Interview with Katherine Broadwater

Speaker 1: Katherine Arwady Broadwater graduated from Capital University in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in art education. Speaker 1: Doctor Broadwater taught in the Baltimore County Public Schools for many years. She came to Towson University as a member of the art department in 1996, where she serves as director of Art Education. These are her reflections. Karen Blair: Doctor Broadwater, thank you so much for taking your time to come and talk to us about your own preparation to become a teacher and your career in education. Karen Blair: This will add greatly to our understanding not only of teacher education across time, but also in areas outside the somewhat traditional elementary, early childhood, secondary ed.

Karen Blair: And I guess a good place to begin is in the beginning. So would you share with us a little bit about your early social context, where you grew up, what kinds of thoughts you were having about what you do after high school, and maybe even a thought or two about a possible career? Katherine Broadwater: OK, it's nice to be here. I grew up in Baltimore, actually. I lived on Pelham Ave. Katherine Broadwater: And when I was about five years old, my parents moved into the Towson area. Katherine Broadwater: And I, we were waiting for Hampton Elementary to be built, and I ended up going one year or part of the year, I can't remember, to Lutherville.

Katherine Broadwater: And then Hampton opened and I started out in a brand new school with Doctor Merriman at Hampton Elementary School. Katherine Broadwater: And loved that school. Have a lot of fond memories. Katherine Broadwater: And then I went to Towsontown Junior High School, Katherine Broadwater: which is now Carver school for the arts. And that was an interesting experience. Can't say that I loved Junior high school, sorry to say.

Karen Blair: I think that's true of a lot of early adolescents. Katherine Broadwater: But I did have some very good teachers there. And then I went to Towson High School. Katherine Broadwater: Had my beginnings of wanting to be a teacher and especially an art teacher, at Towson High. Katherine Broadwater: My teacher was James Drake Iams, and Dr. Iams, or I don't think he was a doctor actually, but Mr. Iams was, had a huge influence in my life.

Katherine Broadwater: He was the first person to say that he thought that I would make a good art teacher because I was always walking around the room helping other students, and he mentioned that to me, and I think that really had a lot to do with why I decided to become an art teacher. Katherine Broadwater: It's amazing, the power of encouragement. And the other thing is that I was mentioning to you earlier that in my high school yearbook in 11th grade, you had to write down the different clubs you were in and different things, and what your hopes were for the future. Katherine Broadwater: And so in 11th grade I wrote that I planned a career in art teaching, so I just think that's significant. Karen Blair: It is absolutely.

Karen Blair: So you're getting towards the end of your high school career, and what are you thinking in terms of after high school? Katherine Broadwater: Well, it's funny because Towson University was in my neighborhood, I did not want to go in my neighborhood if I had other options, Katherine Broadwater: and I ended up going to Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, and mainly because I had, for years and years I had worked at a camp in White Hall, Maryland, which was part of Lutheran Social services. Katherine Broadwater: And it was a camp for underserved children. And I worked there almost throughout my whole high school, time in high school, in the summers,

Katherine Broadwater: and most of the teachers, I mean, most of the counselors, excuse me, that were there, were recruited from Capital University. So I was introduced to some of the nicest people I ever met and ended up being an art education major at Capital, it’s a small major there, Katherine Broadwater: and having a wonderful, wonderful group of professors and also taking classes at Ohio State, which, they had a reciprocal program. So any courses that Capital didn't have, we could take a bus and go over to Ohio State and take the courses there, which we did quite a bit. I took quite a few art history courses over at Ohio State. Katherine Broadwater: That was a really wonderful time for me. However, it was also during the Vietnam War and the Kent State… Katherine Broadwater: I went to Kent State to visit and go for a march there after the students had been killed there, and I was very politically active, as most of my friends were in the early 70s, late 60s, early 70s.

Katherine Broadwater: So I think that was a very unique time in history, now that I look back. Katherine Broadwater: And I think that we were passionate about being a part of things, understanding things. Katherine Broadwater: I've noticed trends through the years since then as I've been a teacher, but I've never seen a group or a movement like that movement, Katherine Broadwater: the peace movement that occurred during the late 60s, early 70s.

Karen Blair: So, and when you were at Capital, you were an art education major. Katherine Broadwater: Yes, and I was very involved in all aspects of the university. I was a member of the swim team for four years. I was on gymnastics. I was always interested in athletics as well. Katherine Broadwater: And I was also interested in theater, so I did a lot of the theatrical design work for the theater department, and did almost every single cover design for every play throughout the four years that I was at Capital. Katherine Broadwater: So did a lot.

Karen Blair: That's a lot of playbills. Katherine Broadwater: I have a lot of cover designs, yeah. Karen Blair: In terms of art education and doing your preparation to become a teacher, how often were you in schools? Was that only during your teaching, your student teaching experience? Or were you there more often than that? Katherine Broadwater: Yeah, it's sad to say that back at that time we had, I think it was eight weeks in the elementary student teaching and eight weeks in a high school or secondary student teaching.

Katherine Broadwater: Other than that, very little. We mostly used each other. We teach lessons to the other people in the class, which, I think that's not a very good practice, Katherine Broadwater: and that's not the way that we do it at Towson. But at that time, that's what we did. Karen Blair: So you really were not familiar with interacting with students? Katherine Broadwater: No, but fortunately because of all my summers working at camps, which I also did arts and crafts at camp,

Katherine Broadwater: I had a lot of experience working with children. Katherine Broadwater: And it's funny to me. One of the things I like to joke around with my students about Katherine Broadwater: is when they get their placements, they'll get placements in elementary schools and also secondary schools. And they they're so worried about getting there on time and finding their way and getting lost and all these different things, Katherine Broadwater: and I just think it's funny because when I was student teaching, I was in a different state, so I didn't even know anything about the roads,

Katherine Broadwater: and there were there were no cell phones. There was, you know, no computer to give you the directions, no navigation systems. And I can remember many times pulling over the side of the road and trying to find a phone booth, Katherine Broadwater: which people don't even know what those are, but trying to find a phone booth to tell to call the school to say, you know, I had a flat tire or I'm lost, Katherine Broadwater: and I just think it's interesting how much has changed because of technology. So that's sort of a sidebar, but I just had to say that. Karen Blair: Yeah, no, I think it's important though, and it talks about the experience then and the experience now. And it's an interesting point of contrast. So you do some course works, maybe some basic education courses.

Karen Blair: And would you have students other than art education students in those classes? Katherine Broadwater: No, we had enough people that we were had a strictly art education program. Karen Blair: I see. OK. Katherine Broadwater: But I think Towson's program is so much stronger, but we had to cover all of the studio courses and all of the art history courses and then also all the general education courses as well. So it was a packed full degree.

Karen Blair: Which I think is probably still true today. Seems to be that way for educators. Katherine Broadwater: Well, here at Towson, our art education degree is the only five year degree on campus. Katherine Broadwater: And it's really because we have so many demands from the state, but also if the students going to be certified K through 12, there's so many different art forms within visual art that it’s very… Katherine Broadwater: You can't leave anything out.

Karen Blair: No, not at all. What do you recall about your student teaching experiences when you were going through? Katherine Broadwater: Making a lot of mistakes. Katherine Broadwater: You know, like having the things in the kiln blow up and things like that. Yeah, I remember. Katherine Broadwater: But I also remember really, really knowing that I had picked the right area to be in, and the right career,

Katherine Broadwater: and I always felt very happy because I'm so passionate about the importance of the arts for children, and how essential it is to a complete education. Katherine Broadwater: And so I think that because I have had such a passion for my area and such strong views on why it's important for all children to have art education, Katherine Broadwater: that it helps me to continue on all these years and sort of never lose sight of the goal of bringing as much art to children as possible. And I'm also involved in arts integration, both of those areas. Katherine Broadwater: You know I'm not… I think dance theater and music and poetry are all extremely important for children to experience.

Karen Blair: When you student taught, did you leave that experience with a sense of what age group you would prefer to work with? Katherine Broadwater: You know I have worked with all age groups now and I and I honestly can say that each one is so unique and special that I really can't say that I have a favorite. But, so I was pretty much just waiting to see where the openings were. And I had an offer in Columbus but decided to come back to Baltimore. Katherine Broadwater: And was offered a position with Baltimore County and then also offered a position with Baltimore City, Katherine Broadwater: and took the one in the county only because at the time my father had a big influence on me and told me that he would prefer that I'd be in the county, so I did what he wanted me to do.

Karen Blair: So tell us about that first experience when you got back to Baltimore, and this is your first experience as an art teacher. Katherine Broadwater: Well, John Crawson was our supervisor, and Jim Laubenheimer, and it turns out that when I was hired, they were both out of town on vacation. Karen Blair: Oh no. Katherine Broadwater: And so I was hired by… And I can't remember the gentlemen's name now, even though I have it on a contract at home.

Katherine Broadwater: He was very impressed with my portfolio and said well, I'm just, I'm just going to hire you, and my first school was 7th District Elementary School, way up at the Maryland Pennsylvania line. Katherine Broadwater: And it was interesting because the very first day of school I had gone in a couple of weeks beforehand to set up my room. But the very first day of school, I walked into the room and John Crawson was sitting on my desk. Katherine Broadwater: And he wanted to find out who this person was they hired when they were away. But we became very good friends and loved working together for many years. So I was in Baltimore County for about seven and a half years. Karen Blair: Uh huh. And did you stay at the same school?

Katherine Broadwater: I was there and I was also at Hernwood Elementary for a while in Randallstown. Katherine Broadwater: But that was like, when they split, I had a split assignment for a couple of years. Karen Blair: Well and that's, yeah. So I was going to say, and that's what if you're in a specialty area, that often happens, is that, you know, and that's difficult. Katherine Broadwater: It is.

Karen Blair: To be working in two schools at the same time. Katherine Broadwater: I was very happy when the enrollment went up enough at 7th district again for me to be back there full time. Karen Blair: Now, did you do anything administrative while you were in public ed K12? Katherine Broadwater: Well, I did. A number of people had suggested that I think about going into administration,

Katherine Broadwater: and so I decided that I- Well, first of all, the first thing that I did was get my master’s almost immediately. The very first year of teaching, I started my master’s at Towson. Karen Blair: Wow. And that's really hard. New teacher starting master’s degree. Katherine Broadwater: But I really wanted to do it and I also really hadn't taken photography when I was an undergrad, and the school that I was in, 7th District, had a dark room and all the material for photography and they wanted a photo program. Katherine Broadwater: And it was an open space school, but the art room was enclosed, fortunately, and so was the photography studio area.

Katherine Broadwater: And so I quickly signed up for a photo class with Haig Janian, who is still here at Towson, one of my colleagues. And that was my first course towards my masters, Katherine Broadwater: and I think that's the reason I started so fast, was because I needed to learn how to use that darkroom. Karen Blair: Right. Karen Blair: So that is interesting. So that master's degree was in…

Katherine Broadwater: Art education here at Towson, and we have a fantastic art department, we have for all these years. Katherine Broadwater: And I learned so much from the professors here, and it really helped, I really think professional development is so key to all teachers, Katherine Broadwater: And even once the requirement is over, I always feel that people should continue taking classes and growing and learning. Karen Blair: Well, yeah, because new stuff happens.

Katherine Broadwater: Yeah, definitely. Karen Blair: It just does. Karen Blair: You were going to tell us a little bit about your move. Katherine Broadwater: Yes. Oh well, a minute. So I was thinking about going into after I finished my master’s,

Katherine Broadwater: which I believe was in 77, I decided that I would go into the administrative track, Katherine Broadwater: and I took the phases that they had in Baltimore County, and it was for administration and supervision. I took phase one and did very well. And then I took phase two and I did well again, and then they invited me to take phase three. Katherine Broadwater: But at that point, I really knew in my heart that I wanted to stay in the classroom, and that teaching was my passion. Katherine Broadwater: So I- It's funny because now I do a lot of administrative work, and even to this day, it's not my favorite. I can do it, but I prefer to teach, and I prefer to work with students. That's where I get excited.

Karen Blair: That's an interesting… And that program is still in place. The phases, do you know? Katherine Broadwater: I don't know. I know there's something in place, but I don't know if it's still that. Karen Blair: And by phase was that like, sort of like coursework or training or… Katherine Broadwater: Yes. And actually you could choose to get it for credit or not. And I did it through the University of Maryland, College Park was who they had that link to.

Karen Blair: Sure. Well, Towson didn't have anything, I think, at that point in time to offer Baltimore County. Katherine Broadwater: Right. Karen Blair: So you sort of explored that but you decided that wasn't exactly where you wanted to be? Katherine Broadwater: Well, and the other thing that happened was that as I was finishing up, Jim Flood, who was then chair of the art department…

Katherine Broadwater: I was finishing my Masters and I can't remember exactly the timing… Katherine Broadwater: invited me to teach at Towson, so it was in 1980 that I did my first, I guess you would call it adjunct position teaching Art and the Child. Katherine Broadwater: And I did that for a number of years, and it worked out very well for me because I was getting ready to start a family. Katherine Broadwater: And so I stopped teaching in Baltimore County and was a stay at home mother most of the time, but a couple days a week I taught at Towson.

Karen Blair: Uh-huh. Nice. So you kept your hand in it anyway, but after a certain amount of time, that becomes more of a full time job. Now, did you go back to Baltimore County after you had your children? Katherine Broadwater: No. Katherine Broadwater: Towson was offering me more and more courses and, I have to laugh. I've saved every contract, and when I look at how much I was paid, it's just really shocking. It's almost like you were working for free, but I loved it so much, Katherine Broadwater: and so I was teaching, some semesters teaching five classes, teaching two sections of Art and the Child and three sections of Art for Early Childhood, because Art for Early Childhood at the time only had two credits associated with it.

Katherine Broadwater: So I was teaching 12 credits for a long time before I was ever made into a lecturer. Karen Blair: So somebody offered you, said you're doing all this full time and this would be it would be more appropriate if you did this as a lecturer and had a full time… Katherine Broadwater: Yeah, it was a little bit competitive to get the lecturership there. Katherine Broadwater: A lot of different people in the department had people in their areas that they wanted to get the lecturership. So I was very fortunate, I thought.

Karen Blair: Well, it sounds like you had some folks that really wanted you to be here, and probably campaigned on your behalf. Katherine Broadwater: Yeah. Katherine Broadwater: You know, it's funny though, at that time, a lecturer didn't get any benefits. Karen Blair: Right.

Katherine Broadwater: And so I was a lecturer for many years with no benefits, and so I'm happy, though, for the lecturers now who are getting better pay, much better pay actually, and benefits. Karen Blair: Well, I think it's probably a little more appropriate than how that lecturer position started out. Katherine Broadwater: Yeah. And then they made me a senior lecturer and then all these different things, visiting professor. And, you know, visiting assistant professor, different… Because I feel like I've held almost every position you could hold at Towson. Katherine Broadwater: Until finally I got a tenure track position.

Karen Blair: Uh-huh. Now, at some point, Doctor Broadwater, you started to pursue a PhD. Karen Blair: And what spurred that action? Katherine Broadwater: Yeah, well, I have four sons, and the last two are twins. And, see, I wanted a daughter, and I got two more sons. But I'm crazy about them. But anyway, so I was really very busy. Katherine Broadwater: And also teaching at Towson a couple of days a week.

Katherine Broadwater: And I was very fortunate because I my parents helped me to watch the children one day a week and then my husband was off one day during the week. So we were very fortunate that way. Katherine Broadwater: But, so what happened was when my twins got to middle school, they went to Sudbrook Magnet middle school. Very good school. Katherine Broadwater: At the time, anyway, and I'm I assume it's still good. I decided that I didn't want to just be a lecturer. Katherine Broadwater: That I did want to… I was doing an awful lot for the art department, and I wanted to become a tenure track employee,

Katherine Broadwater: and I was encouraged, and many of the people in the art department letters helping me get into a doctoral program. Katherine Broadwater: So I felt like, to be honest, it kind of sounds strange, but I think that's the most remarkable thing I've ever done, was to go back and get my doctorate, Katherine Broadwater: because it was tremendous amount of work, a tremendous challenge. Katherine Broadwater: And I was juggling so many things at once, but I was determined,

Katherine Broadwater: and it's amazing what you can do when you are have drive and determination, yeah. Karen Blair: And you did that at? Katherine Broadwater: I did that at- Actually, our current president was our Dean, Maravene Loeschke, and she had told me about Union Institute and University, and she had told me it's in Cincinnati, Ohio, and that it was a possibility to do a lot of it distance learning. Karen Blair: Right.

Katherine Broadwater: Take courses here that would transfer into the program there. So I applied, I was accepted, and you had to do a certain amount of residency there. Katherine Broadwater: And I it just worked out. Karen Blair: And I was going to say, how did you manage that? Katherine Broadwater: I just did it. Bird by bird, you know, bit by bit. I didn't try to… I did, that's one of the things that I think my personal philosophy is, do the next first thing.

Katherine Broadwater: Don't try to figure out all the things that you… If you start dwelling on everything at once, you'll be overwhelmed and not be able to be productive, Katherine Broadwater: so I've sort of learned to compartmentalize and to do the next first thing that I need to do, and then move to the next thing, and it's worked out. And I tell my student teachers that now too not to look at the whole semester, but look at this, today. Karen Blair: And it worked for you absolutely. Katherine Broadwater: What is it that we need to get done today?

Katherine Broadwater: And what can we do to prepare for tomorrow? Katherine Broadwater: But don't try to think about, well, what about, you know, six weeks from now? Katherine Broadwater: Because you'll just be too overwhelmed. Karen Blair: Mm-hm.

Karen Blair: Now, you have been here for, and I was trying to do the math, I think it was something like 17 years. Katherine Broadwater: Since I was full time. Karen Blair: Yeah. Full time. And how has what you are doing changed over time? Katherine Broadwater: Well, it's changed a lot, we're, you know We're doing much more in the area of assessment.

Katherine Broadwater: And it's really, not that I enjoy counting up numbers and figuring out where we stand in that way, Katherine Broadwater: But it's something that's required and necessary. Katherine Broadwater: And so I do see value in it. It's not like I do not think it's valuable, but I sometimes wonder if we're doing too much of it, because it's very difficult to quantify a qualitative area. Katherine Broadwater: It's very difficult to put a number on, for example, a teacher exemplar, something that they've created. So I find it a little bit difficult in some ways, but that's one area, and the other areas are that we are much more heavily into planning,

Katherine Broadwater: we do backwards design planning, and we always start out with the big idea and the essential questions and the enduring understandings. Katherine Broadwater: And we have our students think deeply about what they're doing. There's seems to be a real discussion going on now in art education Katherine Broadwater: between the more formalist or traditional approach and the more conceptual approach, and there's… It's almost like there's two camps and people I know who are writing the standards right now, the new standards, that's the battle that's going on. Karen Blair: I see.

Katherine Broadwater: And we have that in our department, and I think the greatest thing about the art department at Towson Katherine Broadwater: is we have, at least our education program is a very holistic view and we try to incorporate all the different aspects and give our students a sampling of everything, Katherine Broadwater: and let them sort of land where they feel most comfortable. Katherine Broadwater: I really tell my students all the time that they're the best teacher they can be. Like, you're not supposed to be like someone else.

Katherine Broadwater: You need to work out of your strengths. So whatever your strengths are, that's what we want to encourage. Katherine Broadwater: So that's why I kind of like to give the students a broad array of views, and then they can see where they fit in best. Karen Blair: Right. Where they're comfortable theoretically. Now one of the things you mentioned earlier that in your own student teaching, that's really sort of when you went into schools, was when you were really sort of beginning to be responsible for the classroom and the teaching. How has that changed? Karen Blair: How is Towson’s art education program different from what you encountered?

Katherine Broadwater: Oh. One of the things about our program is we're very community based. And we have… Katherine Broadwater: Many years ago, even before I was a lecturer, I was fortunate enough to form a partnership with New Song Academy in Baltimore City, which is a partnership that's still going very strong to this day, and it's exciting to me because Katherine Broadwater: the elementary ed program is still in partnership with them through art education. And now art education is as well. So we have a- Katherine Broadwater: Both the College of Ed and the College of Fine Arts and Communication are part of that partnership. Yeah. And in fact, I'm doing an interview for them in a few weeks. They're trying to raise funds for their program.

Katherine Broadwater: So we go- The very first- The art education, the final three semesters of art education are all out in the community, Katherine Broadwater: so that it's not just the last semester, it's three semesters. Karen Blair: Right. Katherine Broadwater: And the first semester, we do a number of visits to different schools, and we also have children who are bussed here to Towson, and that's the program that I started called University Students and Center City Youth Connecting Through Art. And we have several schools that now are bussed to Towson, where our students then teach a very well planned and vetted art lesson,

Katherine Broadwater: and then the students, you know, go back to their home school. Most of these schools don't have an art program that we've chosen to work with. So the school provides the buses, Towson provides the art materials, the place, the teaching, and it's a true partnership. Katherine Broadwater: Everyone, it's a win-win, and we've been very, very fortunate that it's… I can't talk enough about that partnership with New Song, it’s been just the hugest blessing to me. Katherine Broadwater: And the other thing, the other goal in doing that partnership was we wanted to demystify the college experience for the Center City Youth by coming here. And they're sitting next to college students because sometimes they're serving as teachers, but sometimes they're just serving as peers in the same art activity. Katherine Broadwater: And it's really fun to see the students realize that maybe theirs is even better than some of the college students, or they can hold their own, and they're very excited. And we've had quite a good number of them either come to Towson or go to other schools.

Katherine Broadwater: So a lot of… I feel that we've made an impact for those kids and wanting to go to college. Karen Blair: So the students, the university students are serving as teachers in that capacity, but sometimes as additional students. Katherine Broadwater: Yes, but not all. Katherine Broadwater: They're serving as additional students in the group.

Karen Blair: So that's one of the ways in which they're participating in schools, even though they're actually not in the school. Katherine Broadwater: Right. Katherine Broadwater: But we also go there, and right now we have a new partnership with ACCE Academy. It's a high school. Katherine Broadwater: And that's been working out very well, but they've also been coming here because it's a high school and they have like a college or career day, every Thursday. So they've been coming to us on Thursdays when they come.

Karen Blair: So at what point do art educators, well, pre-service art educators, start actually teaching in the school, is that… Katherine Broadwater: Well, then the following year, then they… Granted, they teach several lessons, we call them workshops. Katherine Broadwater: They do workshops in that very first semester. Katherine Broadwater: And they're actually teaching.

Katherine Broadwater: The next semester they have two field experiences, and those are each seven, six weeks long. But I count seven because they go to visit the school first and just observe and then they teach six lessons and so they create a unit and they teach in a small group of either two or three students. Katherine Broadwater: Yeah, we just saw those presentations today and they were really exciting. And they do, so they do one elementary experience and one secondary, and this year all of our placements were in Baltimore City. Katherine Broadwater: In the past, we've had some in Baltimore County, but now we've found enough City Schools that we are able to partner with, and I think it's good because a lot of times our students might not student teach in the city even, though we do have a number who do. But I like the idea of them having an experience with urban kids. Katherine Broadwater: So it's been very, very good for everybody, I think.

Karen Blair: So that's in their second semester. They put together these units. Katherine Broadwater: They plan units, and the first unit is heavily art, visual art based, Katherine Broadwater: but the second unit, the secondary unit is integrated, arts integration, so they have to integrate it with whatever class they're in. So, like, one group had the challenge of being in an algebra classroom, another group was in a Spanish classroom, and so then they have to… Katherine Broadwater: Another group was in English language arts, so whatever classroom they're assigned to, because remember, the school doesn't have an art teacher, so they're not assigned to the art room. They're assigned to a classroom, and they have to meet with the classroom teacher, or the subject area teacher,

Katherine Broadwater: find out what they're learning, and what their goals are, and then try to match that up with an art lesson. Katherine Broadwater: And the lessons are fantastic. Karen Blair: Now is it… Do no Baltimore City schools have art teachers? Katherine Broadwater: No, many do, but there's many that do not.

Katherine Broadwater: I see. Katherine Broadwater: So it's a mixed bag. Yeah. So we sort of look for those that Would be good partners Katherine Broadwater: and that would be excited about having us come there, and they usually are. Before this year, we often for years and years we used parochial schools because they had a more flexible schedule and they could accommodate our schedule better. But there were reasons that that we felt that the urban public school was better for our students. Karen Blair: I see.

Katherine Broadwater: So we switched over 100% now to that. Karen Blair: But when it comes to that student teaching semester, that extended internship semester, most of those placements are in Baltimore County? No? Katherine Broadwater: No, we're everywhere. Katherine Broadwater: We are… Well, for example I have 35 student teachers going out this spring. I have to get 35 elementary placements and 35 secondary placements and we are in Montgomery County. We're in Howard County. We're in Prince George’s County.

Katherine Broadwater: Ann Arundel County, Carroll County, Frederick County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Harford County, Cecil County. We have partnerships with all of these counties. Katherine Broadwater: And it's a very warm relationship with Towson, and probably one of the other things that I'm most excited about is our placement rate. Katherine Broadwater: We've had over 90%, since I've been the coordinator, of our students that have been hired in positions. Katherine Broadwater: Since I've been working there. I don't know what the ratio was before that, but it's been really exciting to see so many people place. Some years we've had like 99% or almost close to 100.

Katherine Broadwater: So, and when they call you on the phone, they tell you that they were hired, and I get goosebumps up and down my arm. I'm so happy. Karen Blair: So you have alums everywhere. Katherine Broadwater: Everywhere. We have a tremendous number of alums in art education. Karen Blair: Now does this mean in most schools if there's an art teacher, it's one art teacher? And does that mean that you’d place only one student in that school?

Katherine Broadwater: Yes, that's why we're not part of the PDS. But we do, we are in some of the PDS schools, Katherine Broadwater: but because there's so many, there's only one art teacher in the elementary school. Katherine Broadwater: We have to go everywhere. Katherine Broadwater: And in the high schools, some middle schools have three, two or three,

Katherine Broadwater: and some high schools have three or four art teachers, so that's nice. Sometimes we can get two art teachers at the same secondary place. Karen Blair: Right. That is good. Karen Blair: What haven’t we talked about in regard to the program that you want to share with us? Katherine Broadwater: I guess that… I had mentioned our holistic philosophy, and our philosophy of being a part of the Community.

Katherine Broadwater: And I think that it's just really important that… We try to cover so much that we often run out of time Katherine Broadwater: with all the things that we want to go through in the program between the lesson planning, the unit planning, understanding aesthetics, understanding art criticism, how to talk about art with your students, Katherine Broadwater: understanding arts integration, having a real understanding, a deep understanding of it, not just some sort of surface understanding. Katherine Broadwater: And understanding the child and the stages of artistic development, and what to expect from children at certain stages. Not that we categorize children, but it's a good idea to have an idea of what, generally, you can expect from a certain age group. There's just so much to cover. It's kind of shocking.

Katherine Broadwater: People, sometimes people don't understand how much content there is in our field, just the whole aspect of art history and connecting art history to art education is tremendous. Katherine Broadwater: And then you know that we also had to prepare our students for the praxis exam. Karen Blair: And is there a content exam in art? Katherine Broadwater: Yes, and there used to be two, and now they've combined them and I believe the number 0.0135

Katherine Broadwater: And it covers all different studio aspects, all different art history aspects, materials management, safety. Katherine Broadwater: It covers art criticism, understanding, talking about art and aesthetics, understanding, you know, Katherine Broadwater: being able to talk about a work of art and why it's valuable, and who it would be valued by. Katherine Broadwater: Understanding the context in which a work of art is created, and there's just understanding visual culture, pop culture. I could go on and on, the periods of art. All of this is part of the exam and part of our program.

Katherine Broadwater: And you know, we have like a 99% pass rate, so. Karen Blair: Great. That was going to be my next question. Katherine Broadwater: We're doing pretty well there. Karen Blair: Doing very well there. Well, that's exciting. I mean, that's really a testimonial to the program.

Katherine Broadwater: And we, yes, and the whole faculty works together. It's not me. Katherine Broadwater: It I give credit many times to our entire art faculty, Katherine Broadwater: the studio people will do so much to prepare our art educators, the art history people do so much, they're fantastic, to prepare our art educators, Katherine Broadwater: and then the art education faculty just kind of do the finishing touches.

Karen Blair: Now you were very actively involved in, well, we know, in schools beyond the campus, but also in your professional organizations. And it's my understanding that you won a number of awards from those learned groups. Would you like to talk a little bit about that? Katherine Broadwater: Well, I'm the higher education person on the on the board of the Maryland Art Education Association. Katherine Broadwater: And I've had that position for quite a while now. And then, I don't even know how long actually. And I'm also very involved in the National Art Education Association. And I really encourage our students to be involved. Katherine Broadwater: In fact our student chapter, we have a National Art Education Association student chapter. We've had that for about 7 years, and in 2010 we won the National Student Chapter of the Year. And that's quite competitive. So that was a big thrill for our program.

Karen Blair: Very nice. Katherine Broadwater: And I guess I think it was in 2008, I was the recipient of the Ziegfeld Award, Katherine Broadwater: which was given through the United States Society of Education through Art, and it's a very interesting group. That's sort of under the heading of the NEA and. Katherine Broadwater: And I think that had a lot to do with my program with New Song Academy, because they're, someone who's contributed to art education in a unique way and also in a way that has reached out to others in the community.

Katherine Broadwater: And then also I have been involved in an orphanage in Liberia, Africa, which Towson actually sent me there two years ago, maybe it's three years now, to do professional development with 21 teachers there in the area of arts integration, and that was a really exciting experience, Katherine Broadwater: and I was able to do that and I'm looking forward to going back again as soon as soon as I have a little bit of time. But it was really exciting. I actually got a phone call the other day from the art teacher at this particular school that I was visiting, New Hope. Katherine Broadwater: And he said, when are you coming back? Katherine Broadwater: He said, we've used all of your ideas now, we need some new ideas. So I thought that was really neat. So I'd like to go there and do some more professional development with those people.

Karen Blair: Wow. That's a little bit far away. Like over the ocean. So that's wonderful. Katherine Broadwater: Yeah. Very exciting though. And there's- The poverty there is so tremendous, Katherine Broadwater: so tremendous, that, you know, it opened my eyes to a level of poverty that I had not even known existed. Katherine Broadwater: And the fact that the children just value a pencil or one piece of hard candy and they were absolutely thrilled.

Katherine Broadwater: No electricity. Everything is with generators. The country’s in in terrible disarray because of the 14 years of civil war that they had. And they're slowly rebuilding. Katherine Broadwater: But it's really humbling, and it's exciting to see that they actually, at this school it's… So it actually makes me laugh, because here's this school that's in immense poverty, and yet they hired an art teacher. This is before I even got there. Katherine Broadwater: And yet we have schools right here in the states that do not have art teachers. Katherine Broadwater: So I found that to be really interesting about what people value.

Karen Blair: Exactly. Well, somebody probably was instrumental in convincing them about that. The value of art. So sounds like maybe you influenced that to some degree. Katherine Broadwater: Maybe encouraged it a little. Karen Blair: Yeah, yeah. Karen Blair: OK. We have one last question we ask everybody, and that is to ask you

Karen Blair: what kind of advice, what wisdom would you share with students who, or individuals, who are considering a career as a teacher. Could be certainly an art teacher, but just in a general sense too. Karen Blair: What kinds of thoughts would you share with them? Katherine Broadwater: Well, I have a lot of thoughts, but probably the most important thing, in my opinion, if you're preparing to be a teacher, is that you be, Katherine Broadwater: and I said this a little earlier, but work out of your own strengths. Look at who you are. What is it that you value? And be intentional about sharing those things with your students. If you're excited about what you're teaching, the children are going to be excited about it.

Katherine Broadwater: I always say that planning, you have to be committed, you know, Katherine Broadwater: when we think about the dispositions of caring, commitment, and collaboration. Those three things are really, really good guideposts for anyone going into education. If you don't really care about children, well, then you really don't belong in education. Katherine Broadwater: You need to deeply care about children and about their futures and about our future, you know, both nationally, globally. You need to look at the big picture. Katherine Broadwater: And then commitment, and commitment means, you know, you don't run out the door just because the time is up if there's still something that needs to be done. Commitment is getting there early and staying late if need be.

Katherine Broadwater: It's seriously considering how important you are as an educator, how many lives you influence. Katherine Broadwater: It's like a ripple effect. It goes out and out and out and out every time you have a strong impact on a child. So I think that that's another area, the commitment piece. Katherine Broadwater: And then being able to collaborate with your colleagues, with the community. And so, I mean, I know I didn't make up those 3 dispositions. I actually think that people here at Towson did though. But I think they're really good guideposts for all of us. Katherine Broadwater: No matter what field you're in.

Katherine Broadwater: And then I do think it's important to, as much as possible, Katherine Broadwater: and I'm probably the worst person to be able to be saying this, is to try to balance your life and not be a workaholic. Katherine Broadwater: Take a little bit of time because, if you are burned out, you're going to that will affect your students. Katherine Broadwater: So it's important to take care of yourself.

Katherine Broadwater: And also like I said earlier, that whole professional development piece is so important. Katherine Broadwater: Just reading the current literature, keeping up to date with current trends. Understanding, like right now with the Common Core, with the STEAM and the STEM and all of these things, it's so important for all of us to stay on top of what's happening, even though sometimes it's only a nuance of change Katherine Broadwater: to what you were doing before, we can all learn and grow, and that's another thing, don't beat yourself up if you have a bad lesson, or even if you have a bad week. Katherine Broadwater: You know, OK, sometimes things don't work out the way they're supposed to, so brush yourself off and give it the good college try again. So I really believe that that it's really important to allow yourself to make mistakes. You know, one thing in art education that's really key too that I didn't say earlier is,

Katherine Broadwater: and I think probably the scholar Elliot Eisner from Stanford University expressed this better than anyone else, Katherine Broadwater: but he has a list of 10 things that the arts can do that nothing else can do, but one of the things is that there's just not one correct answer, that there's many correct answers to an art problem. Katherine Broadwater: And that's another reason why it's hard to quantify. But anyway, there's many correct answers, and that we're looking for that person that's going to come up with the new answer. Katherine Broadwater: We're looking for that creativity and we're not… Look, we don't know sometimes what we're looking for, until the answer comes to us. And so I think that it's very important not to limit children,

Katherine Broadwater: and to allow them to be all that they can be. And one of the things we really promote in our program is the idea of giving art problems that don't have only one right answer. We don't want things to be identical, carbon copies of each other. Katherine Broadwater: We want the child to be able to take the problem at hand and then, through creative problem solving, come up with a good solution, or a solution that they like. So that's really important. Karen Blair: And this has been a good career choice for you, art teacher? Katherine Broadwater: Very much so.

Katherine Broadwater: You know, being at the university level has a lot of ups and downs. It's been- It's not been all easy to teach at the university level. Katherine Broadwater: I've, you know, had some really rough experiences, things have taken a toll on me in some ways, but I'm so passionate about what I do and the students that I work with, and our students are amazing, that I have, I keep my focus there, Katherine Broadwater: and try not to worry about the politics so much. Katherine Broadwater: Yeah, there was one other thing I wanted to mention about our students, and that is that because our program was growing so large,

Katherine Broadwater: we started screening the last few years, and that's been a really interesting experience, Katherine Broadwater: because the caliber of our students is just getting better and better. Because of the screening, we are able to select students who have a very, very strong portfolio. Katherine Broadwater: And so our art teachers that we are graduating from Towson are truly artists. Artist teachers. Katherine Broadwater: And they're not just someone that couldn't make it as an artist and then decided, well, I guess I'll teach. There's no one like that in our program. Every single one of the students could make it as an artist, if that's the path they chose. But they decided that they wanted to teach their craft.

Katherine Broadwater: And so I think that's exciting too. Karen Blair: It is. Karen Blair: Well, thank you so much for sharing some time with us. Katherine Broadwater: Oh, I enjoyed it. Didn't think I would enjoy it, but I did.

Karen Blair: Wonderful. Katherine Broadwater: Thank you, Karen.