My students are always up for a challenge. Our motto is "Make Mistakes; It's how you grow as a learner." I try as best I can to integrate the art into the academic curriculum so a lot of my projects are STEAM based.
Our school is in a rural area in Maine where poverty is real and the home life of our students is sometimes a struggle.
That being said, our students are eager learners and excited about the learning process. School is their second home and I feel we are their second family. Our principal is one who works hard to make our students' education rich with extra projects and activities but his power is limited by the financial reality of our community. I want these children to come away from our school with a sense of "I can be anything I want." As an art teacher I feel it imperative that they learn to think outside the box and recognize that creativity informs all their activities. My goal is not to make artists per se, but to help form young adults who can problem solve with a creative, open mind and recognize their full potential.
My Project
This project will integrate music and art using recycled cigar boxes. Our school has significant financial difficulty providing musical instruments for our students. Our music program is rich but in need of more instruments. To fix that situation our students have decided to make their own. Excellent problem solving skills!
I have gotten cigar boxes and hard wood for the necks donated by the community and now the students need the remaining materials to build ukuleles.
This project teaches the students to figure out how to overcome obstacles in learning. No musical instruments? No Problem! We will make them ourselves.
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