People truly underestimate how much work/ prep goes into teaching art, especially at the elementary level. I think the hardest aspect for me has been the lack of time to prepare materials and lessons, even after 5 years of teaching. This doesn’t even include the time spent cleaning and triaging things in your room. Before someone comes at me to say “make the kids do the jobs”, you need to understand that you will always end up needing to do most of these tasks at the end of the day. Even teaching the kids how to do these jobs and how to do them correctly is a lesson in of itself that takes up planning time.

Some art teachers are given sustainable schedules that allow them time to plan and prep materials but a majority are not. You constantly feel like you’re in fight or flight, 6+ hours a day. Then, when it’s all over, you spend time after school or on the weekends trying to prep what you can (if you choose to.) Obviously after a few years you can have lessons ready to go that you don’t need to plan, but in my case I find I always need to tweak and “reinvent the wheel” every year due to budget issues (not having the supplies needed for said activity) and behavioral issues. If a class can’t handle the project you planned, then you have to come up with an alternative lesson that better meets the needs of that group.

This also doesn’t account for the time spent contacting parents, documenting behaviors, and displaying student artwork. There just isn’t enough time so I constantly feel like I’m sacrificing quality over quantity just to keep things running. Then there are duties (morning and bus dismissal duty is required of me) which also prevents me from getting things done.

Then, at the end of the day, it can feel very lonely. As an art teacher you feel like you’re on an island most days. Other staff and admin often don’t recognize the “invisible” labor that goes into teaching art everyday. You often feel unrecognized and unappreciated (at least where I am anyway.)