Teaching Philosophy & Resume

I have been an art teacher in Kansas City, KS, for the past five years and taught sculpture, ceramics, art history and International Baccalaureate Visual Arts classes at Sumner Academy of Arts & Sciences. As Kansas City's premier high school, we were ranked the number one school in Kansas and top 50 schools in the United States. Sumner has pushed me to challenge myself to ensure my students have the best art education possible. I have done this through rigorous and exciting unit plans that are based around student choice and experimentation. I want to share my love of art and history to my students in a fun, active, and safe learning space for everyone.

I have been drawn to the arts since my time in high school. My college goals moved from architecture school at Montana State University to the theater technology and design department at the University of Montana. After 8 years of working at a youth sports camp as a director of summer camps and instruction, I went back to school to pursue my master’s in education and get my teaching certificates in art and history at the U of M. During my time in the arts department I pursued multiple mediums but was more drawn to ceramics and photography. I also had the opportunity in the education school to receive my International Baccalaureate Pre Service Certification. As part of the Montana education requirements for preservice teachers, we learned how to implement the Indian Education for All curriculum to include indigenous and Native American culture into every subject matter. I found this to be such an advantage in helping me include other ethnicities and cultural backgrounds into my curriculum. 

As I stated above, I have spent the past five years teaching at Sumner Academy. This school is very diverse with many different cultures and home languages used. I began my time there as both a history and arts teacher for two years. I was able to use my arts background to integrate art into my history classes for a more hands on and differentiated curriculum that students would be engaged and excited to learn. In turn, my background in history allowed me to integrate more art history into my art curriculum so that students could learn about different mediums and artists to deepen their understanding of the topic. Starting my third year, I advocated to add Ceramics 1 & 2 to our class line up at Sumner. Instantly, this class was a huge success with all of the sections in both classes reaching capacity. Today, it is still one of the students’ favorite classes to take at Sumner. This is due to my student centered units that focus on different techniques and allow for student voice to be used through the motif of the artwork. I follow all of my projects with self reflections to better allow students to know where they succeeded and where they need to grow more. I have had multiple students pursue art related degrees at universities such as; Chicago Art Institute, Kansas City Art Institute, Boston University and DePaul University.

My teaching style is exciting, engaging, and thought provoking. I make sure to set strong boundaries in my room as I want my learning environment to be a safe and inclusive space for all learners. My goal is to meet students where they are at, and push them to be the best they can be. Art classes can be a very emotional space based on what the student is willing to include in their art. With that, I want to be my true authentic self in the classroom so that my students can feel comfortable sharing these parts of their life with me. I love to get to know my students individually and make time to move around the room, checking in on their work and asking them about days or events in their lives. I want students to know that I am more than just a teacher but someone in the building and community that is looking out for their best interest. This is how I create mutual respect in my room and reduce any behavior issues.