At the conclusion of attending the NAEA virtual convention, I feel that my knowledge of art education has been validated and amplified. At this point in my college career, I am beginning to realize my strengths and comfort zones of teaching, starting to shape what I will become as a future teacher. Some of these sessions spoke right to those strengths, and others encouraged to go beyond the comfort zone. The knowledge gained from the experience was mainly centered around what needs to happen outside of the art making and cater more directly to the learning component of how to effectively engage and interact with the students in a fashion that will encourage further and deeper context evaluation from the student, outside of what is taught in that lesson. One session explained different tactics on essentially forms of the anticipatory set that I found interesting and unique! While watching the sessions, my excitement only grew, I cannot wait to be out there in the field of teaching! The presenters from the sessions had a deep sense of passion that was contagious, supporting my passion for teaching to an even higher scale. I am a confident person in general, and my experiences with teaching have supported my confidence, there was a few sessions that talked about the tone and attitude of the classroom and I am looking forward to experiment with that element even more. From the sessions, one, I was able to receive resources for my future classroom, and I believe these will help me in different aspects and help me to not overlook these important elements. I am 100% committed to being the best teacher I can be, and that will only improve with my willingness to learn. I want to learn just as much as my students, because the journey through art is never ending. There are various goals to be achieved along the way, but through the progression of art I want to push my knowledge further and continuously provide new material and more ideas for my students to achieve. I want to do good, and I am willing to ‘go the extra mile’ for my students and provide a well-rounded education through art and beyond. With each session I watched, the overall mood changed, based on the presenter as a speaker, and the environment they were in. The more enthusiastic speakers drew in a more interactive crowd of viewers, which brightened the mood and engaged me in a more compelling manner. However, throughout each of the sessions I attended I was extremely happy to be learning not only new content, but this new content from another person’s perspective with a lot of experience. There’s a difference in learning a new subject simply for the sake of content, but this sense changes the minute you add a person who has lived these experiences, sharing their input on the new content. It is something I greatly appreciate. The positive attitude of the speakers was contagious, and brought a positive energy to the room, especially when I watched the session in the “watch party” because we felt more compelled to talk out loud and give our own thoughts on what was being said. This energy is what brought us to opening to our own opinions and sharing resources we each thought beneficial for our own future classrooms. Bringing myself into different environments to interact with my classmates builds a sense of community and strengthens bonds, making us more comfortable to have constructive conversations.