[flickr id=”9404504306″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”none”]This post is bittersweet for me because it will be my last time writing to you, Marginalia readers! Now that I’ve graduated the program and handed in my thesis, it’s time for me to pass the baton to a current Art Education MAT Columbia Student.

Since my last post, I’ve been doing summer teacher training for the past three weeks at Orr Academy High School (check out the mosaic in the picture above- the school is gorgeous). This training is specifically for teachers going into CPS turnaround schools managed by an organization called the Academy for Urban School Leadership, better known as AUSL. The information I’ve been receiving on planning and classroom management has been awesome, and I’m feeling ready to set up my classroom and start the school year! I’m really looking forward to meeting my students. I’ve got a really great group of colleagues working in the school with me and a principal who really seems to work hard to do the best by her teachers and students. So far I’m feeling really lucky and optimistic about what’s to come.

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All this being said, I’m going to miss the graduate student life and my Cohort 20 friends. We’ve all promised to stay in contact and get together once we get settled into our new paths, but I’ll really miss seeing them four nights a week. I’ll also miss getting just a little nervous before presenting and demos and reading educational psychology and child development books until my eyes burned (those were probably my favorite classes)…oh there are so many memories! I’m also going to miss my student NAEA discount! It costs more to be a teacher, but it’s still worth it to be a member. You won’t catch me NOT in San Diego this coming March.

[flickr id=”8536784841″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”none”]It’s really been a treat to represent the Art Education MAT program this year. I’ve met so many great prospective students, many of whom are now incoming students. For those of you who are beginning your studies at Columbia this fall, be excited! I wouldn’t trade my experience here for the world. You all are on a path to really change lives because, as educators, that’s exactly what we do every day, especially through the arts.

At the end of this month, Cohort 21’s Cherie Tymkiw will be taking over as the new Art Education MAT Graduate Student Ambassador. Look for her first post coming soon! I’ll be on twitter and email until August 22nd, so feel free to send me your questions until then.

All the best,

Ashley