Art Teacher Extraordinaire Retiring

Congratulations, Ms. Snider, and thank you!

“LOVE WHAT YOU DO AND NEVER STOP LEARNING ABOUT WAYS YOU CAN ENGAGE STUDENTS!”

While reading Janie Snider’s reflections below you will understand who she is and the impact she has had, not only on her elementary and middle school students, but the adults in her life also. Janie is a gem whom I’m certain will be missed in her daily teaching role. I’m confident that she will continue to make a difference in this world through her interactions with others as she enjoys her retirement. Thank you Janie for your service to the field of education! I know the blog readers join me in wishing you the very best in your retirement.

Last week of school, Hancock Grammar School

IN JANIE’S WORDS…

I have been teaching for 30 years. My first ten years teaching were in SAD#37 including Columbia Falls, Millbridge, Cherryfield, Harrington, and Addison. I started as a long-term art substitute, then as a kindergarten teacher and the following year as the art teacher. In 2002 I started teaching at Hancock Grammar School, where I spent the last 20 years. As a result of consolidation, I also taught art at Lamoine Consolidated for four years from 2011-2015. I received a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education, K-8 from University of Maine, Machias and K-12 Visual Arts Certification.

My favorite part of teaching is building the most wonderful relationships with students that revolve around art making! Painting is my favorite discipline. Guiding students through color exploration and expression is so rewarding.

Cherryfield School – notice all the art styles included?

It has been quite the journey from when I was a young itinerant art teacher. I remember being so overwhelmed in my early years; five schools, 600 students and all the different challenges. In year three I was considering giving it up. I was feeling isolated and unsure of my impact on students. Then one day as I was introducing landscape to third graders I learned that I was! As I explained the horizon line, a little boy who normally didn’t participate suddenly started waving his hand, so I called on him. He was so excited to have made this connection, he said, “I saw it this weekend when I was on the lobster boat with my Dad, there it was and I knew it had something to do with art!!!” From that moment on, I never questioned my ability to connect students with the wonders of art in their world. It was my inspirational moment. Nature is my inspiration for my own work and it easily found it’s way into my lessons!

I have seen many changes in education and art education over the years. I truly believe that being included in the “Maine Learning Results” gave validity to arts education. However, it was challenging to keep up with the interpretation of standards that serve as guidance in developing strong arts programming. I was fortunate to have been an active part of this process, a member of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI, now MAEPL), a local leader, and advocate for arts education. All of which helped me tremendously with meeting students needs! As a result of my work, I was recognized as the 2014 Maine Middle School Art Teacher by the Maine Art Education Association. This was a very important time in affirming my career. Representing Maine and attending the National Art Education Association conference in New Orleans was a definite highlight!

Another huge change is how technology has developed and changed the art curriculum, this boggles my mind. I started my career without using any technology and in 2020 developed an online art curriculum for remote learning.

Three things that are really key to a successful art program are:

• KNOW your students, develop a relationship with them!! Listen to them!!
• SHOW your passion for your profession!! Be creative in your approach!!
• GO WITH THE FLOW, be flexible, be current with best practices and meet students where they are!

Janie in her classroom at Hancock Grammar School

I am most proud of my ability to guide students and help them understand and appreciate art in education and the world. I recently received a message from a former student who was in Washington DC at the National Gallery and was thinking back to the many lessons she learned in my classes. She thanked me for that. I have many young adults that have reconnected with me and shared their fond memories in art! 

Looking into my crystals ball….My advice to teachers is “LOVE WHAT YOU DO AND NEVER STOP LEARNING ABOUT WAYS YOU CAN ENGAGE STUDENTS!” 

K-8 mural, D.W. Merritt Elementary School, Addison. Kindergarten students started at the bottom and the mural grew as each grade contributed.

Stay curious, involved and be a life long learner. Take classes and reach out to others in your area of expertise, they are a gift!

I have come to realize that I was supposed to be an art teacher. So I guess the innate ability to teach was there, I just needed to become aware of it. I knew early on I had some artistic talent and wanted to be an artist. However, life happened and that dream had to be on hold. So I learned a lot of teaching skills over the years that helped me in my work! I’m still learning more about my work through my reflection. I am hopeful that during retirement I will rediscover that innate “art-self” that will bring my life-long dream into being.

Hancock Grammar School

I plan to make time for me and my art! I plan to take art classes, garden, read, travel with my honey and spend time with family and friends. I have grandkids that I am excited to have more time with!❤️ I know me and I am always busy, so my goal is to slow down just a bit and smell the roses!!

If I was given $500,000….definitely, buy a camper to continue my trips to the national parks. Contribute to my grandkids education fund and invest in my community arts programming! 

I hope to be 94 and looking back!! My mom made it to 93 and we had a conversation about regrets before she passed. No regrets here, I have lived a good life, learned many lessons to carry me into the present! I have listened to my intuition and followed my heart, which is full of love!!❤️

Janie painting, home studio

Monhegan Artist Residents’ Present

PechaKucha-Style Event

Katherine Cargile (2019 Resident) – Lewiston Middle School art teacher,The Mariner’s House, 2018, acrylic on panel, 16” x 16″

Join us for a PechaKucha-style event on Saturday, October 26, 5 p.m. at 162 Russell Avenue in Rockport (the former CMCA building). A group of Monhegan Artists’ Residents, including residents from the last two summers, will present slideshows of their work.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear directly from the artists about their time creating work on island and how the experience has informed their current studio practice. Presenting artists include: Kate Cargile (2019), Jennifer Calivas (2019), Sarah Haskell (2018), Raegan Russell (2018), Carol Sloane (2002), and Jude Valentine(2018).

Kate is a Lewiston Middle School art teacher, Raegan teaches art Berwick Academy and Jude is a teaching artist and has done a lot of work with Visual Thinking Strategies.

Watch for the Monhegan Artist Residency opportunity for next summer and consider applying.

Tickets are $5 at the door. Reception to follow. We hope to see you there!

MALI Teacher Leader Story: Hope Lord

Visual Art Educator

This is one of several blog posts in 2018 that include stories of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Phase 7 Teacher Leaders and Teaching Artist Leaders. This series includes a set of questions so you can learn a little bit about each leader. CLICK HERE  for more information on MALI. CLICK HERE  for more information on the 93 Teacher Leaders and 8 Teaching Artist Leaders. CLICK HERE  for Arts education resources. CLICK HERE  for the MALI Resource Bank. Search in the “search archives” box on the bottom right side of this post for past teacher leader stories. Thank you Hope for sharing your story!

Hope Lord has been the Art & Design teacher for 300 grades 6 through 8 students at Maranacook Community School for the last 7 years. She also teaches and inspires 16 gifted and talented art students and is the co-advisor for the school’s yearbook. Prior to that Hope taught in RSU #38 for 19 years, 12 as a special education teacher.

What do you like best about being an art educator?

It’s wonderful when I see my students make connections between art & other content areas. I love watching my students take risks in their art and grow as artists. I enjoy being surrounded by young artists and presenting them with opportunities to explore, develop, challenge, and create art. The best part of being an art educator is witnessing a student’s success, as they become and see themselves as artists.

What do you believe are three keys to ANY successful visual and performing arts education?

Three keys to a successful visual arts education program are creativity, perseverance, and collaboration.

1. First of all, creativity is important because an arts educator is always looking for creative inspiration for new lessons and challenging their students to innovate and take creative risks in their artwork. Art educators also have to be creative in obtaining the resources they need for their art classrooms and for adapting materials and lessons to challenge and meet the needs of all their students.
2. Perseverance is also key to successful arts education. The process of creating art requires the artist to experiment, revise, and rework their art numerous times. Students need to learn perseverance because students often experience failed attempts in communicating their message or executing their design. By encouraging students and supporting them through the revision process, students learn to persevere and develop a life-long skill. Perseverance not only helps students become artists, it also helps them work through any difficult task they face in school and future careers.
3. The final key to a successful arts program is collaboration. Seeking and receiving feedback and collaboration is crucial in planning, developing, and creating artwork. When students collaborate they gain insight and new perspectives that they wouldn’t if working in isolation. Collaboration also challenges and inspires an art educator. Collaborating with other educators and community members enriches an art program, providing greater resources and connections that working alone cannot. Collaboration teaches vital 21st century skills that prepare students for life.

How have you found assessment to be helpful to you in your classroom?      

Quality assessment helps me understand how a student is learning and the degree to which they comprehend a concept. It also helps me plan my instruction based on concepts students need more instruction or may have misunderstandings and need clarification. Assessment also provides students feedback on their learning and how they can improve their work. 

What have been the benefits in becoming involved in the Maine Arts Leadership initiative?

MALI has provided me the support, encouragement, and skills I needed to become an arts leader in my school, district, and state. I have the confidence to take creative risks in my teaching. My teaching has improved because of those risks and the collaboration with teachers throughout my district. My professional growth has enabled me to become an arts education leader and mentor to new teachers in my district. Additionally, I have the confidence to share my teaching experiences with other art teachers and receiving constructive feedback. MALI has been a great inspiration. 

What are you most proud of in your career?

I am most proud of the work I’ve done with some of my most challenging students. I love seeing these students grow creatively and find success in art, when they have not been successful in other content areas. As I watch their art confidence grow, I also see their self-esteem improve, and it warms my heart. I know the extra investment and encouragement these students need, is well worth the effort. Every student needs to feel they are good at something. I am proud that I have been able to assist students in finding success in art and also building their self-esteem.

What gets in the way of being a better teacher or doing a better job as a teacher?

The day to day politics of education interfere with being a great teacher. The increasing demands of our time and ever changing policies, hinders educators. The lack of support & funding for the arts from administrators, school boards, community, and legislators, all interfere with being a great teacher.

What have you accomplished through hard work and determination that might otherwise appear at first glance to be due to “luck” or circumstances?

I have spent the last seven years developing an arts curriculum that is engaging and fosters creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, while connecting the arts to other content areas. It is hard work and requires continuous revisions and alterations, as I teach each group of students. When a well planned and integrated art unit is executed, it seems effortless. However, it requires numerous hours of planning, research, collaboration, and support.

Look into your crystal ball: what advice would you give to teachers?

I would tell them to trust their instincts and take risks. Share your ideas with colleagues and get feedback and support to act on those ideas. Reach out to your community and colleagues throughout the state for resources and support to bring your ideas to fruition.

If you were given a $500,000.00 to do with whatever you please, what would it be?

Making drums at the MALI Summer Institute, August 2018

I would take some of the money to build a new art and design studio and gallery at my school. I would also establish a grant that would be available to art teachers to help fund art materials and equipment, field trips, and artists in residence programs throughout Maine.

Imagine you are 94 years old. You’re looking back. Do you have any regrets?

My only regret would be that I didn’t start my teaching career as an Art Educator. Even though I enjoyed the challenges and successes of a Special Education teacher, I wish I would have taught Visual Arts from the beginning. I would still have had the opportunities of teaching students with special needs, but through the arts lens. Teaching art and mentoring young artists has been very rewarding and my only regret is I didn’t start sooner.

Interview with Carol Shutt

Maine Community Foundation

Recently Carl Little, communication director, from the Maine Community Foundation sent me a link to this wonderful blog post about art educator Carol Shutt. Many of you know Carol from Haystack and the fall Maine Art Education conference. With Carl’s permission I am reposting it. The original is found at THIS LINK.

Carol Shutt has been the K-8 art teacher at Mount Desert Elementary School in Northeast Harbor for the past 27 years. Over the years Shutt successfully applied for several Vincent Astor Incentive Awards from the Maine Community Foundation. In an interview in her classroom this past December, Shutt talked about her life in art and teaching and benefits of the Astor grants and art education.

How did you end up in Maine?

I was born in California, in a small town outside of Los Angeles. I grew up there and then left for college. I started at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and ended up at Syracuse University, which is what brought me east. I graduated in fine arts.

When I moved to Maine, I first was a self-employed craft person because after college I had worked for three years in a really nice craft gallery in Philadelphia, the Works Gallery, run by Rick and Ruth Snyderman. When I came to Downeast Maine in the mid-1970s, there were no galleries so I started making quilts, my own designs, many of them using Amish colors. I did that for about 12 years. And then I became a teacher.

Although my father had been a teacher, I didn’t really think that was going to be my path. I took a temporary position in Steuben and started getting my courses together. After one year at Steuben, I got the job here [at Mount Desert Elementary School]. That was 1991. So this is my 27^th year. I retire at the end of this school year.

I think being a K-8 art teacher requires a diverse skill set. Kids surprise you, they do amazing things. The art-making can be the pretext for socializing. This is the class where they can talk while they work.

Can you say something about the importance of art education?

We’re lucky this school and this island are very supportive. And you see how much [art] enriches lives. It’s such a holistic way of learning. You’re maybe getting ideas for imagery from an experience or feeling, but you also get stuck and have to problem solve.

Learning to think critically and creatively is so important. You might just brainstorm ideas. Or you might say, like I did, consider putting two dissimilar images together because that could be more exciting than just one that you might expect. So I feel like in all the arts you’re putting ideas together in new ways and going “Hah! I just thought of this.”

Art is a way to reach all students. I do some one-on-one work with students. It’s kind of amazing what you can do through the arts that you can’t do verbally, in other modalities. It’s powerful. Music is powerful. Dance is powerful.

And it’s also so experiential. It’s amazing how if you just jump in and you’re doing it, it’s so authentic.

In your 27 years at Mount Desert Elementary, you received 10 Astor Incentive Awards. What did they allow you to do?

It’s an amazing benefit for the staff at this school, at the Northeast Harbor Library and the Mount Desert Island High School. It’s amazing to me because the whole goal is to encourage teachers to do things that are self-enriching, with the premise that they will make you a better teacher. They really aren’t looking for people to apply and go take a methods course or go to a conference on curriculum. We already do that; it’s part of the professional development of the school.

The first few Astor grants I received in the 1990s allowed me to study with artists I really like. I studied with Rebecca Cuming, a wonderful artist from Southwest Harbor who now lives in Colorado. I also did a weeklong workshop with painter Louise Bourne. I love her work. I drove down to her studio in Sedgwick every day.

You have also traveled on Astor grants.

My first travel grant took me to Tuscany; there was a weeklong painting workshop there, two wonderful painters teaching it. Lunch was brought out to the fields and you painted outside. At night we’d critique. It was an enriching artistic experience. When the workshop was over, I traveled with my daughter Sarah to Florence and then to France. We visited Aix-en-Provence, where Cézanne painted, and then Arles and van Gogh. I did a lot of sketching in Provence.

How do think the grants have affected you as an artist and teacher?

I think the grants have made me more of an artist. And they have changed how I work with kids. Being a teacher but being an artist too, I am setting an example. The Astor grants gave me more of an identity: this is who I am, this is the kind of art I like to make.

So I think learning to be an artist and then just deepening what I know and what I do. Most of the grants that I did were art retreats. I went by myself and had a routine of working early in the morning and then going out and walking all day, having experiences and sitting and sketching and then coming back and working. There’s nobody there, nothing to distract you—it’s an amazing way to travel. That kind of experience deepens the way I do things with the kids.

Your last trip was to Cuba, in 2017. What was it like?

It was fascinating. I came home wanting to go back immediately. The people were so friendly. So much music, so much art. At the very end I discovered that they have an amazing ceramic museum in Havana. I had met a ceramic artist and he had a gallery and he told me about it. There are art schools in every province of Cuba and they’re very hard to get into, but if you do, you are really supported, you get all kinds of resources.

What do you plan to do in retirement?

I have an art practice so I look forward to having more time and traveling. My husband, Rocky Mann, is a clay artist so I’ve been preparing a part of our studio and I’ve been working on things that I might like to do in clay. I look forward to exploring.

Look for more about Carol Shutt in the spring edition of Maine Ties, MaineCF’s newsletter.

In Today’s News

More than 40 years teaching

Art teacher Mary Dyer is retiring from Winthrop High School. Read about her in the Kennebec Journal.

http://www.centralmaine.com/2016/05/27/two-teachers-retiring-after-long-careers-at-winthrop-high-school/