Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/458422
A S A N A R T T E A C H E R at Ceres High School, Ruth Truesdell is right where she wants to be. She just took 25 years and surviving cancer to do it. "I always had an inter- est in art," Truesdell says. "When I was young, I got the message that art was great, but it couldn't be a career. So I called myself a hobbyist." Instead of following her bliss, Truesdell managed independent bookstores, ending up as a human resources manager at the now-de- funct chain, Borders Books. But once she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and survived, Truesdell decided to make good on a longtime promise to herself and enrolled in California College of the Arts for a bachelor of fine arts degree. After that, she began teaching art in the private sector and through the Sacramento Arts Council. "The more I taught, the more I loved it." So, in her mid-50s, Truesdell found herself back in col- lege earning a teaching credential from Sacramento State University. Within a year, Truesdell applied for 60 jobs from Shasta County to Porterville, before landing a position as art teacher in Ceres. With five years of teaching and 25 previous years as a manager under her belt, Truesdell is flourishing in her new career, teaching art, digital photography and AP studio art. "Coming into teaching on the verge of Common Core implementation has been interesting. I love it. As an arts teacher, I find that Common Core is the glue that sticks learning together. We really have a lot of opportunity for critical thinking, and I weave math, history and language arts into the curriculum. It's a natural thing to me." Classroom management has been the biggest chal- lenge, but Truesdell has learned to use video, computer skills and music to engage students. Unlike the advice she was once given, Truesdell encour- ages students to make art a career. She takes them on tours of art schools, makes sure they enter competitions, and displays their work around campus. "I had a great art teacher in high school," says Trues- dell, Ceres Unified Teachers Association. "And that's the kind of teacher I want to be." J U A N R E Y N O S O H A S ap- peared in movies, but now he teaches film production to teens. "When I was acting, I was playing a part," the Compton High School teacher explains. "But this is real. Now the whole stage is my classroom." Reynoso knows firsthand the challenges students face in Compton — poverty, crime and gangs — and enjoys show- ing students there's an alternative to life on the street. "I relate to them because I come from this school," says Reynoso, who was born in Mexico and graduated from Compton High School in 1988. "And teaching here also keeps me young. I feel like I still go to school here, except this time I'm getting paid to talk about film and make movies and hang out with young filmmakers." The Compton Education Association member was "bitten by the acting bug" at a young age and took acting classes. He landed roles in Hollywood films including Amistad, Volca- no and Kazaam. The Screen Actors Guild member's résumé Feature From the 'acting bug' to the 'teaching bug' Bookstore manager begins 'Chapter 2' P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S C O T T B U S C H M A N 20 www.cta.org