For my second student teaching experience, I was selected to represent Kutztown University at DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity) Ramey Unit School. This school serves the children (in grades K12 )of military and government employees in and around Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Many of the students are English Language Learners and I taught general art to students in grades 7th through 12th. I had an incredible cultural experience and developed lessons to complement my cooperating teacher's curriculum, following the DoDEA standards, for middle school and high school students. During my time there the school was awarded for continued improvement and excellence and received national accreditation.

7th & 8th Grade Art
I developed several lessons with these students around the theme of art in the environment. This challenged students to integrate problem-solving skills with the content. Students created mandala name designs as they learned about radial design and designed large-scale mandalas based on other cultures' aesthetics. Students worked in groups and were given a short amount of time to create these large mandalas outdoors on the ground of the school campus. Students attracted a lot of attention with their beautiful solutions. These students also explored the basics of color mixing with different media as they created pastel landscapes with chalk pastels. They also were introduced to printmaking and were challenged to create a paper quilt design using this new process and math integration.

Fundamentals of Art (9-12)
Students in this high school elective class explored various painting techniques as they studied the style of Georgia OKeefe's abstract flowers. I demonstrated various painting techniques to students as they manipulated acrylic paint to create many hues and values. The students could chose to recreate a famous flower painting or propose their own creation in a similar style of the famous artist. I also designed a sculpture lesson for these students to expose them to 3-dimensional art. Students carved relief and in-the-round as they soap sculptures based on various works from different cultures.

Studio Art (9-12)
This high school class prepared students for careers in the arts. I developed a lesson based on set and mural design and the students designed the set for the annual school musical: Grease. Students examined various professions in the arts and created a large-scale mural for the show. Students also experienced the integration of technology with careers in the arts by creating short, hand-drawn animations using iMovie and Mac computers.  

Featured: Middle School Art: Lovely Landscapes Lesson
(Ramey Unit School, grades 7 & 8)

For the Middle School Art classes I taught at Ramey Unit School, the goal of this lesson was to learn about the color wheel and how to use chalk pastels to blend colors together. Students were challenged to create different hues and values. The students learned how various artists create works inspired from their natural environments through examining earthworks, or land art and landscape pastels. They also determined the effects of lighting and color on various landscapes and create a finished large-scale pastel drawing based on scenes from their environment.