Ms. Zahn is missing?!
Not fully though, because we can find pieces of her comforting, kind, and encouraging character in long-term substitute Ms. Abigail Ronk.
After spending some time last year in the middle school as a student-teacher with Mrs. Linn, Ms. Ronk is enjoying the freedoms (and the qualms) of having full control of a classroom.
Ms. Ronk enthusiastically replied, “Yeah!” when asked if she enjoys having reign over the art room.”
She expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to freely make mistakes, as opposed to occasionally feeling like she was “on camera” during her time as a student teacher. Ms. Ronk is glad to be able to “express her own tolerance levels and teach by her own rules.”
Ms. Ronk would like to remain at Beaver Area for the remainder of the school year and possibly into the next. After her sub term for Ms. Zahn (who is on maternity leave) ends, she shared that she plans to continue subbing with hopes to soon become a “teacher-teacher,” adding, “preferably an art teacher!”
Ms. Ronk enjoys drawing, knitting, reading, and writing. More recently though, she has been entertained by the voids that are our art room cabinets.
She wants readers to know that “I am really excited to be here. It is fun finding new media in everything, in education, in the setting of an art room, and—literally—in the [art room] closet.”
Just last week she discovered two professional digital drawing tablets as well as a brand new iPad tucked away in a dark corner just accumulating dust.
Ms. Ronk said, “I checked with Zahn, and she gave me free reign to try them out. I am having a great time setting them up and getting a chance to tinker with them in my downtime.”
Ms. Ronk also shared a recent project: the hand carved rubber stamp and the prints she produced with it (pictured below). She expressed that her students were practicing copying distance from a reference image to their works and she decided to practice with them—but with a material she hadn’t gotten the chance to work with since high school.
Ms. Ronk hopes to harness her time in the art room as a way to “become a better educator and to take every opportunity to learn alongside students.”
For the same reasons we all miss Ms. Zahn, Ms. Ronk is grateful to be subbing for her. While Ms. Ronk fully hopes to spend more time at Beaver Area in the future, let’s make sure to value her presence now.