Kelsey Nichols is the Middle School Art teacher. She grew up in Spirit Lake and went to UNI for her college degree. I asked her when she knew that she wanted to be an art teacher:
I came home from school in fourth grade and told my mom that I was going to be an art teacher and that I was gonna be better than my Elementary art teacher.
What made you think about it that way?
Okay, so we were working on this project and it was a really big piece of paper and you had to trace your feet and then draw yourself from that point of view doing something like falling from the sky or jumping, and I don't remember what I drew myself doing but we had to color it with colored pencils, and I remember that took a really long time and when I finally got finished I showed it to my art teacher and she said oh, well your pant legs are two different shades of blue. You need to color this one in better.
I was absolutely deflated that I was going to have to spend more time on this project that I thought I was done with. So I came home that day and that was my response and I've wanted to be an art teacher ever since.
But knowing that, I try to be mindful about how we give criticism, so as an artist our goal is to learn and experiment with new things. In fact, I tell my students that I want to expose them to lots of different types of art. That's probably my biggest goal as an art teacher is to try watercolor pencils and introduce them to clay and paint and sculptures and mobiles and lots of things that maybe they haven't got to try on their own, something beyond just drawing.
But in order to get better you need feedback and to learn how to get better, you have to be able to accept criticism which is important for any job. But the way that we give criticism is important. So I might ask a student, hey, you could do this to help improve it but it's always kind of their idea or I point out other things that they did really well along with what things they might need to correct. So that they are not defeated about their project or feel like I'm putting down their artwork.
You've got students coming in, can you really quickly tell me ultimately what do you want them to get out of this?
I want them to have a way to express themselves that even if they don't want to have a job in the future in art that if they're stressed out they feel like they have an outlet or just to be able to understand that art is more than just drawing or just painting that there's all these different fields that they could go into that involve art and that it can be something that you could do for work or just something that you could do for enjoyment.
Here is the full interview:
Above is a nice piece of art one of Mrs. Nichols’s students did that caught my attention.
I was walking by and just happened to catch this reading and counting lesson at West Elementary. These kids love learning!
Lunch duty.
Above is the High School Choir at Living Windows.
Above is a brief video of the band.
The High School Construction Trades class is helping build a Habitat for Humanity home at the corner of Roche and Rock Island. The students are learning hands-on skills that will help them for life and when they graduate they will be job and career ready. There is a real demand for the skills the students are learning.
The Knoxville Police Department, the Knoxville Fire Department and Marion County Emergency Management partnered with the school district last week to hold a surprise safety drill. Superintendent Cassi Pearson explains the difference between a “secure drill” and a “lockdown drill” to me and why they do them:
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