My name is Lacey Job and I am the art teacher at East Elementary. Art at East Elementary is all about instilling a deep love for art in your child, while learning basic skills along the way. It is my personal opinion that people, in general, take making art too seriously. Which is why teaching kids is the best job I could imagine! Kids don’t take it seriously, and they just have fun with it. The outcome of what they, or anyone, make isn’t the most important part, especially at the elementary level. The most important part is the enjoyment and confidence that comes with making something they can be proud of. When we, as a team, build on that confidence and boost it for these first 5 years of school, my goal is hopefully to create a love of art that will last their lifetime. I am hoping that when they get older they don't get caught up in the idea of perfection, but they focus instead on the enjoyment making/doing art brings them.
In my room I expose students to as many forms of media as I can. We paint using different things, wooden blocks, blowing bubbles in paint, putting paint in shaving cream and printing with it, bubble wrap painted, splatter painting, salt in watercolor paint, etc., not just paint brushes. We print with found objects as well as designs made on foil. We do clay at least one time a year, typically after Christmas break. We also will do at least one project using yarn, typically weaving. 2nd grade I teach sewing, 4th grade we make baskets). At the end of the year we do a 'make whatever you want' project. This is where I bring out all of the items that have been donated to my room (tubes, cardboard, small action figures, fabric, etc) and students are allowed to make whatever sculptural thing they want (don't worry- I give them a few guidelines on size, etc). It is an absolute joy to see what they make and most kids say it 'the best day of the whole school year!'.
Growing up I was never the ‘best artist’ in the classroom, even now as an adult it is rare that I am ‘the best’, but I LOVE making things and creating. My goal for your child is to never let them feel like what they have made is anything less than AMAZING. I am your child's 2nd biggest cheerleader for what they create (obviously, you are their first). In my room I try to do projects that are fun and are different from what they can do anywhere else, so your child is excited to come to art. For me, growing up and still today in some schools, there is such an emphasis on comparing one student's artwork to another and labeling one of them better than the other. I am happy to say this will never happen in my classroom. I am so proud of each and every one of the students I get to share my classroom with. I push students to do things that maybe are hard for them with the motto 'sometimes doing hard things is fun and it helps us grow and get better'. I love my job and I thank you for sharing your child with me and am honored to spend my days learning with them.
Mrs. Lacey Job
