The glitz and speed of television, video games and the Internet hold no challenge to me.  In art you can use TV, ipods and other "distractions" within the lesson plan.  The students can paint the lyrics of their favorite song or they can create their own original video game.  I am a 21st century teacher who understands that these items are a part of the everyday life of my students. If I want my students to be successful, I have to incorporate everything at my disposal to make sure that Art also becomes as familiar to them as their video games.  I want them to focus on learning Art.

      I believe that all children can learn, albeit, in different ways. The children may be auditory, visual, kinesthetic or tactile learners and there may be as many as eight multiple intelligences in the class. They may be right brain learners who are very hands-on and visual and love group work and projects or they may be left-brain learners who would prefer that I lecture.  It is my job to find the right way to help them learn. I believe that since these children will come to me ready and willing to learn, I must ensure that there is a successful outcome; an outcome that will impact on my students' post - secondary life. I will not let any of my students fail.  We have a motto in my class that says, “If you are in my class, you will pass.  You will do more than pass, you will excel.” I believe that my classroom environment, the way that I prepare my lessons, my responsiveness, openness and concern for my students' needs all spell success for these children.

      As students enter my classroom, I want them to experience through the classroom environment the joy that I find in the teaching of Art.  Art abounds in my room from the life-like facsimiles of each of my students to the examples of classical art. Examples of my own Art pieces can be found throughout the room.  My students know that for me Art is a joy.  I want them to understand my love of the subject, I want them to understand the joy that I have in teaching the subject, and I want them to develop their own joy towards Art.  My room is a reflection of that joy and is a piece of Art in and of itself.    The room is interactive and full of the supplies that I received from Coolidge, as well as the supplies of books, computers, and even a kiln that I managed to gather from other sources.

      I incorporate into my lesson plans activities that will involve every type of learner.  I have activities in my classes for those students who learn best as they move around.  We have been known to leave the classroom for the environs around the school looking for the beauty of Art in nature.  With the use of cooperative learning activities, the students, by working in groups, can he1p each other develop and sustain basic art skills.  Project based activities are also used in my classroom because I want the students to be able to synthesize and apply successfully what they have learned in the classroom to real life issues and situations.  For example, my students have painted a mural on the side of a Georgetown office building and had their work displayed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Administration (MWAA) at Reagan National Airport.  Both of these projects necessitated the use of art and design principals that the students learned in my classroom.  I try to integrate as many technology related activities as possible into my plans thanks to a state of the art computer that my students received as a result of their mural project.  My students eagerly come to my class.  I had very few absent students throughout the year (only those students who have never come to class) and as a result, I had no students earn an “F” in my class.  I know what a kind word can do for a student’s self-esteem so I constantly make sure that that my students receive compliments from me. I make sure that my students enter art competitions so that they can see how good they really are.  As a result, for the first time in years at Coolidge, two of my students won an honorable mention in the College Art Contest.  These students had no Art experience outside of what they learned in my classroom.  My students also entered the Washington Post and Fotoweek DC Youth Photo Contest using cameras that I secured from a source outside of Coolidge.  As a result of the caliber of work done by my students, they were invited to participate in the BET Grammy Career Day program.  They were given the opportunity to learn more about the world of Art and Graphic Design and to submit copies of their graphic designs for monetary consideration.

      I put an extremely large amount of time and energy into the teaching of Art.  I sponsor the Art Club, I take them on field trips, I, along with my students participated in the Coolidge Visual and Performing Arts Winter Production, and I am in the process of developing Coolidge’s first installed Art Gallery that will display the amazing growth and talent of the students.

      It is important for the students to see that I am also a practicing artist and because of this fact, I can serve as a role model for the students to see.  I have galley shows to which my students are always invited and I am an Art curator.  I have my own Graphic Arts Company that is very successful.  I am a life long learner because I am an Art Education major at George Washington University. 

       My classroom methods and my genuine positive attitude towards my students and the subject that I teach transcend the bells, whistles, whizzes, and glitz of the TV, Ipod, video game world of my students.