2018 Educator of the Year

I am the fortunate one to be a part of their lives from K-5th grades. It is a real gift to work with each of them. I am blessed to work with kids that like making art and work hard at their craft.” – Erica Carlson

Erica Carlson

Art Educator | Tatanka STEM Elementary | Buffalo, Minnesota

Our school became a STEM school about 5 years ago. I started at this building 6 years ago and my head was full of ways to connect the arts to the science and engineering curriculum. At that time, we had a school wide theme called 10,000 Lakes. It was an interesting challenge to connect this theme through art. I was happy to learn about the State Fish Art Contest at a local convention and was excited that there was an authentic learning opportunity for the 4th and 5th graders (and fit perfectly into our school-wide theme).  

 

My approach to the contest is different depending on their grade level. My 4th graders learn about watercolor pencils the first part of the school year. We practice this new medium and pick our fish. They have drawing lessons on fish making before getting watercolor paper and trying it on their own. I am always impressed with how they take on this new challenge independently and make beautiful fish pieces.

 

Of course, in 5th grade, you don’t want to be told you have to do the same thing as you did in 4th. I encourage the kids to choose a new fish and we learn about the art of Eric Carle. We have a big, messy painting day where everyone makes their own “pretty papers”. They set out on following classes to recreate a habitat and fish out of painted papers. It is a completely different challenge from the year before and while it is not an easy exploration they all find a way to accomplish this collage project. The outcome is always impressive …with the textures and colors. This is project brings out their creativity.

 

While these are very teacher-directed lessons; generally my style of teaching is considered partial or full inquiry. Over the years, I have re-framed my thinking dramatically about what future adults need from their elementary art teacher. My classes are full of choice both in subject matter and medium. This allows children to decide what is most interesting to them as individuals. Mini-lessons are integrated into each class section from art history to art vocabulary. What they are learning has not changed since I started teaching in 2005. The biggest difference is the “how”. 

 

It is of the utmost gratitude that I struggle to express what it means to be recognized this year. This is truly remarkable and completely hard for me to accept alone. My teacher colleagues help support the writing of the contest. I appreciate how they have always stepped up to help make sure their students can participate fully.

 

And then, of course, I look to my kids. I am the fortunate one to be a part of their lives from K-5th grades. It is a real gift to work with each of them. I am blessed to work with kids that like making art and work hard at their craft. I hope that during their time with me at Tatanka expands their world a little more and they learn that the process of art-making can be larger than what is going on in our corner of the building. 

 

Thank you again –