Stockton-    Mrs. Weiser is an amazing artist and teacher, a part of the science department here at Lincoln High School. Her dedication and enthusiasm when conducting a classroom is unique compared to other teachers here at Lincoln. Lots of students admire her devotion to the matter she teaches, some of  her classes being  AP Environmental Science, Anatomy, and Biology. Mrs. Weiser says she gained her love of science and nature from her father, who was a California State Park Ranger. Aside from teaching Mrs. Weiser has a flaming passion for art, she has always been intrigued with completing arts and crafts. During the Pandemic in 2020, she began nature journaling lessons from John Muir Laws. She began exploring watercolor painting, and blended styles of  art with layered art pastels. Her artwork revolves around nature, birds, animals, and more. Her work is special considering her understanding of animal anatomy and her ability to blend multiple art styles while also depicting realistic art. Her work is beautiful and respected by fellow artists on Lincoln’s campus!

I interviewed Mrs. Weiser to hear more about her experiences with teaching and how science impacts her life. I also wanted to acknowledge her accomplishments, such as recently being in Lincoln’s art show and being nominated for America’s Favorite Teacher! Mrs. Weiser deserves the spotlight this month and I’m extremely excited to share her art and knowledge with those who haven’t gotten the chance to experience it themselves. 

Questions Asked

“What advice would you give to future teachers?” 

Mrs Weiser states “There’s gonna be some hard days.. Some good days.. You have to be able to have some grit to push through the hard days.” 

“Do you have any sentimental art pieces?” 

Mrs. Weiser has a colored pencil art piece hung in her living room, it’s of a great blue heron flying over her past school with her students walking down the beach. There was a seal laid over the sand. This art piece captured an important moment of her teaching career, and a beautiful moment to illustrate.

“What’s your creative process in coming into art?”

“In highschool, my teacher was gone a lot so I didn’t have a huge influence. During Covid John Muir’s Laws he really got me into nature journaling and then I went from nature journaling to watercolor, then to canvas, and soft pastels… And now I’ve been taking charcoal classes at The Catalyst!”.

“Do you have an art project where you were expressing a scientific concept?”

“So a lot of my artwork is birds, and understanding of birds.. And my understanding of science and the anatomy of birds and their wings definitely influences and makes my art better.”.

“What inspired you to pursue art as a hobby and teach science?”

“My dad was a park ranger and that got me into the wildlife thing, but in high school I always thought I would become a veterinarian.  I knew I wanted to do something with science and animals whether that be a zoo or a veterinarian at a zoo  but then I decided when I was at Davis that I didn’t want to work with sick animals so I decided to become a wildlife biologist… but I ended up working with dead animals.”.

Student Input

Lilliana Sandoval is a junior here at Lincoln high school and one of Mrs. Weiser’s AP Environmental Science students. I asked her a few questions to get a better understanding of her thoughts about Mrs. Weiser and her class.

“What are three words you would use to describe Mrs. Weiser?”

“Energetic, knowledgeable, and kind” Lilli put emphasis on Mrs. Weiser´s willingness and her general kindness. She is definitely an extremely considerate teacher and this is deeply appreciated by her students.

“How does Mrs. Weiser makes learning engaging and fun.”

“The field trips are extremely engaging, she provides a lot of hands-on work and I often find that extremely fun. She really enjoys explaining things in detail and going in depth with explanations, making sure her students have a good understanding of the material she provides.”.

“How does this teacher accommodate everyone’s different learning styles and needs.”.

“Mrs. Weiser provides a lot of different types of assignments and work for each student to engage in. We do notes, labs, presentations, online games, research projects and more. Some people learn depending on each one of these options, a lot of variety is offered and she always invites people to come in for additional help or time. She is a very understanding teacher.”