Holly Sutton’s 5th-8th Grade Art students learn about how to channel their creativity and their identities through the arts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you talk a bit about your background and what brought you to Alpha?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been in education for the past 8 years. As a child I was very much into the arts. I would get into trouble because I\u2019d doodle into my notebooks instead of taking notes. I decided to study art history in college and loved learning about the history of visual cultures and the implications. After that I wanted to get into education and taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in Vietnam for over a year. I became homesick and decided to continue to teach ESL back in California. While this was extremely rewarding, I missed the arts and knew that I needed to receive my credentials in order to teach art.I need to get my credentials. I was given a position at a similar charter school and now at Alpha, I\u2019m excited to continue my passion for bringing the arts to lower social-economic communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much art instruction do our students get?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I teach my 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for a 30 minute block. It\u2019s been awesome that I\u2019ve been able to see them so much consistently. Electives have become this place for students to become themselves and we\u2019re able to build community in that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What has it been like joining a team in a virtual space?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I moved to San Jose from San Diego. Not only am I joining a new team but I\u2019m also in a physically new place. I never realized how special those physical connections with colleagues and those moments were. Despite never having met my team physically, there have been so many positives. I\u2019m amazed by how creative and adaptive the human spirit is. People reach out to me when I look like I\u2019m having a tough day. Those small actions mean so much. I love that we\u2019re still finding ways to build community and connections even if it\u2019s all through a screen. Two or three of my coworkers that I\u2019ve never met in person, I would consider to be my close friends because of how much we\u2019ve checked in with each other and supported each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What has it been like to teach art in a virtual space and how are you keeping students engaged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew the first thing I needed to secure was materials. My students need art supplies if they\u2019re going to receive a quality education. I made sure that they received everything they needed to stay engaged. I\u2019ve gotten creative with students showing their work through video or taking a picture and sending it to me. I would also have my doc cam to show different techniques. Despite not being able to walk around a classroom to give pointers, I am completely blown away by the work that my students have produced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You have had a lot of success with fundraising campaigns and have another one on the way, where did the motivation came from and how did that process work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s always been this stigma around the arts – that it\u2019s \u201cfree time\u201d work. In fact, that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. The arts directly involve critical thinking skills and an understanding of mathematical concepts. There are so many ways to interconnect the arts with other core content areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew that because I wanted to instill a high quality art instruction, I needed to raise money to get supplies for my students. I put up a fundraiser on Donor\u2019s Choose for $1200 worth of supplies and through my amazing community of friends, family, past coworkers, I was 100% funded in less than 24 hours. I also received additional gift cards and have been using those to send art care packages to celebrate any academic achievements they\u2019ve had or even birthdays. I have this opportunity now, thanks to Donors Choose, to provide my students with access to a high quality education and an outlet to express themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter my students\u2019 backgrounds or socioeconomic status, they deserve the right to have these materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a challenging time for our students and their families, in what ways do you see the connection between creative enrichments and mental health?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our classroom culture allows our students to express and share their feelings. We recently worked on a self identity water project to express who we are. I had the students in the chat express themselves with three words with some type of identity. One particular 5th grader privately messaged me about her sexual orientation. She\u2019s so proud of it and doesn\u2019t care what the haters say. She\u2019s going to continue to be who she is. I\u2019m honored to be able to provide these opportunities for students to share what they are cognitively going through and also to build community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Any final thoughts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Arts tend to have this thinking of being a perfectionist. Students and adults are afraid to try the arts because they might think \u201cI\u2019m not good at it.\u201d Whenever I\u2019m teaching, I might make a mistake on the video and I say \u201chey that\u2019s okay. It\u2019s part of my process\u201d. I consistently remind my students to embrace and approach the arts with a growth mindset. One person can think something is beautiful and another person can think it\u2019s hideous. One specific piece can have so many interpretations and meanings. The arts and enrichment opportunities really give students a place to be themselves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Holly Sutton’s 5th-8th Grade Art students learn about how to channel their creativity and their identities through the arts Can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n