ESK Voices: Philip Hoffman

Our culture of lifelong learning begins with our faculty. We hire teachers who are experts in their subject area and passionate about sharing their knowledge with students. We then commit to their professional development to assure they are always expanding their knowledge base in both their subject area and how to best engage students in the classroom. Students can feel the authenticity of their teachers’ interest in them and their subject. Our culture of trust, honesty, integrity, and close faculty/student relationships creates an atmosphere of safety and personal well-being where extraordinary learning takes place. In our ESK Voices series, you will get a unique look at the faculty that make ESK what it is.

Today, we continue with a teacher who has been instrumental in growing the Middle School art program, MS art teacher Philip Hoffman.

See below for more from Mr. Hoffman.

What is your favorite part of the school day and why? My favorite part of the school day is basically any classroom time. The kids are the reason that I’m here and having that interaction with students is what I enjoy the most, so I look forward to actually having the kids in class.

How do you incorporate your personal interests into your teaching methods or activities? It’s not so much my hobbies that I bring to the classroom, it’s more the way I approach art and my interest in pretty much every aspect of it. So, if I see something in the news or in a magazine that sparks my interest we might go in a particular direction in painting or in a particular direction in ceramics or sculpture or wearable artwork.

What aspect of teaching at ESK are you most passionate about? I’m most passionate about the fact that my classroom is a studio art space and the students are getting to make art. I don’t get into art history with them because I want it to be a studio class to give the kids another experience in thinking and developing and really developing themselves is what I want to see them do in art. So giving them that time and freedom to get through whatever it is they’re developing is really important to me as well. It’s not pushing from one project to another that I want to see them complete. If they need more time to get to that place where they understand themselves a little bit more through what they’re doing, than it’s really important to me to give them the time and freedom to do so.

When did you decide to become a teacher and why did you make that decision? I think I figured out that I was destined to be a teacher long after I had started down the road because I had done a teacher education program in my undergraduate, where I did studio art. It was maybe ten years later going through different jobs and experiences and being in a job where we had a new employee, who I couldn’t wait to mentor. I realized this about myself and I realized I needed to go back and get my teaching certificate and really give myself over to teaching, and that was the big turning point for me, that one moment.

What day during the school year do you look forward to the most and why? One of my favorite days of the year is the last day of school, and no not because it’s over, it’s because that last day of school lets everyone reflect on everything they’ve accomplished in the year. I think students and teachers get to reflect on student growth and as a teacher getting to think back to where that student started at the beginning of the year and how they’ve developed and changed and all the things they’ve accomplished throughout the year are the most exciting to me. There’s no homework and no projects left undone at that point and you can really just appreciate each other student to teacher and back and that’s one of my favorite times.

What is the most challenging part of being a teacher at ESK? The hardest part about teaching at ESK for me is how to use the relatively small space I do have. Most everything else about ESK is super supportive of art, whether it’s the kids’ enthusiasm or monetary support. Having a schedule that might go back to back from 6th grade to 7th grade to 8th grade, where they’re all doing very different projects, to be able to clean up and shift from clay to painting to electronic work in one small environment. That’s probably the biggest challenge.

Do you have a child/story which captures something you believe makes ESK special? I think one aspect of ESK that is special is the 8th grade portfolio project. The 8th graders spend a year pouring over a topic that they’re passionate about. I think the fact that ESK welcomes and can embrace the work that the students have done, enough to incorporate it into the life of the school, even after the student has left, is remarkable. I think we see that a lot throughout the Middle School.