ID and Me
Unexpected Pivot
I have been teaching art in a public school setting for more than a decade. In 2001, when we were sent home for COVID, I was challenged to redesign my art program for online consumption. I fell in love with online learning, with students moving at their own pace and pivoting both my skills in education and design to create stimulating learning experiences. One of the aspects of teaching that I most enjoy is the everchanging audience and assessing the best way to meet learning goals.
My research into virtual learning techniques led me to instructional design. This glance into an industry that I had not previously been aware of was intriguing. I began to dive deeper into ID and found it both exciting and challenging.
How I got to Be Me
Public School Art Teacher
My son and I in front of one of the collaborative art pieces made by my students. Each child in the school (400 +) created a unique feather to make up the wings. This was displayed for our annual student art show.
Renovating Our Victorian
Our house in Pottstown was built in 1890 as a boarding house. It had no insulation, knob and tub wiring, pipes outside of the walls, plaster and lath walls and miles of woodwork. My husband and I have been painstakingly restoring our home with respect toward historic elements but also updating it. This was something that we knew absolutely nothing about prior to owning the house. Through research, hard work and considerable trial and error, we have brought our home into the 21st century with dignity.
Public Art
In fall 2011, I designed, budgeted and installed a mosaic on the façade of a popular coffee house/music venue in downtown Phoenixville, PA.
Artist for Life
I grew up in a ceramic studio that my parents ran out of our home. In this image, from a local newspaper article, I am watching my Dad wedge clay. Along with our home studio, I spent years hanging out after school in my Dad's classroom. I knew how to mix the perfect batch of plaster, throw on the wheel, carve and sculpt by a young age.
Growing up we did not have TV which forced creative thinking to keep entertained. My brothers and I were always learning and making. My dad would be right there exploring with us whether is was a switchboard or a fort in the backyard.
Lifelong learning is a part of me and always has been. Not only did I learn with my hands, I also learned from questioning, reading and research. My parents would make up look up words that we didn't know in the dictionary and read to us every night. This is one of the reasons that I am interested in education. Lifelong learning should be part of all of our lives.