My name is Clinton Grabhorn. Welcome to my portfolio of works created and collected during my practice as secondary-level art teacher and through the Master of Arts in Education at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. Here you will find a short biography pertaining to my journey in education, graduate projects that exemplify the insights and methods gained through my degree process, and research that reinforces the effectiveness of these practices in the classroom environment.

As a lifelong resident of the coulee region, I have created a strong connection to the community where I live and teach through my upbringing, education, and personal life. I grew up near the Mississippi River in Brownsville, Minnesota, then decided to pursue higher education in the nearby city of La Crosse, Wisconsin. A love for this region and the opportunity to remain close to my family are two of the primary reasons why my family and I continue to make La Crosse our home. This community has been a wonderful setting for my wife Cassandra and myself to raise our daughter, Ever.

I have chosen to pursue the path of teaching largely as a result of my experiences as a father and a lifelong artist and learner. My daughter, Ever has reinforced in me the value of contributing to a strong educational system in our community. Additionally, my prior creative career has clarified and reinforced the importance of perpetuating the arts in our schools. Before my time as a teacher, I worked as a graphic designer and artist in a variety of areas including apparel design, publication design, and studio arts. I am now a fourth-year teacher of middle and high-school art and design. The experiences I have accumulated in my personal studies and professional career have served to inform my teaching practice and curriculum. 

Before teaching in the art classroom, I  also served as an educational assistant in the school district of Holmen. During this time, I supported a variety of special education classrooms and programs at the middle-school level. This included classrooms with a focus on the teaching of students with cognitive delays and autism and other classrooms that accommodated students with more severe physical and intellectual disabilities. I also aided special education teachers to construct and modify curriculum for students participating in regular education classrooms through the school day.

I am very fortunate to have had such broad experiences in both educational settings and in a multitude of creative settings. These experiences have served as a culmination that now allow me to teach to a variety of learners and exceptional conditions within the art classroom. My personal journey in education has served as a launchpad for many of my classroom improvements made through my early years of teaching. Most recently, the knowledge and skillsets gained through my study in the Master of arts in Education program through Saint Mary's University of Minnesota has allowed me to refine my skillsets and better inform them with research-based methods proven to increase academic achievement in young learners. My continued research is intended to understand the variety of art education methods and pedagogies, the Wisconsin teaching standards, and the framework of successful teaching practices contained in Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching. In this portfolio, evidence is provided to demonstrate my continued efforts to improve in areas of technology implementation, assessment strategies, classroom environment modification, communication and collaboration with stakeholders(students, families, educators, and community members), and exceptional and diverse student needs and backgrounds.

My efforts to improve as an educator do not conclude with the completion of my pursuits within this program. In fact, the Master of Arts in Education program through Saint Mary's University has inspired the pursuit of growth in my subject and clarified strong research practices that will continue to inform the evolution of my knowledge of the educational setting. 

Master's Coursework and Content