Portfolio

A collection of presentations, plans, and reflections from my practical and formative experiences over the last two years in the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Calgary.

Prezi

Prezi is a dynamic presentation tool that fits somewhere between a slideshow and and an interactive animation. Prezis can be created by anyone, and are collectively stored on the Prezi website as a way of sharing ideas and concepts in a new way. Using Prezi in the classroom became a valuable presentation tool, and a modality for students to express their own learning.

Here are a few of my Prezis (click on the images below to view)

Art is a way of Knowing

For this year-long plan, I focused on art as a way of knowing. A way of knowing yourself and how you see and describe the world around you as an artist

Silhouette Stories

As part of an "Art History Monday" segment of a junior high art class, artist Kara Walker was featured for discussion with an adjoining assignment on creating silhouette narratives of current events

Photo + Fashion Illustration

An inspirational introduction to the photo and fashion illustration units. Covering basic elements of design, and notable artists of both disciplines

Illustration by Marieke Vermeule

What is art, what is good, and who gets to decide?

In this project students explore the scope, uses, aesthetics, and values we place on art as individuals and as a society

Packa Pappas Kappsack by Michael Johansson

Artist Trading Cards

To begin lunch time artist trading card sessions, a quick introduction to the cards and several artists were presented in this Prezi

Planning for Engagement

There are so many ways to interact with the world. We play, we investigate, we enjoy, and sometimes struggle with the information we gather. It was important for me to plan activities that covered varying angles and aspects of the world. Sometimes the knowledge was difficult, and often playful, but was (hopefully) always left open to exploration, interpretation, and imagination.

Click on images to view lesson plans

Clay Castles

This project introduces diverse forms of architecture as an inspiration to expand on previously learned hand-building techniques

Silhouette Stories

The Silhouette Stories project is based on the artwork of Kara Walker. Students investigate current events to create a narrative tableau of their own

Life Long Learning

One of the most important lessons I have learned through 17 years of school, from being a kid on the playground, an athlete in the field, an artist, a friend, and a daughter is that the circumstances for learning are limitless. I believe that being an educator ultimately means being a life-long student. What I have learned from my students, my peers, and my mentors will continue to expand and evolve as I find myself in new places, meeting new teachers.

Biography of Learning

When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my students are. I will see them through a glass darkly, in the shadows of my unexamined life – and when I cannot see them clearly, I cannot teach them well. When I do not know myself, I cannot know my subject – not at the deepest levels of embodied, personal meaning. I will know it only abstractly, from a distance, a congeries of concepts as far removed from the world as I am from personal truth.
-- Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach

When I was ten my neighbour took a photo of me. In art class that year I learned how to do a drawing of that photo. Years later I found myself in that same art room, and was assigned to do a project that symbolized my learning biography. To recapture the awkwardness of learning to draw, that had long since passed, I re-created the drawing with my non-dominant hand. I placed myself in the position of my childhood, and remembered the struggle we all go through in an effort to learn, to create, and to please our "assigners". It was an experience I'll take with me, as a token of empathy and delight in the learning process, into my future classrooms.

To read the short story, click on the drawing to your right

Student Work

I had a great time in my practicums and I love working with youth: seeing and hearing new ideas, being encouraged and encouraging, and most of the time just having a lot of fun! Here is a slice of some of those experiences...

Click images to expand galleries