By Marcos Perales | Staff Writer |
Art teacher Alejandro Rosas is now on his eighth year of teaching here at Roosevelt. In previous years, his walls in his classroom were filled with numbers, math formulas, and some of the work that his students have done. He had his plans for two weeks at a time on a neat white board for his students to reference. His teaching style made math a little easier. More specifically, he made geometry look less intimidating. Now his classroom looks completely different. It underwent a creative change.
In all the years that Rosas has been teaching, the only subject he has ever taught was geometry. That has finally changed this school year as he is now teaching an art class.
Many students were surprised to find out that Rosas has moved on from his geometry days and is now teaching art. Now that he is an art teacher, he is not going back to teaching geometry. Those days are officially over.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted. I have a degree i
n art. So I saw the opportunity and went for it,” Rosas said.
People would expect a math teacher to transition to something that goes hand in hand with math like science. But Rosas knows his way around the subject of art because prior to teaching, he had eight years of experience in graphic design, so the change is not out of the ordinary. But there is a different process of preparation involved. There are many mediums that are used in art. For example, using a pencil is different from using watercolor, so those two mediums need their own preparation process. But that doesn’t mean Rosas doesn’t feel nostalgic for his previous content.
“I love art but I haven’t been doing it long enough,” Rosas said. “I can’t say that I don’t miss geometry because I do.”
With eight years behind him, he says he has no desire to quit any time soon.
“I’ll probably teach until retirement. Another 20 years,” Rosas said.
Students also appreciate his method of teaching and just the way he is as an overall person. He is surely great at what he does.
“He is very caring. His pace is based on his students and went out of his way to make sure you understood the material,” junior Savannah Esparza said. “If you couldn’t make a tutoring date, then he would work something out with you.”
While becoming a teacher was not Rosas’ first career choice, he is surely glad to share his creativity and the knowledge that he gained about art over his eight years of experience with his students this year.
