written by Victoria Fong and Zack Cherkas
Ceramics teacher Barbara Hughes was awarded Outstanding Visual Arts Educator of the Year by the California Art Education Association, a professional group of art teachers representing the state of California.
“It’s nice to be acknowledged by a group of teachers,” Hughes said.
Hughes, who has taught at Aragon for 22 years, has helped transform the structure of many arts classes.
“Dr. Hughes was at the forefront of bringing reading, writing and spoken word into an arts classroom when many people, many educators, discouraged bringing reading and writing into the arts classroom,” said Digital Photography and Art of Video teacher Nicholas Carrillo, who was recommended for his Aragon job by Hughes seven years ago. “She was definitely ahead of her time there, because many, many art teachers, even still today, have a hard time implementing reading, writing in the arts.”
According to Carrillo, Hughes wrote lesson plans and units centered around Common Core standards in the arts classroom.
“The whole idea is that the Common Core, is that you can’t just take your subject matter and say ‘I’m here to grow scientists’ or ‘I’m here to grow writers,’” Carrillo said. “Ultimately, we all should take part in this process for kids to understand reading and writing. It’s not just the responsibility of English teachers, and what Barbara Hughes did was she took on that role wholeheartedly, and did it in such a way … that it’s comparable to an English class, while also teaching visually compelling art classes as well.”
Hughes’s schedule is heavy — in addition to teaching four classes at Aragon, she teaches art education at San Jose State University and also does professional development for visual and performing arts teachers from Napa to Monterey. She plans on retiring from Aragon next year.
“I’m just saying goodbye to Aragon,” she said. “I will keep my job in the art teacher preparation program at San Jose State and I’m the Regional Director of the Bay Area California Arts Project, and I do professional development with visual performing arts teachers all over the Bay Area.”
Despite nearing 40 years as a teacher, Hughes’s love for art is unwavering.
“I like teaching art because every student brings something different to the project,” she said. “So if you’re making mugs, every student’s project is going to be a little bit different, or everybody’s piggy bank, so it’s different from reading the same book every year.”
