To teach or not to teach is not the question for me: teaching has always been a large part of my life. From being the oldest daughter in a home-schooled family to taking on numerous camp counselor, tutoring, and coaching gigs; I cannot remember a time when teaching wasn't part and parcel with my life. Now, I choose to keep teaching because of the great joy and satisfaction it brings. Teaching asks everything of you, but so generously offers the chance to reach into students' lives and guide them into meaningful understanding and development. 
Even as I seek out other prospective career opportunities, I still find I'm drawn to ones centered around education and growth. I've written curriculum, policy, and programs; helped reorganize business models and designed logos for grassroots movements; edited websites and books.
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My Twitter Account displays many of the art projects I choose for my classroom, while the information below shows a different aspect of my teaching. ​I have organized it into four sections:
1. My personal blog links 2. Photo highlights 3. Personal resources 4. Eco-art (Cayman Projects)

Ongoing Education Blog links:

Feb 18, 2024 ETSY SHOP TIPS
Feb 7, 2024 ALL THE PLATFORMS!
Jan 29, 2024 MIDJOURNEY PROMPTS
Jan 16, 2024 BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Dec 3, 2023 MY EXPERIENCE ON KDP SO FAR
Nov 29, 2023 LET'S TALK SIDE GIGS
Jan 1, 2023 BOOKS OF THE YEAR
​Apr 27, 2022 THE IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM
Jan 30, 2022 CLIMATE-FRIENDLY LIFE HACKS
Jan 30, 2022 POETRY ARCHIVE
Jan 1, 2022 BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Mar 5, 2021 TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS: THOUGHTS FROM A ROOKIE
Feb 17, 2021 TEACHING ONLINE: WHATS BEEN WORKING
Feb 15, 2021 LET'S TALK SCREEN TIME
Feb 7, 2021 FIRST YEAR TEACHING IB ART?
Feb 7, 2021 BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Apr 28, 2020 ​TEACHING ELEMENTARY ART ONLINE
Apr 24, 2020 #COVIDCOLORCHALLENGE
​Apr 2, 2020 ONLINE ART RESOURCES
Dec 26, 2020 BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Sep 27, 2019 DOT DAY AND POP-UP ART SHOWS
Aug 22, 2019 MY SUMMER AT THE FLORENCE ACADEMY OF ART

Photo highlights from my teaching career:

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Personal Resources for dynamic, research-based lessons:

Art

• The National Art Standards https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/ are a tried and true place to start building new curriculum
• Many international museums do a fantastic job of sharing resources specifically for educators. The Met's page https://www.metmuseum.org/learn/educators is a great example of what is available at such sites.
• ​International Dot Day www.thedotclub.org/dotday/ - I find International Dot Day a great way to hit many of my teaching goals at the same time. I use this event to talk about growth mindset and taking risks in art, but also to discuss what quality art looks like. I find it a great event to jumpstart the year with a principles-centered gallery.
• My personal Teacher's Pay Teacher's store www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Oneoneart which I've loaded up with free lessons as well as the most effective resources I made for my classroom that had good reception from the students. 

Psychology

• Books like Louis Cozolino's The Social Neuroscience of Education, David Brooks' The Social Animal, or anything by Oliver Sacks build a sense of wonder and fascination about the workings of the human mind! If you are short on time, check out some similar articles: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/nine_things_educators_need_to_know_about_the_brain 
• From "brain movies" to "brain breaks," this site is a great resource from Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/article/brain-based-learning-resources 
• Slurp up endless amazing TED talks - I will not list my favorites as there are far too many.

Environmental

• Mangrove Action Project https://mangroveactionproject.org/ runs an annual Mangrove Art Calendar Competition that fits in well with science/environmental units. Being the proud teacher of "August 2020," and watching the students react to the idea that their art can really and truly be used internationally toward a movement was a highlight for sure!
• https://www.theartstory.org/movement/environmental-art/ 
• https://www.ecoartproject.org/#work
• https://www.artworksforchange.org/
• http://www.greenarts.org/artprojects.html​

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Eco-art: Cayman Projects

our inspiration: Denise Hughes mural

Bottle Cap Drive

• Cayman Compass Article on March 23rd Bottle Cap Day
• Cayman Compass Article on Cayman Bottle Cap Drive
• Cayman 27 video and article on the Cayman Bottle Cap Drive
• bUneke January edition (beg. on page 19)
• Cayman Compass Article on Marc Laurenson's Jimi Hendrix bottle cap mural
• Collecting plastic bottle caps is an easy way to start building the idea and habit of cleaning up the environment around you.
• Most bottle caps are made of a type of plastic that is really great to reuse for art (whether kept intact or melted.)​
  

​Ecobricks 

• ​https://www.ecobricks.org/ 
• Cayman 27 video and article on the ecobrick movement
• A great way to dispose of plastic in your life that isn't recyclable - rather than leaving plastics to pollute and photodegrade in our environment, Ecobricks consolidate these plastics into one compact "brick", taking what would have been hundreds of small pieces of plastic and turning it into building material.
  

Upcycling Marine Pollution 

• ​Cayman 27 video and article on the Ghost Net being turned into art