Teaching:
Charlotte loves teaching all mediums and helping students build skills in all art media so they can engage in choice-based activities as well as make informed artistic decisions.
Kindergarten - Garden Stamps and Prints
Students printed images of fruits and vegetables onto a variety of substrate choices using carefully planned collagraph stamps. Students spent time sketching their favorite fruits and vegetables from observation and their imagination before translating that image onto a foam sticker. Once the stamps were made, students had the opportunity to experiment with a variety of dobber colors to create a colorful garden that integrated complementary colors.
Highlights: collaborative brain storming, mark-making
1st Grade - Alma Woodsey Thomas Bookmarks
After reading the story “Alma’s Art” by Roda Ahmed, first grade artists created intricate bookmarks displaying their understanding of concentric designs and pattern. Students began their work on this two-day lesson by drawing circles on a long piece of paper with their choice of color and size. Following this step, artists formed concentric circles with a pattern building out to fill the space. Finally, students got to add from a variety of materials to make the art their own, from sequins to metallic paper to yarn tassels.
Highlights: focused, process-based practice, multi-cultural picture book, DEI, color theory, elements of design
2nd Grade - Gee’s Bend Inspired “A Place Called Home” Quilts
Students continued using their printmaking skills from a previous monoprint lesson to create paper quilt squares inspired by the Gee’s Bend Quilters. After reading “Tar Beach” by Faith Ringgold, students created small monoprint stamps of a meaningful place in their lives. They then selected a specific quilting template following a lesson on the Gee’s Bend Quilters to frame their printed image. Using a set of four colors from paint chips, students filled in their quilt design keeping in mind compositional design and quality cutting and pasting technique.
Highlights: DEI, multi-cultural picture book, engaging in a traditional art making practice, multi-media process, elements of composition
3rd Grade - Parts-of-a-Story Story Bags
Artists began this lesson by creating a story, any story, and mapping it out in their sketchbooks. Students carefully identified and categorized the elements of their stories into “Who” “What” “Where” and “Why” which tied into the fiction writing unit happening in their classrooms. Students added the location of their stories to the exterior of mesh bags using sharpies and scrap fabric, experiencing the excitement and tactility of multimedia artwork. They then created wood character stands, story dice, character trading cards, and element tiles to encapsulate each part of their story in dimensional pieces that fit in their bags.
Highlights: choice, cross curriculum connections, creative thinking, repurposed materials, storytelling
High School Ceramics - Timelapse Teapots
4th Grade - Paintbrush Play lesson for the Jonathan Green Landscape Unit
Students spent a lesson trying a variety of paint application techniques with a variety of paint brushes and a limited color palette. The 4h graders learned about the landscape painter Jonathan Green through a unit built by one of their classroom teachers. As a means to learn more about how he painted his landscapes the way he did, Charlotte built in a mini lesson where students followed along with a particular brush for a particular way of applying paint using whatever color on their tray they preferred. The paint trays were limited to blue and yellow, two colors that appear in most of Green’s work. They watched the demonstration live over the document camera before undergoing the technique themselves. These techniques they took with them moving forward to add texture and pattern to their own landscapes.
Highlights: DEI, skill-building, color theory, texture exploration, formative lesson, pre-planning
High School Ceramics - Animal Mosaics
While student teaching at Biddeford High School, Charlotte was able to work with students in Ceramics I, Ceramics II, and Ceramics III. With the Ceramics I class, Charlotte led a lesson around mosaics that incorporated abundant choice, am emphasis on learning about a real-world trade including grouting, and opportunities for self reflection. Students each selected an animal of their choice and then completed planning steps to ensure their work fit the lesson requirements.
