Stephanie Baer is an Associate Professor of Art Education who began her career as a K-12 classroom teacher before earning her Ph.D. She received her BA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography, followed by an MA in Secondary Teaching, and Ph.D. in Educational Studies at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She has taught elementary, middle school, high school, and post-secondary (undergraduate and graduate). Subjects and courses Baer teaches includes art foundations, fine arts, teaching methods, and philosophy-based courses. Her research interests center on preservice teacher education, teacher confidence and identity, storytelling, and technology in teaching and learning.
This book invites preservice, practicing, and veteran teachers to live within those tenuous and exciting first years of teaching. The personal stories of six novice art teachers highlight the need for and inevitability of advocacy in the early years of their careers. This work is based on a longitudinal study that asked participants to create a weekly video diary, reflecting on their teaching experiences. While the study aimed to identify common issues for new art teachers and explore new ways for them to reflect on their experiences, the result was a narrative about the role of advocacy and the empowerment of new art teachers.
