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Keith Westbrook, Gateway IT High School

Introduction to Art, Drawing & Painting

During college and graduate school, Keith Westbrook focused entirely on studio art; he didn't see teaching on his horizon. “I didn't even take an education course. I didn't want to do it,” he says with a laugh.
But a few years after graduation, Westbrook began substitute teaching in the St. Louis public schools. Finally, he enrolled in a career-transitions program for educators at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
So what's the difference between teaching as a substitute and teaching full-time? “It’s being a hit man for hire versus being under fire every day,” Westbrook says, laughing again.

Minus the guns, it’s an apt metaphor for the way Westbrook is often forced to teach: get ‘em quick, then disappear. Since Gateway’s art curriculum is only for freshmen and sophomores, with students specializing in a technical field in the last two years, “when I get these students I know I only have one shot.” To hold on to those with the talent or the interest to pursue art, Westbrook has founded an art club at Gateway open to all grades.

In club and in class, Westbrook moves things along at a fast and fascinating speed. “I give them projects that are linked to art history, so they can put art in a context and really understand it. I introduce a new project every two weeks and try to strike a balance between the skill-based and effort-based projects,” so that even the less technically-inclined students can do well.

In addition, Westbrook offers his students ulterior motives. Each year, the student with the highest grade by points earns a gift certificate to his or her favorite store. And in a recent project on Andy Warhol and pop art, where students chose a grocery item to reproduce visually, the student who made the closest imitation won the whole box of groceries.

While doing all this, Westbrook works to stay devoted to the practice of his own art. He recently exhibited several paintings and is currently working on a book of photographs. When school is in session, he constantly sketches concept drawings that he can turn into larger works during the summer.

Keeping his own interests lively helps him to spark his students' interest, he says. “I try to teach the things I want to know and be the teacher I wish I'd had in school.

“I tell them: I'm not a teacher teaching art, I’m an artist learning to teach.”