RACHAEL WELLS
bit about me
I started making art when I was very little. I would wait all day for my older sister to come back home from school so that she could paint with me.
I have found enjoyment in the artistic process with anyone from 5 years to 18 years. Everyone I work with brings a little more joy into my life. My goal is to bring memorable experiences to each and every one of my students.
I recently graduated from the University of Vermont Class of 2020 with teaching licenses in Art Education and Special Education. I focus on creating an inclusive and engaging environment for all of my students. We all need art and we need each other.
Philosophy of Education
Student Notes
My Goals as an Educator are to...
- Create a class atmosphere that is respectful, safe, nurturing and constructive.Foster the enjoyment of art by creating a positive, safe, energetic and respectful environment that will allow students to gain confidence as developing artists.
- Advocate for, empower and celebrate students of all abilities. Making accommodations for those with special needs and finding creative ways to challenge students and especially those who are excelling beyond expectations.
- Have high, yet reasonable expectations that are clear to students.
- Encourage students to express themselves, take risks, and accept their own and others individuality.
- Encourage students to persevere, problem solve and take creative risks. I believe in practicing choice-based art education with the right amount of structure, to allow young artists to think like artists.
- Instruct students in elements and principles of design as well as other knowledge needed to guide self expression.
- Expose students to art from other cultures, so they can identify common themes and make connections across cultures and to their own lives.
- Include projects with curriculum that incorporates a global understanding of art and its role in history.
- Continue to enhance my curriculum and my teaching practices by continuing to learn, creating my own art, participating in colleagueship and professional development opportunities.
- Continue to strengthen and utilize classroom management skills.
- Be an advocate and enabler for the integration of art into other curriculums.
- Help students access more knowledge about careers in the field of art.
- Use arts resources such as galleries, studios, museums, and guest artists.
- Make the art experience deeply rooted and meaningful in through student discussion, written reflections, and critiques of their own work as well as the work of their peers and established artists.
- To deepen the student's relationship with the natural world through art activities that encourage students to closely observe nature, reflect on its beauty, and integrate it into their personal perceptions.
- To promote the acceptance of diversity through lessons that explore the knowledge and wisdom of other cultures and exposing students to art from a variety of cultures, instilling a sense of art-making as part of the human experience.
- Advocate for the importance of art education through involvement in student art exhibits, community and school functions, and policy making.
- Support student interests by going to student-led events, supporting them at sport meets, and providing them exploration and leadership opportunities.
