My teaching philosophy:
To me, the art classroom is more than just a break from students’ core classes. This space is one that gives birth to exploration, creativity, and an understanding of the world around us. In it, students can do more than just make colorful messes–they learn about different cultures and
techniques from across the world, they begin to understand history through a different lens, and they develop creative and critical thinking skills that will help them in every aspect of their day-to-day lives.
I am a firm believer that the arts are a key component of any child’s education; not only is it a worthy subject to learn by itself, but the arts bleed into every other core curriculum.
My philosophy on how I will construct my future classroom revolves around the idea of improvement: I want each and every student to learn to recognize their own individual weaknesses and strengths, and to learn how to improve both. From then on, my class will be structured in a way that students can explore new territory while improving upon their own skills. I want students to strive for self-improvement and I want to show them how to take constructive steps towards a goal that they set for themselves.
I was lucky enough to have student-teaching experiences at both the elementary and middle school levels–scroll down to see what we got up to!
Elementary Lessons
Middle School Lessons
Everything below is the entire collection of my lesson plans, including those from student observations.
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Ceramic Animal Heads–8th Grade Art Lesson
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Positive/Negative Space Watercolor–8th Grade
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Crayon Rubbing Self-Portrait–Seventh Grade
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Surrealism Mad Libs–Seventh Grade
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Circle Weavings–Sixth Grade
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4-Panel Comics–6th Grade
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Watercolor Mandalas (New and Improved)–Fifth grade lesson
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Coil Relief Sculptures–Fifth Grade
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Atmospheric Perspective Paintings–Fifth grade
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Matisse/McKeen Block Prints–5th Grade
Kinetic Fish–Third Grade
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Symbolism, Pattern, and Leigh Ellexson–Third Grade Project
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Second Grade Kimono Portraits
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Second Grade Kabuki Masks
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First Grade Quilt Patterns
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Spacewalk Drawings
First Grade Spacewalk Drawings!
Value: Light and Shadow
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One-day Weaving Lesson
Brown bear, brown bear: Kindergarten painting lesson
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