Student Teaching
Kenneth N. Butz Elementary
Nazareth SD
K-4 and AS
Student teaching at Kenneth N. Butz Elementary gave me many opportunities to grow as an educator and as a professional. I had a fantastic time teaching alongside Mrs. Callie Donaldson and teaching every class in the school, including K-4 and Autistic Support. I adored every student here. They were all so unique, yet all so excited to have the freedom to create in the art room. It was very exciting to create lessons that brought their imagination to life.
When coming up with a 3rd grade lesson, I knew I wanted to incorporate story telling and character creation. We made Superhero Masks with an accompanying Superhero Story. We discussed Nick Cave’s sound suits, and talked about how fine arts don’t have to be paintings in museums, they can also be worn, performed, and heard. In this lesson, students were able to create a character and give it a name and superpower, use complimentary colors and cutting skills to create a unique mask, and develop braiding skills for the strap to attach their wearable artworks.
Student teaching at Kenneth N. Butz Elementary gave me many opportunities to grow as an educator and as a professional. I had a fantastic time teaching alongside Mrs. Callie Donaldson and teaching every class in the school, including K-4 and Autistic Support. I adored every student here. They were all so unique, yet all so excited to have the freedom to create in the art room. It was very exciting to create lessons that brought their imagination to life.
When coming up with a 3rd grade lesson, I knew I wanted to incorporate story telling and character creation. We made Superhero Masks with an accompanying Superhero Story. We discussed Nick Cave’s sound suits, and talked about how fine arts don’t have to be paintings in museums, they can also be worn, performed, and heard. In this lesson, students were able to create a character and give it a name and superpower, use complimentary colors and cutting skills to create a unique mask, and develop braiding skills for the strap to attach their wearable artworks.
I was also excited to teach my own lesson to the 1st grade students. We created Silly Villains, which were interactive pop-up artworks. We learned what a habitat was and what different climates existed on earth, and recreated one of our choosing using texture plates and oil pastels. We then learned about lines of symmetry and cut and folded our own “silly villains” using abstract lines and responding visually to add details. The students and I had a lot of fun with this project, and the magic of watching our projects come to life was so exciting.
Figuring out the ways that I can guide elementary schoolers to surprise themselves with their artistic abilities has been so enriching at this placement. I have really connected with these young learners and it has been a joy to support them and watch them make incredible discoveries.
