My art classroom is a curiosity-centered space for inquiry, rigor, and exuberant failure. I facilitate a brave environment for research and sharing through constructive and actionable instructor and peer feedback, all through a lens of compassion and caring.
To be in education requires flexibility and improvisation supported by meticulous organization and preparation. My classroom management is informed by years of nannying for young children, working with disabled elders, and professional employment as a licensed massage therapist: I come to the room prepared, with an open heart, ready to meet the needs of the room as they present themselves. My early teaching experiences involved developing and implementing a creative movement curriculum for aging adults experiencing cognitive and physical changes within the context of long-term care facilities and hospitals. Many of my students were non-verbal and/or wheelchair bound, and my dance instruction made space for and celebrated the fact that each of my students were negotiating different physical, mental, and emotional realities by working with open-ended prompts, rather than demanding imitation. These values carry over to my art teaching in higher education, which is equity focused, multimodal, and student responsive.
My primary goal for student learning is to foster the development of curious makers and storytellers. I am interested in encouraging students to discover for themselves the role that artistic thinking plays in their lives and careers, and to foster delight in learning and practicing new skills. I taught a class called Integrative Project where BFA students were completing their senior thesis shows. This class was the first time these students engaged in an independently motivated, supervised studio practice: part of my role was to help students discover what conditions supported their independent work. One of my students learned that studio time was often better spent going on walks with noise-canceling headphones in–it was on these walks that she was able to do her best brainstorming, away from distractions of other students. Another of my students realized they needed an accountability buddy, while another student preferred to be left almost completely alone–too much supervision disrupted their focus. My classroom was able to make space for all of these different learning styles.
Other artistic and life skills I center in my classroom include practicing giving and receiving verbal feedback and conscientious communication. I teach this through a combination of modeling norms I’ve learned through organizing space, and the co-creating of classroom contracts and codes of conduct. Students have opportunities to practice sharing and receiving feedback (verbal and written, anonymous and personal) all through constructed and moderated frameworks that support quick-to-speak students and also quieter voices.
My equity focused teaching involves a wide range of assignments that provide many opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. I prioritize participation and effort over work “quality” as artistic values that have historically been upheld by the art world often fail to recognize the work of marginalized makers coming from different cultural contexts. I assess participation through student feedback forms and discussions, group critiques, the collection of in-progress documentation, and by having clear assignments with rubrics.
An inclusive teaching environment is multimodal, and I employ a variety of teaching tools and strategies that come from my eclectic teaching background and work in educational consulting and cultural programming. These tools include material demonstrations, facilitated conversations, small group projects, physical exercises, writing assignments, and external visits by guest critiques and speakers.
Overall, as a teacher, I strive to be attentive to and sensitive to the needs of my students on both an individual and group level, and to respond accordingly with thought, care, and conscientiousness.
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To be in education requires flexibility and improvisation supported by meticulous organization and preparation. My classroom management is informed by years of nannying for young children, working with disabled elders, and professional employment as a licensed massage therapist: I come to the room prepared, with an open heart, ready to meet the needs of the room as they present themselves. My early teaching experiences involved developing and implementing a creative movement curriculum for aging adults experiencing cognitive and physical changes within the context of long-term care facilities and hospitals. Many of my students were non-verbal and/or wheelchair bound, and my dance instruction made space for and celebrated the fact that each of my students were negotiating different physical, mental, and emotional realities by working with open-ended prompts, rather than demanding imitation. These values carry over to my art teaching in higher education, which is equity focused, multimodal, and student responsive.
My primary goal for student learning is to foster the development of curious makers and storytellers. I am interested in encouraging students to discover for themselves the role that artistic thinking plays in their lives and careers, and to foster delight in learning and practicing new skills. I taught a class called Integrative Project where BFA students were completing their senior thesis shows. This class was the first time these students engaged in an independently motivated, supervised studio practice: part of my role was to help students discover what conditions supported their independent work. One of my students learned that studio time was often better spent going on walks with noise-canceling headphones in–it was on these walks that she was able to do her best brainstorming, away from distractions of other students. Another of my students realized they needed an accountability buddy, while another student preferred to be left almost completely alone–too much supervision disrupted their focus. My classroom was able to make space for all of these different learning styles.
Other artistic and life skills I center in my classroom include practicing giving and receiving verbal feedback and conscientious communication. I teach this through a combination of modeling norms I’ve learned through organizing space, and the co-creating of classroom contracts and codes of conduct. Students have opportunities to practice sharing and receiving feedback (verbal and written, anonymous and personal) all through constructed and moderated frameworks that support quick-to-speak students and also quieter voices.
My equity focused teaching involves a wide range of assignments that provide many opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. I prioritize participation and effort over work “quality” as artistic values that have historically been upheld by the art world often fail to recognize the work of marginalized makers coming from different cultural contexts. I assess participation through student feedback forms and discussions, group critiques, the collection of in-progress documentation, and by having clear assignments with rubrics.
An inclusive teaching environment is multimodal, and I employ a variety of teaching tools and strategies that come from my eclectic teaching background and work in educational consulting and cultural programming. These tools include material demonstrations, facilitated conversations, small group projects, physical exercises, writing assignments, and external visits by guest critiques and speakers.
Overall, as a teacher, I strive to be attentive to and sensitive to the needs of my students on both an individual and group level, and to respond accordingly with thought, care, and conscientiousness.
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