Environmental Charter High School is a very magical place. This school is quite literally growing some of the best and brightest students in California. It is the goal of my Art program to introduce art to the students in a fresh and interesting way. It is my personal goal that the students acquire knowledge, skills and creative techniques, that they can apply to all other classes as well as their future careers. Most of our projects are made from recycled materials, or have and environmental theme. The students learn about contemporary and environmental artist like Sylvia Ji, Tim Burton, Andy Goldsworthy, and Elizabeth Berrien. I believe that we learn by doing. My approach to teaching art is based on hands on project based learning. The projects are all three stage, first the students research a chosen Artist and related techniques, then they conceptualize and design their ideas on paper, they then create their art based on their design, finally they share their creations with the class and reflect both verbally and in written form. All the students get to grade themselves based on a eight item rubric; however I get the final say in the grading. I feel that this hands on approach works well for sparking creativity while maintaining interest and focus.
