Meet a Mural Arts Teacher!

Meet Monay Washington, our newest lead teacher in the Arts Education program. Her journey with Mural Arts stretches back to eye-opening artistic experiences in high school as a student in our Mural Corps program, and now she’s come full circle!  Monay’s been honored by Mural Arts as a winner of the Jane Golden Visionary Educator Award, and recently spoke at the National Guild for Community Arts Education conference alongside Lisa Murch, Mural Arts’ director of arts education. Read on for Monay’s 360 degree perspective on life at Mural Arts as a student, an assistant, and a teacher.

Carly: How did you get started with Mural Arts?

Monay: In 10th grade, I heard an announcement at high school that there were some after-school opportunities with Mural Arts. They were having a portfolio day, where students could bring a portfolio, Mural Arts staff would look at the art, and then let you know if you could join the program. I wasn’t sure if my stuff was good enough, but my mom really encouraged me to gather all my drawings and sketches and go for it. An artist came and looked at my work, and told me that it looked great and that she would like to have me as a student in the program. I was in the program during 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade, and I had amazing teachers, people like Betsy Casanas, Michelle Ortiz, James Burns, Kien Nguyen, and a few others. Their teaching stuck with me, and they were really supportive. My teachers were great about keeping in touch after I’d left classes. Michelle Ortiz helped me to stay involved in art activities, even after I graduated from high school – and she always used to ask me to assist in other mural projects. Betsy Casanas was also incredibly supportive, and she helped me to get scholarships for classes at University of the Arts and at PAFA.

Carly: And after you graduated from high school, you still kept in contact with Mural Arts?

Monay: Yes! Lisa asked me if I had any interest in being a teacher’s assistant or a mural assistant, and I told her I’d love to be a teacher’s assistant. I started by assisting with the Big Picture Program. It was elementary school students, and there was a lead teaching artist and I was her assistant. It was incredible. And from there, I worked with about six different teaching artists. I really liked that they would alternate the assistants and that we got to work with different teachers, because I feel like I learned a lot from different types of artists and their teaching – it made me the teacher I am today. It made me well-rounded, and more confident and secure in my teaching voice.

And now, as a teacher, I have my own assistant! October was my first month, so this is a new thing for me. Lisa had emailed me and asked if I wanted to become a teacher. I didn’t know how to respond – I kind of was in shock! I talked to a mentor of mine at Mural Arts, Ellissa, who asked me if I wanted to teach. I realized that I really did, and that I was ready to take this on. It’s going really smoothly, and I feel really comfortable with the curriculum that I’m presenting to them – the students are responding well to it.

Also, as someone who’s struggled with dyslexia, I’m very aware of making the classroom a place where all different types of people can learn, and that all of my students have ways to express themselves. I make my quizzes visual, rather than verbal, so that my students have lots of ways to understand and express themselves.