Art Out Loud: Working for Glassell on the Go
I have the pleasure to be a part of MFAH’s pilot outreach program called Glassell on the Go. I am responsible for implementing a multidisciplinary curriculum the focuses on the MFAH’s collection.
Over the course of my time at the MFAH I have had a chance to reflect on teaching the arts in education. During a conversation on STEAM at the Station Museum for Contemporary Art I began reflecting on what I now understand to be a neoliberal divestment from public education in the United States.
Granted I worked formally as a teacher in Texas for 1 year, however I have been in education for close to seven years. I have volunteered for CDF Freedom School; I worked afterschool programs at Alcott Elementary here in Houston I worked my way through graduate school as a Substitute teacher in Clarksville, IN and Louisville, KY; and I have spent some time teaching at the colegiate level at the University of Houston. While by no means am I a veteran, I do say I am experienced. In my experience educators are unduly burdened with excessive responsibilities. Much of the responsibility of sucess in the classroom is placed sqaurely on educators shoulders leaving many teachers stressed. During my first year of teaching I met administrators whose aim was not to support teachers and students, but to run school like a for profit quasi-prison where you get paid for the number of adolesents you able to confine each day of the school year.
Being a part of the Learning and Interpretation Team at the MFAH is helping me grow spiritually away from that prison like teaching environment and style. Surrounded by museum educators, HISD, and UH affiliates who have the mission of rethinking what education should look like is inspiring. Read more about Glassell on the Go on the MFAH in the Media Blog.
MFAH in the Media: Glassell on the Go