I believe the foundation of a successful student-teacher relationship is built upon open collaboration and communication. I nurture my students’ desire to play an active role in their learning by providing opportunities to contribute to important classroom functions, such as the creation of community agreements, developing their social-emotional skills through community building. This encourages students to take ownership over their classroom and readily approach their responsibilities, creative processes, and overall role as a visual arts student.
Accompanied by the Artistic Thinking Process framework, I prioritize the development of interdisciplinary methods, skills, and techniques to empower students' self expression and communicative abilities. Regardless of artistic experience and/or technical skill, I believe any student can approach art-making through investigation of their personal perspective and past experiences. I do this through incorporating social justice approaches and topics, specifically restorative justice theory and Artivism, within an interdisciplinary art curriculum. Through these strategies, I seek to facilitate a supportive and engaging learning environment where students are motivated to experiment, explore, and ultimately express themselves.
