The Mixed Media Classroom

My career in Education started back in 2010. I was fresh out of college with my degree in Elementary Education and I began working at a one-room school house with, with......12, I repeat 12 students in the entire school. I taught all subjects and all grade levels K-5. It was a CHAOTIC experience that left me exhausted but taught me Oh So MUCH! After that year I began teaching in my hometown and taught mostly 3rd and 5th grade for 5 years. The VARIETY of content left me feeling like the Jill of All Trades but Master of None! Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies, testing, social and emotional skills, coping, parenting.....you all know the drill. I felt like I could never catch up , I was a worn-out, overstimulated ADHD teacher with a lot of passion, but not enough focus and so I walked away from education, with the mindset that I would never return. I decided to pursue my passion for PHOTOGRAPHY full-time, and I loved it, except, it became a job, and was no longer a passion.... I had almost given up on Education altogether when a friend sent me a link to a job. The position was labeled as RESEARCH but I was basically informed I could write my own content and teach what I wanted but that I would have every 8th grade student. The school even canceled the final interview because the decided to "go another direction" but I asked if they would go ahead with it "for practice." One hour later, I was offered the job "unofficially" because they had to go through due process. 3 years later the photography teacher left, so I took that on, since I was still running my business part time. 2 years after that, the art teacher announced her plans to retire, so I dove into getting my Art K-12 Endorsement. It turns out all along, that I love the CHAOS, I was just in the wrong kind of CHAOS. I currently teach Digital Art, Graphic Design, Photography, Video Production, and Visual Art, and my only wish is that I could duplicate myself to be able to teach more classes of each.