Q + A: Art teacher Catherine Smutny
November 12, 2013
Art teacher Catherine Smutny believes that balance in life is essential. She loves to eat chocolate and spend us much time with her children as possible.
What do you love the most about your job?
“Since I teach visual arts, I like that students don’t have to learn through test taking. I learn what they know through the art that the make rather than reading essays. I like to see students create things.”
What is your philosophy on life and how did you develop it?
“My philosophy is balance. There should always be a balance between things. If you go to the extremes on one side or the other, it just throws everything off. I think if you find balance in life then you can be successful and happy.”
What super power would you like to have and why?
“I would like to have telekinesis. I would love to move things with my mind. It would make my job really easy because I teach in a really big room.”
Was teaching what you always wanted to do?
“Yes and no. When I was very young I always wanted to be a teacher, but when I went to high school I became interested in psychology. I studied psychology in college which eventually led to studying child development. I wanted to become a counselor for marriage and family but then I took a drawing class and teaching art just seemed like a good combination of all my studies.”
If you could teach any other subject what would it be?
“I would teach psychology. I’m qualified for it and took all the classes, but I’m not sure how much I would remember.”
What is your favorite day of the week and why?
“The weekend, because I get to be home with my kids since I’m gone all week working.”
What drives or motivates you?
“Having children definitely changes things because you start to think about them and how to make their lives better. I just want to create things and see the world in different ways and not box my way into thinking or doing everything one way.”
If you could have something for your classroom what would it be?
“I would want a better quality document camera. My current document camera doesn’t project color all that well and it would be really nice to have a better camera since my class is so large.”
What is the best thing about teaching at Tracy High?
“I think the administration is very supportive and easy to work with. Tracy has a very positive feel to it.”
Where did you teach before Tracy and how are the two places different?
“I taught in Sacramento. Sacramento was much closer to a big city where Tracy is very secluded. A lot of issues from the city trickled into our town.”
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
“I love chocolate and chai tea lattes.”
Favorite fast food restaurant and why?
“I like I-N-Out because their food seems a lot fresher.”
What is your favorite menu on the item?
“I like cheeseburgers and fries. No onions, I don’t like onions.”
How do you balance your work life and personal life?
“It’s hard to balance them because I live far away and even if I bring work home it won’t get done because I have too many demands at home, so I try to use all my time at school to get as much work done.”
