Gina has been participating in our national student art contests for over three years. She teaches at St John’s Episcopal School in California and has had nearly 300 students published in our national anthology! You can read an article on Gina’s impact in the classroom by clicking here.
Gina submitted several students into our Spring 2015 art contest. One of these students, 1st grader Kacy Knierim, was selected as a national Top Ten Winner. This means that out of the thousands of entries submitted into the contest, Kacy’s was chosen as one of the ten best. You can see Kacy’s art by clicking here.
We asked Gina to share what has helped bring her success in her classroom and get her students excited about art.
“I am so thrilled that one of my students made it in the top 10! I think what helps me to bring success into my classroom is that I like to engage my students by giving them a variety of opportunities to express themselves through their art, including the integration of other subject areas to make connections and to give purpose to my lessons. I believe in creating a student centered learning environment where my students can make inferences, judgements and questions, as well as centering my lessons around my students interests whenever possible.
“I develop my lessons around the state standards incorporating the art elements and principles of design in each assignment,but allow my students to personalize their projects to give them creative freedom. It’s through my students creativity that inspires me as a teacher and allows my lessons to evolve. I am so blessed to be guiding these amazing and talented students here at St. John’s. I am very thankful for the opportunities that Celebrating Art has provided for my students. This has been such a rewarding experience for my students and a self-confidence booster! My students are so excited to come to art class and create their art, with the anticipation that their art will be published in the next publication.”
To learn more about our national art contests, visit www.celebratingart.com.
Celebrating Art 