PicturePC. (2013). Splitting apart. Paper, oil pastel and pencil.
As pessimistically inclined and disheartened as this might sound at first, my biggest fear as I take my first steps into my student teaching semester is the potential reality that I might get to the end of this experience with the awareness that I no longer want to pursue a career in Art Education. I have spent the last four years dedicating myself to an academic major that I previously thought I chose because of my love for the arts and for students, but now, I look back and doubt if my choice was the right one." (PC, email communication, 1/24/14)
Picture
Isolated Journey by DB, 11/11/2013. Monoprint on canvas with embroidery.
…as I follow the path I feel unsure where it leads…There are clearly directions that I am to move, this I know, but it is not always clear to me in which direction I am to go.  How do I determine which of the competing paths to take on this journey?  
 
Should I stand still and let it be?  …I find myself repeatedly reminding myself that I just have to "show up" each day--in this place, space and time.  And I do - yet, all the while I want to pack my bags and run, as fast and as quickly as I can back to the safety of graduate school, my mentor, my friends, and my comfortable life. (PI, reflective journal entry 10/08/13).
The preservice art education classrooms also serves metaphorically as the crossroads at which prospective teachers begin to make key decision about their future lives.  These decisions are influenced both by the beliefs and image of teaching and art held by these prospective teachers and by their current assessments of their university or college subject matter and teacher education coursework (Doyle, 1990) cited in Galbraith, 1995, p. 9).  

Galbraith, L. (1995).  The preservice art education classroom:  A look through the window in L. Galbraith (Ed.) Preservice Art Education:  Issues and Practice.  Tucson, AZ:  The University of Arizona.