Teacher Spotlight: Ms. Brown

I’m choosing to do a Teacher Spotlight on Ms. Brown because she was my former Ceramics teacher and taught one of my favorite classes. I witnessed through her class how extremely kind and helpful she is. She is very dedicated to her passion and takes great pride in being a teacher, so I decided to ask her a series of questions so we could figure out more about her and what she does both inside and outside of work. 

Q: How many years in total have you been teaching, and how many of those have been at Mayfair?

A: “I have taught for seventeen years, and they were all here at Mayfair.”

Q: Throughout your career, have you focused only on ceramics, or have you had the opportunity to teach other subjects or art mediums as well?

A: “No, I have also taught General Art, 3D Art, Ceramics 1, and Ceramics 2. When I started teaching here, I only had three periods of ceramics, and now I have them for all.”

Q: What initially inspired you to want to pursue a career in education?

A: “When I was in high school, I adored my high school art teacher and took all 4 years of art. That class felt like my safe space, and that's where I felt most comfortable, so I wanted to provide that for students.”

Q: What do you appreciate and find most rewarding about working as a teacher? 

A: “It’s just working with students and the interactions I get to have with them-how they make me laugh, just talking to students, and learning things from them. I love learning little random things. It's the moments where I get to sit in my class, look at the classroom, and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I get to do this for a living.’”

Q: Throughout the time that you've been here, what is one memory you've experienced that you will never forget? 

A: “There are many; this is hard! I go home and tell my son all the stories. I would have to say it’s the smallest things I will never forget, like all the little notes I get even when I am having a bad day. So, it’s just all the little things: notes, words of affirmation, when students come to me and say that they enjoy my class, when I display something in the display case and the students say, ‘No, I want to take it home,’ and when I get to learn all the fun things that they do over the weekend.”

Q: What is the inspiration that keeps you motivated throughout your years of teaching?

A: “I get a lot of emails and letters from former students describing what this class meant to them, so I think that is what inspires me the most to keep doing it. It means a lot to have students reach out.”

Q: How do you like to spend your free time outside of school or work? 

A: “So, I spend a lot of time with my family hiking and paddleboarding. I love indoor cycling and I go a couple of times a week. At home, we do a lot of gardening and art making; my kids and I like to do watercolor. We also watch a lot of movies, and we try to travel.”

Q: Is there anything you did with your time off over the summer that you really enjoyed? 

A: “Yes, many things! Over summer break, we went camping and saw bears. We also went to Santa Barbara to the Solstice Parade and spent a lot of time swimming and going to the beach.”

Q: For this year specifically, is there any goal that you are hoping to achieve that you have set for the students or yourself? 

A: “I’m a very goal-oriented person, so there are multiple goals, but this year the ceramics department received six new pottery wheels. So, one of my goals as a teacher is to work on my wheel-throwing skills so I can provide my students with a comprehensive ceramics experience. I want students to leave Mayfair with skills they can use in their future.”

Q: If you could pass along a message to every student, what would you want it to be?

A: “If I could pass along a message to students, I would tell them to be open-minded, to treat others as they want to be treated, and to be bold and adventurous with their beautiful lives.”

Thank you so much, Ms. Brown, for taking the time and letting me interview you. I enjoyed taking the time to get to know you better. Ms. Brown is such a great teacher and has made a huge impact on me; it was truly a privilege to get to know her better. I am extremely grateful for everything she does for me and all her students. 

Image Courtesy of Jade Gergen.