Teaching Philosophy:
Although we switch between Art and Latin every six weeks, my goal is to incorporate both Art and Latin in the class year round.
Art-making provides an essential opportunity for school age children to practice fine motor skills, exercise creative problem-solving, explore their interests, and boost their confidence through seeing their ideas materialize. We will explore drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, architecture, visual story-telling, textile arts, and puppet-making through projects this year.
In addition to making art, I believe it is essential to teach children how to look at art and other images critically. All grades will have weekly practice at close-looking, deciphering, and sharing their thoughts and feelings about various art pieces. Children and adults currently encounter more visual images per day than in any other time in history, so it is incredibly important that students develop the ability to analyze images, whether those images be artistic, historical or scientific. My goal is to familiarize students with art from a wide variety of cultures and traditions.
Latin class will focus on vocabulary accumulation, so that students will recognize a plethora of root words before learning Latin grammar in middle school. We will also explore connections between ancient Latin words and modern words in English and other Romance languages, as well as Latin in the sciences.
To Families:
I realize that certain cultures discourage drawing living things, humans, and/or faces. All of my lessons have an element of choice, so your student will never need to draw any particular images in order to pass my class. There will always be an option to complete the lesson using either a landscape or abstract design. If this is a concern for your family, feel free to reach out to discuss.
If you are an artist, or wish to share an artistic practice from your culture, I would be happy to collaborate with you on a lesson for your student's class.