Monticello Live

On December 2, Governor Beebe came to Monticello to present Kimberly Wilson, visual art teacher at MHS the award for being Arkansas’Teacher of the Year.

“You aren’t much of a person if you can’t understand the finer things in life… you’ve done that with our kids… you deserve Teacher of the Year,” Governor Beebe told Mrs. Wilson.

After hugging her children and her husband, accepting her roses and her large check to represent her financial award of $15,000 (from the Walton Family Foundation) Mrs. Wilson said, “I want to thank you… thank you. It humbles me.” “First, I’m privileged to be part of a fantastic school district.” “The other half… here’s what makes the difference… it’s your [students’] effort that makes it all work.”

Mrs. Wilson then said to the 4th and 5th grade students present, “You made me a great teacher; you made this possible.”

In closing Mrs. Wilson said, “Thank you to my family, my 2 children are here. They spend a lot of hours in the classroom.” “I could not do it if I did not have a fantastic, loving, supporting husband.” “I would like to thank my Principals..” She went on to describe how they never tell her no when she comes to them with her “crazy” ideas.

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Kimberly Kaye Wilson – One Monticello Life

by Mandy Moss

1.Where are you from? (born, raised, mom, dad, siblings?)
I was born in South Carolina and consider Rock Hill, S.C. my “hometown”; graduated high school there and attended Winthrop University (in RH). Both siblings, Melissa Hammett and Jay Wilson, as well as my mother, Cindy Wilson, still live in S.C. My father died this summer, but I know he would have been extremely proud of this accomplishment.

2. How would you describe your life growing up?
Humble and non-descript. I never considered there was anything special about my family until I left it. As a young adult I began to realize how surrounded by love I was with my immediate and extended families. Both my mother and father worked very hard and neither had a college education. But, they never questioned my ability to succeed and were realistic with me about what it would take to achieve any idea or dream I had.

3. Did you have a teacher as a child that made you want to teach?
I have “favorites” from my childhood. But I have a distinct memory of when I realized I wanted to teach. In fifth grade, students were paired up and told to sit back to back. One had a card with a simple image, the other pencil and paper. The student with the card was to describe what they saw and instruct their teammate to draw it. After being paired with several different students, I realized that I had an ability to articulate what I saw into simple steps and help people be successful in creating an image.

4. When did you realize you had a passion for art?
My mother is an artist. From my earliest memories, I can see her decorating household items, painting, drawing at the kitchen table. She never pursued her talents as a career, but to me, she was pure inspiration. In my opinion, I still cannot render an image as beautifully as her, but she instilled in me that joy of creating and valuing the process of creating for enjoyment….regardless if there is a paycheck involved.

5. Did you have other jobs before becoming a teacher? (first job? work through college, etc?) If so, what was your favorite and least favorite.. and why?
I began working at age 16. My family did not have much money and each child was told that if we wanted more than what my parents could provide, we would have to earn it. My first job was at a fast food restaurant, but I consider myself a jack-of-all-trades. I cleaned houses and pet sat, babysat countless children, I have been a waitress (at 3 different restaurants), a file clerk, an office manager, an activities director at a foster home, a deposit clerk for a vending company, and a bank teller.

After college I lived in Vermont, where I began to teach and use my administrative skills towards non-profit community centers. My first “real” job was in Detroit, Michigan where I served as Director of Education at the historic Pewabic Pottery. I was surrounded by my two passions, ceramic arts and a teaching studio. It was a fantastic time, but with the birth of my first child I wanted to be closer to home. That’s when I accepted the Executive Director position for Sawtooth School for the Visual Arts in Winston-Salem, N.C. That was not the best fit for me; I was taken out of the classroom and became a fundraiser and politician. So when my husband approached me about a possibility of accepting a teaching position in a small school in southeast Arkansas, I agreed to move our family once again. That is how I happened to make Monticello, AR my home. And since there was not a community arts center here, I went back to school in order to be certified to teach in the public schools.

6. How long have you been teaching, and did you start your teaching career as an art teacher?
I began teaching as a profession in 1995 as an art instructor in a variety of non-profit, community centers in Vermont. My students ranged from three years old to ninety-three at Shelburne Craft School and college students to adults at the University of Vermont’s Living/ Learning Center Studio. I was always teaching art, but what materials and type of artwork changed constantly as the course schedule was on a six to twelve week rotation. It kept me on my toes!

7. What is the most challenging thing about your job?
Addressing all of the needs of each individual student is the most difficult component. I refuse to standardize art into a systematic exercise. Each student has a unique story and a unique set of skills, and that is was I am here to grow. But when there are twenty five students in one room and a range a needs as wide as a rushing river, it can feel like I’m on a rapids river ride.

8. What has been the most rewarding project you’ve done with your students?
Without hesitation, I can say I am most proud of working with my Monticello Intermediate students on the Empty Bowl fundraiser. For two years, every child at MIS made a hand-made ceramic bowl with me during their art classes. The clay was donated by the UAM’s art department; all I had to do was donate the time to mix it. The colored slips and glazes were donated by my private studio the first year and then reimbursed by an Americorp grant the next. I worked in collaboration with EAST students and their facilitator (Lisa Brown) to organize and host a sale of the bowls during spring parent/teacher conference. All of the money raised was donated to “Feed the Kids” a program sponsored by the Women of First Presbyterian Church. The program provides food to needy children over weekends and holidays. Nearly $5,000 was raised over two years.

9. What do you hope your students will take with them from your class as they go forward in their lives?
I hope they understand that they have a voice and a choice. Every moment of every day in my studio, students are provided a choice. What they do with that opportunity is up to them. They can simply copy my example, give up or they can use the opportunity to express something truly personal and meaningful. They have to make the choice. It is not always easy and may not work out the way they wanted it to, but effort is everything, and the only way a person grows and becomes better is by sincere effort.

10. Teacher of the Year – did it shock you to find out you were nominated? How did you become nominated?
I was nominated last spring at Monticello Intermediate School, where I was working at the time. A pervious Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Karen Norton, approached me and asked my permission if she could nominate me. She warned me at the time that there was some work involved, applications, interviews, etc. I humbly accepted and agreed to do any work that might result from the nomination, being honored that a “support staff” teacher had been asked. I NEVER imagined it would go beyond the district interview.

So yes, being selected as the Arkansas Teacher of the Year has been a complete shock.

11. What has winning the award meant to you and your family?
First, its validation. I ask a lot from my family, time to spend over the weekends working on lessons, asking my husband to help with a project, having my kids “hang-out” with me after school to finish something. My family is asked to “share” me constantly with my students and their needs. It can take its toll on anyone. So for me to win the award, communicates to them that what I am doing is really important and that someone has acknowledged the hard work.

Second, it means more of the same; that there is not a specific schedule and that mommy has to go do something with someone else and might have to be away from home.

12. Do your children understand the significance of you winning? Do your students?
My oldest certainly understands. McClain is a fourth grader and has already processed my odds of winning National Teacher of the Year. He has warned me that I have some tough competition.? My youngest, Skylen is in Kindergarten and was a little overwhelmed by the ceremony at MHS. She just knows that I have been wearing fancy clothes and brought home a lot of beautiful flowers.

Beginning this academic year, I began working at Monticello High School, so my current students have a solid understanding of what this all means. Some of my students were not pleased that it would mean a year sabbatical, but I tried to reassure them that it was an opportunity to learn from another artist. They could potentially learn from three different art teachers, much like the larger schools with art departments or college.

13. If you had unlimited access to funds, opportunities, and supplies, what are a few mega projects you would love to do with your students that you may not be able to do currently?
I would love to provide them with a real studio experience. In one room, you have to juggle materials, it is impossible to teach clay and paint in the same room at the same time. To have an art building that had several studios; specific to the materials taught would be a dream. If that were reality, I would love to be able to expand the projects to fine crafts such as, pottery, weaving, metalsmithing, while honoring more traditional arts like drawing, painting, and photography, and expanding into the new media such as computer labs with graphic art programs, and video labs.

But to be practical, I know that there was a history of collaboration between MHS and the OEC when Ms. Ross was teaching art. I would love to reignite that collaboration. As the teacher of the Year SMART technologies will be providing me with up-to-date classroom technology that I eagerly await to use with my students.

Ultimately, it’s the enthusiasm and ideas of my students that I look forward to. Art can be made of meager, modest or marvelous materials and art can be made in a fancy studio or at the kitchen table; what makes it worthwhile and interesting is the process.

14. What has the community’s reaction been to your new title of Teacher of the Year?
Unbelievably supportive and congratulatory. In my acceptance speech in Little Rock I mentioned the fact that I was not a native Arkansan but my family and I have been adopted by our little town and this state. We are so fortunate to be in Monticello. The friends we have made here are a second family to us, and this community has celebrated everything that my family has been able to contribute to it.

15. After such a major event – what’s next for Mrs. Wilson?
The journey is just beginning. I hope to take it one day at a time and soak in every wonderful opportunity it provides. Beyond my tenure as 2012 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, I hope that I can translate the opportunity back into our classrooms in a way that benefits my students. Just as I try to do every

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 10:31 am and is filed under Monticello School News, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.