Ellen Herbert
Texas Teacher of the Year
Longview High School, Longview, TX
Grade 9-12, Art

My teaching philosophy
My most powerful tool for shaping students is my example. If I want them to revere diversity I must celebrate it in my classroom. To instill intrinsic responsibility for their conduct I must take pride in my own. If I want them to love learning for its pure joy, I must express that joy and find means for them to feel it too. The students I teach are looking for clues about how to live. No subject is a better vehicle for exploring how people live than art. John Ruskin said that art is the truest reflection of any culture. Why is it so revealing? Because when it is real, art engages us at our most sincere level. Through the art of others, we observe them at their most genuine. Through our own art, we engage in earnest reflection.

My philosophy in action
Creating art is a great leveler. When students enter my classes, they come through the academic looking glass. Success is no longer predicted by SAT scores, family income or class rank. The best art is that which is the honest expression of the life and feelings of the artist. In my classroom, we produce art, learn and talk about man's history through art and analyze aesthetic issues. We make critical judgements about art, using techniques that can be translated to many situations. I share my own art with them and encourage their criticism as I expect them to critique each other and themselves. I am the standard by which the safety of our environment is measured. I actively demonstrate respect for all cultural, racial and gender variations. It is my job to help every student find a voice and experience success in my classroom.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
As an art studio teacher, my most significant contributions are in the form of individual exchanges with young people. Accomplishments for me are measured in the success of my students. My students have gone on to study art at prestigious colleges such as Cooper Union and the Chicago Art Institute. They've become architects, graphic designers, lawyers and plumbers with an enhanced love and understanding of art. They have achieved notoriety as all-state artists and won a myriad of competitions and scholarships. However, for personal satisfaction, nothing beats having a student look at a freshly completed artwork and say, "I can't believe I made that."

The most critical issue facing educators today
In our efforts to ensure consistent, effective educational opportunities that serve the needs of a swelling population, we are producing graduates who can not think abstractly. Piaget said that forty percent of the population never achieve higher level thinking. Students' inability for higher order thinking is of utmost concern to me.

Ways to resolve this issue
The bottom line is that students need one on one critical interaction with teachers in school and we must find the resources to make this happen. Lower student/teacher ratios mean more emphasis on writing and classroom discussion based on higher order thinking. Accountability testing must encourage critical thinking. Advanced Placement exams are a good example of testing that encourages complex thinking.

One thought to inspire other teachers to succeed
In this day of intensified research to identify the factors that impact learning – reports consistently confirm that the quality of the teacher is the number one factor in the classroom.

One lesson every student should learn
The love of learning is its own reward. With it you will always be wealthy.

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