year were paid from your pocket or found because there just is not enough funding! And of course, you always think of lessons which require materials you don't have in the classroom.

ArtTeacherLeigha said...

-"The Art Room monster ate it!" Is how you try to tell students that a project got lost.

-Other teachers don't understand why you aren't ready for their class to come in. Or why you are running around and sweating from the prep work.

-An apron is considered a uniform.

-Every color is your favorite. The more the better!

-You save every texture known to man for collages.

-A glue gun is your best friend.

-Every other teacher in the school tries to borrow your things.

Janelle Beaulieu said...

This really gave me a good laugh this morning! Thanks to all the wonderful art teachers out there!
Janelle
http://stuckinthemudpottery.blogspot.com

Jennifer Matott (Sigmagirl) said...

LOVE these! I can soooo identify with all of them.
Not sure what number we left off at so I'll just add to the list:

- you get "artwork" from home every week from students that love art.

- Your hands are so dry from the clay that you can't easily pass out paper.

- YOu walk down the hall and leave white footprints the entire way (can you tell I'm working with LOTS of clay right now?) from the clay dust.

- You find yourself repeating things like:"bristles up" or "place that on the drying rack" A LOT!

- You think you might becoming a hoarder... all those lovely recyclables and knick knacks that will turn into sculpture or something to stamp with.

- You can eat lunch in 10 mins and wait all day to go to the bathroom because you just simply do not have time!

taramarie88 said...

...when you go to the grocery store you base your shopping on "Can I reuse this butter/cottage cheese/dip container as a water bowl for my students' paintbrushes?"

...you save ANY type of scrap paper no matter the size, for future collages

...you feel like it's Christmas when you get to school in the morning and see that other teachers have brought you old magazines, newspapers, t-shirts (for painting), styrofoam, and round lids!

...you hang your students' work up in the hallway and still feel awed at how good it looks everytime you walk by it

...nothing makes you happier than receiving a box of new paints, oil pastels, paintbrushes, etc. You take them out and arrange them neatly in your cabinet and think the rows of brand new art supplies look beautiful!

Lori Decoite said...

-you get excited when you use a new shapre marker
love the post and ALL the comments-it is nice to know we are all the same : )

Unknown said...

These are great. I love sharpies too, your husband has to help you with prep work(that got us laughing at our house) actually he thought I wrote that one when I read it, every color is your fav, buying clothes for quantity not quality, I also walk a little taller when I walk by our bulletin boards:) The kids work is so amazing.

Holly B. said...

- When a teacher/faculty member tells you that you have paint on your face, you are so busy that you don't even bother washing it off.

Unknown said...

Holly that one is awesome!!!! Happens to me all the time. One time I went grocery shopping after work and thought I must look really hot because guys were looking at me. Turns out I had green paint smeared On my forehead!

Anonymous said...

When you empty your pockets when doing laundry, you find random crayons, paper clips and paper scraps you have confiscated from naughty kids.

You shop at Goodwill because you go through 3 pairs of kaki's each school year that get clobbered with paint

You can get away with wearing bright colors every day of the year and no one questions you

When you tell people what you do, they aways say "Awww.. That must be fun" and it reminds you that yes, it really is a pretty good gig.

You are deathly afraid of wearing scarves or long necklaces for fear they will be sliced in the paper cutter.

You wanted to be an art teacher since you were in third grade (Me) and tell you students if they want to stay in art class all day then become an art teacher and you can! I do.

Great idea, Erica! Thanks for the inspiration.

Jessica

Kristyn DeMint said...

I love these...so so true!
MY addition:

~You know you are an art teacher when you plan your vactions around the art museums you can visit.

Anonymous said...

you spend all your free time looking at art blogs for ideas

Hannah- Art.Paper.Scissors.Glue! said...

Sorry... one more! I just saw this on Art Teachers Hate Glitter and had to add it to the list:

"I always loved art teachers because they were so bizarre. They were like the homeless people of the faculty -- all disheveled, wearing smocks, covered in paint, always digging through the garbage, looking for bottles and egg cartons and things." -Ted Alexandro