Teaching without Telling

My expedition with being a teacher started long before I was even born. I guess you could say it was wired into my DNA. My mother was a public educator, now retired from the profession. My brother is a public educator. He has taught overseas and here at home in the USA. I have an aunt and uncle who are educators, 3 cousins, and numerous childhood friends who also went into the teaching field and are public school teachers to this day. I’ve been a teacher in one form or another through my college years and upon graduating with my Bachelor’s degree, I entered into the work force as a Texas Public Educator in 2005. It was never really something I thought about much, it was just something I did. One foot in front of the other, day in and day out, make the paycheck, and make it to summertime. That’s basically how I lived my teaching career for 15-ish years. Around year 10 I began to feel a heavy pull on my heart. Something about what I was doing with my career path was not adding up with my soul. My head kept telling me it made sense, but my insides screamed for something more. More of what?? I wasn’t sure. I wanted to quit. Plain and simple. But how do you just up and leave something you’ve dedicated 10+ years of your life to? I was terrified. I bounced around to different grade levels and different subject areas. Nothing seemed to feel right. My heart just wasn’t in teaching anymore…or was it? ✨

I stumbled across a program that taught me how to teach a paint party. I thought, “I can do this! I’ve already got the teaching experience, now I just need to practice the painting part.” I reached way back into my high school days where I had taken advanced placement art and began to piddle and play around on canvas and sketchbooks again. I signed up for the program, booked my first paint party, and away I went! For a few years, I juggled public school teaching and teaching paint parties, determined to find a way out from under “the man” and one day go into business for myself. I had never taught adults before, so this was a little different, but in all the right ways. It certainly helped that these folks were paying me to teach them, so they were willing to listen, and wanted to learn and have fun at the same time. I got really good a facilitating a party atmosphere! A little sing-a-long music, a cold beer, and a paint brush can go a long way when it comes to putting smiles on people’s faces. 💞

As time went on, I met so many individuals who would follow up with me after a paint party telling me how much fun they had! How they weren’t artistic yet were delighted and proud at the product they created that day! Was I surprised? Well, to be honest, not really! After years of teaching humans, I was pretty positive that the way to get someone to learn was to build their confidence, and provide them with reassurance along the way. It wasn’t about the subject a person was learning, but about the state of mind they were in. I always knew they could do it! Never doubted it for a second! 😃 But did they? Not always. I had first time painters come to me simply overjoyed with their results, telling me exactly where they were going to hang the painting in their home. Each time I would hear this from someone, that heavy feeling I had in my heart would get a little bit lighter. “Hey,” I began to self-dialogue, “maybe there’s something to this art thing after all.” Could it be more than just a way to get out of my current career? Could I actually make a difference in people’s hearts and minds? I mean, who am I? Who cares what I have to say?

Fast forward to present day. I am now currently out of public education, but still teaching paint parties at the local Creative Arts Center in Bonham, Texas. The story of the patrons is still the same, however. They come in skeptical, and leave feeling more confident in their ability to create and have a darn good time while doing it. 😉 What started as a career move for me has evolved into a exploration of the hearts and minds of myself and those I encounter. Teaching a paint party is less about TELLING someone a technique or a specific way to do something, and more about providing them with a safe place to navigate a new world and try new things. And what does trying something new and accomplishing that do for a person?? It grows confidence, bravery, ambition, self-worth, and problem-solving skills! It allows one to be brave enough to go and try that next new thing on their bucket list!

It is the act of cultivating a community and environment that is light and easy, fresh and fun, and peaceful and safe. Putting on a little music, cracking a few jokes, and presenting people with the tools they need to be successful permits them to be able to make a mistake and see that it really is all “figure-out-able” in the end. A big kick off in the beginning, help with struggles in the middle, and a pat on the back at the end of the party may not seem like much. But to us regular everyday folks, those little things sure can mean the world. 🌍

So, what has this journey as a teacher taught me? I bet some of my painter birds already know….

Trust the process. We are ALL becoming. ✌️🩷🎨🕊️🕊️🕊️