HIGHER EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Materials exploration is at the core of my teaching - with adults and children alike. Working with graduate students, pre- or in-service teachers, and other professionals such as linguists or psychologists, my goal is to help them discover materials and make sense of their own discoveries.
When teaching masters and doctoral students, finding strategies to connect artistic discoveries to professional practice is crucial. Whether I’m working with teachers, literacy specialists, occupational therapists, ESL specialists, special needs teachers, or any others, a significant part of our work together involves designing strategies and plans based on artistic processes that will serve their professional needs. Using tools like Twine or Aurasma, I have developed community games based on theories of artistic development, community work, digital learning, and other curriculum contents.
In professional development workshops, exploration and play are equally important. With early childhood teachers, librarians, or occupational therapists, getting hands-on with materials is the base of most of what I do.
Sometimes it’s also about using words - such as when helping students develop their projects and ideas. As, for example, in S. Paulo and Sta. Catarina, Brazil, where I was invited to be part of academic committees that over days-long seminaries helped graduate students thinking about their research and connect it to current issues in art and art education. Or at Boston University, where I supervise Master students in designing and completing their thesis during the final year of their on-line Masters degree.
I also work with artists - people who work with materials all the time - focusing on their specific interests and preferred media. I offer teaching artists support to design and deliver courses that match their institutions’ requirements and offer rich learning experiences for their students. I help to devise syllabi, strategies, and lesson plans based on the artist’s own knowledge and intentions. More than giving “recipes" to follow or pre-made lesson plans, I work with my clients to develop their own teaching philosophy, exercises, and course outlines - always with exploration, materials, discoveries and learning in mind.
I also offer courses and professional development linked to specific materials. At Urban Glass I tech classes that help teachers and artists bring glass to their K-12 classrooms in creative and practical ways. I support teacher in exploring glass themselves while creating strategies and lessons linked to their curricula and learning standards.
