Art Teacher and Self-employed Artist
Stratton Elementary School
My first early field teaching experience was at Sratton Elementary School in Champaign IL. Three other student teachers and myself were in charge of 14 3rd-5th grade students for an after school art program. The four of us were required to come up with project ideas, lesson plans, and teacher examples for 8 weeks of teaching twice a week. All of the lessons connected to contemporary artists that the students felt they could relate to and utilize when creating their own work.
Lesson Plans
Artist Statement
Throughout this 8 week after school program we really got to know and enjoyed working with your students. Through the concept of Belonging, students have explored their own place in relationship to one another, the school, their families, and their community. The afterschool program focused on learning to appreciate one’s uniqueness and forming a creative community through acknowledging and appreciating difference as an asset. Elementary students are in a position of beginning to recognize, form, and value their own identity. The artists embedded into this unit are also identifying, investigating, and expressing their cultural aesthetics through their creative practices. Through a series of projects students have created work that both express themselves and take action (opportunities for empowerment) in the community, grow together as a community through appreciating difference, and explore uniqueness and individuality that makes up this community of learners.
Presentations
Prarieview Ogden North
My second early field experience with teaching was at Prarieview Ogden North in Royal IL. Here, I gave 40 minute art lessons to a class of 16 first grade students. This experience was the first time I wrote lesson plans, prepared teacher exemplars, and taught the class independently. Each week, I had to have my lesson prepared and materials ready to bring to the school. I also had my co-teacher there while I taught, so she was able to give me feedback after every lesson. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I was only able to teach two of my lessons to the students while they remained in school. The rest of the lessons would have been taught had we been able to stay in school.
Lesson Plans
Presentations
Artist Statement
The concept of maturity within art has to do with the notion of primary techniques being associated with younger or newer artists and that one’s art should advance towards realism as they grow. In order for an artist to truly grow, it is important to understand that these primary techniques, such as finger painting, splatter paint, pinch pots, or coloring, can be used in professional works as well. By starting this idea at a young age, it is instilling that mature art does not just mean achieving realism. Many famous artists did not even use realism within their professional work for it mainly depended on what art movement they grew up in. Teaching these differences of technique and medium will allow for young artists to start to develop their own style as they grow into mature artists.
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project #2
Rantoul Township High School
Working at RTHS was my first placement within my student teaching. I worked at this school for 8 weeks and taught two drawing and painting classes as well as an art foundations class. This was my first high school teaching experience, and with the pandemic, it was an unusual yet exciting experience. I would teach both drawing and painting classes in the morning and then the one foundations class in the afternoon. While the school did follow a hybrid model, I primarily focused on the in-person students. Each class was 60 minutes long and required lots of planning ahead. I was given an amazing opportunity to work with older students and really learn to create challenging project ideas.
Lesson Plans
Artist Statement
The concept of maturity within art has to do with the notion of primary techniques being associated with younger or newer artists and that one’s art should advance towards realism or the process of storytelling within their art as they grow. In order for an artist to truly grow, it is important to understand that these primary techniques, such as abstraction, outlining, or making without meaning, can be used in professional works as well. By starting this idea at an adolescence age, it is instilling that mature art does not just mean achieving realism, but also means that their work will start others thinking about the process and ideas behind the work itself. Many famous artists did not even use realism within their professional work for it mainly depended on what art movement they grew up in. Teaching these differences of technique and medium will allow for young artists to start to develop their own style as they grow into mature artists.
Presentations
Zine and LVOYZI
examples
Dr. Howard Elementary
This was my second student teaching placement that filled the second 8 weeks of the semester. Here, I had the opportunity to work with all of the K-5 classes and come up with some of my own lesson ideas. Dr. Howard was a on a hybrid model where I taught three classes in person in the morning, and then taught the same three classes in the afternoon but for all of the remote students. This was my first zoom teaching experience. Each class was 40 minutes long and required lots of planning as I mainly focused on only one to two-day projects.
Artist Statement
Creating artwork at the elementary level is about focusing on building creativity and confidence within the students through means of different projects using all different types of mediums. By instilling confidence within the students through art, they are developing themselves to become more successful in other aspects later in life for art can become a foundation for creativity. The projects that they participate in are working to enhance their fine motor skills without them realizing all of the work they are actually doing. This is a purposeful way to incorporate art into all lessons outside the art classroom because art can be connected to many other subject areas.
Lesson Plans
Presentations
