Making the Most of Your Teaching Career

This chapter aims to identify how teachers express creativity and develop personal resources to prepare for job searches in the teaching profession and explains how lifelong learning results in career enhancement and personal satisfaction. It describes best practices in teaching art and shows how to apply them to professors&s; and students&s; personal teaching careers. The teacher artists’ exemplars offer insights to the diversified ways that educators combine artistry, effective teaching methodologies, and life lessons as integral components of their professional practices. Teachers articulate their beliefs about teaching and learning by developing a teaching philosophy in essay form using rich, descriptive language with active verbs and concrete examples to articulate their professional strengths and knowledge. Effective resumes identify the skills employers expect for a position, including teaching qualifications and proficiencies in curriculum development, assessment, art production methods, and classroom management. Maintaining positive a disposition and professional behaviors makes teaching and learning genuinely rewarding.