Meet my colleagues!
I was fortunate enough to interview Adrianna Molina and Laura Singleton, two teachers from UASEM. Adrianna teaches Art, and Laura teaches Earth Science and AP Environmental Science. Both of them work tirelessly to incorporate art into their curriculums, and are two of my favorite teachers at this school.
What is your name, your title, and background?
Adrianna Molina, Art Teacher, mixed race hispanic, bachelor's degree in fine arts and master’s in teaching
What do you teach, or if you are not teaching, what is your relationship to education?
High school visual arts teacher
Do you have creative outlets?
I normally paint and draw, as an artist I mostly work through creative outlets
What type of learner are you? What learning type would you say dominates your classroom?
I consider the notion of these forms of learning to be outdated/not entirely rooted in what we know about learning now, but as a learner I enjoy reading/studying on my own first, then engaging more fully with the context I have.
Does your learning style affect your teaching style or approach to certain topics?
No, I am more aware of how my students don’t have certain art skills yet, and my approach is more focused on breaking technical skills and artistic topics down into manageable pieces, so they’re challenging but still accessible for my students.
Do you feel like you have enough freedom to be creative in your class?
Yes, I write my own curriculum and develop all of my own projects, materials, resources, and supports.
Have you heard of maker ed, or STEAM?
Yes, art education studies integrate a lot of STEAM in order to make the arts more relevant for STEM based learning.
Follow up to 6, are there opportunities for students to engage in making during your classes?
As a studio art class, most of what students do is create, and they’re given as much opportunity for choice as possible.
Do you think that there’s value in making/incorporating art and engineering, considering your subject area?
Yes, art enriches all subjects because it brings a more complex and abstract understanding into subjects that aren’t often associated with creative thinking.
How has making, and art, affected your educational journey?
It is the entire basis of my educational journey, as I believe art is a critical part of our lives and humanity.
There’s a substantial focus on making thinking visible in our school - do you think that incorporating art and engineering design can be a part of this initiative?
Yes, art is a very literal way for us to make our thinking visible, and allows us further opportunities to elaborate what goes on inside our internal worlds through post-creation reflection activities.
Do you engage in interdisciplinary projects?
I haven’t really had the chance to do so yet with my colleagues, but I am interested in doing so and engaged in coursework around interdisciplinary learning during my graduate studies. I often use ELA or Social Studies standards in my own lessons to increase rigor and make expectations clear.
Inquiry, collaboration, and an emphasis on process-based learning are at the heart of the STEAM approach; how can I use art to bolster these tactics in my classroom?
I already use art as a tool for expression in my classroom. Students are encouraged to push themselves and persevere through discomfort or unfamiliar situations in order to succeed at their projects.
What is your name, your title, and background?
Laura Singleton, Classroom Teacher, NYC native, BA Environmental Studies, MA Earth Sci Education
What do you teach, or if you are not teaching, what is your relationship to education?
Earth Science & AP Environmental Science teacher
Do you have creative outlets?
Hiking, photography, reading
What type of learner are you? What learning type would you say dominates your classroom?
Mixed but I retain more when reading than listening. I also prefer to type– I am able to get my thoughts out at the pace I am thinking them. When I write, I often miss thoughts. I also find diagrams and images helpful. Many of my students seem to benefit from hearing text read aloud. It helps them pronounce unfamiliar words, and to understand the use of punctuation.
Does your learning style affect your teaching style or approach to certain topics?
I try to use as much imagery as possible, as a lot of content is unfamiliar to students prior. This gives them access points through observations. I try to give students text to read independently, and then read out loud.
Do you feel like you have enough freedom to be creative in your class?
Yes– I write my own curriculum No– I am tied to a regents exam. If I was not, I would like students to do more research, and project based assignments that cover multiple topics within Earth Science and cross curricular
Have you heard of maker ed, or STEAM?
yes
Follow up to 6, are there opportunities for students to engage in making during your classes?
In AP environmental science, yes. The content of the course is DOK 3+ that allows students to have more discussions and debates. We also have time after the AP exam to do more hands on projects— labs, poster making, etc
Earth Science– I usually pre-make the models to save time and to ensure accuracy. Students use these models, but often do not participate in their design
The size of my classroom, storage space, and the sequence of my daily class periods makes projects/ hands on activities challenging
Do you think that there’s value in making/incorporating art and engineering, considering your subject area?
Yes. There needs to be more focus on students as scientists. Interpreting and creating visuals is helpful to students
How has making, and art, affected your educational journey?
I loved art in high school and found it to be an outlet. I think art can be visual, but also performative (drama/ dance), verbal (poetry, song), and written (creative writing). When possible I think it is helpful to give these as opportunities for student assessment, or introducing new material.
There’s a substantial focus on making thinking visible in our school - do you think that incorporating art and engineering design can be a part of this initiative?
Yes. I think using manipulatives that can be annotated, drawn on, and sorted/organized would be a good start. I think small groups of students could start to create art/ engineering projects, but again storage, space, and time needs to be addressed.
Do you engage in interdisciplinary projects?
No, not with other classes/ teachers. I do make note of cross curricular content to students when possible, typically in Emergency Management and History