I come from a long line of artists and consider art to be part of my DNA.  As a child, I remember admiring the art of both my great-great-grandmother and my great-grandmother, who was a painter and had a ceramics studio in her basement where she had formally taught classes. My mother greatly enjoyed photography and carried on the in-house studio tradition by using a dark room in our basement. In our family, art was always nurtured, with skills and training passed on to younger generations. Drawing, painting, and ceramics have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I think I would not be the artist I am today without the matriarchal heritage I have followed. Their legacies have left me with the desire to share and cultivate art appreciation and skills with others. I strive to be an effective teacher and live by example, actively creating art outside of class time and alongside my students.

As an art educator, it has always been my mission to develop and refine artistic skills in my students and to make artistic connections to other core content and to the world around us. These skills bolster student confidence and foster a lifelong appreciation of art. The art that my students may create under my instruction may inspire them to become practicing artists and/or support them in becoming well-rounded individuals who can approach problems with creative solutions. Well-constructed objectives guide my lesson preparation to promote student proficiency and help them incorporate their unique creative voice. I design my curriculum to reach as many students as possible by incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) strategies, along with scaffolding.

I often seek out ways to limit direct instructional time and increase student studio art time. It is during this time that I can circulate the class, provide feedback, and take the opportunity to create an informal conversation that builds better student-teacher relationships. In my art room, students are encouraged to reflect on their art, either individually or through guided, constructive peer feedback. Dialog and revision are an integral part of the artistic process: conceptual sketching, the application of more temporary media, refinement, and completion with more permanent media. This process internalizes the artistic process amongst students and develops critical thinking.

Reflection is not limited to my students; I am in a constant state of reflection and evaluation.  During instruction, I monitor and adjust to meet my students' needs and increase achievement. I take immediate action when possible, clarify learning parameters and techniques through additional review, or by providing additional modeling.  Following the instruction, I reflect on what worked and did not work in the lesson, as well as common student errors to anticipate in future lessons. Regular evaluative teaching practice inevitably makes me a better art instructor and increases my students' success.

I eagerly seek out new learning of my own, either through professional development or continued education.  By acquiring new knowledge, I can augment my personal art-making skills and keep my art curriculum fresh, and introduce new art-making lessons. My personal artistic practice is inseparable from my role as an educator. I see my studio work as an ongoing exploration of technique and concept, feeding directly into the curriculum I develop. It is through this continual engagement with materials and ideas—the struggle and the breakthrough—that I maintain authenticity in the classroom. This dual role allows me to model the resilience, critical inquiry, and technical mastery I expect from my students, ensuring my instruction is grounded not just in theory, but in the lived experience of an active, producing artist.