Clay Tile Installation 2011-2012
Upon being hired to open David Suzuki Secondary School, and participating with the opening day activities, my teaching partner and I thought that it would be a great idea to have students and staff who first walked through the doors of our building to leave an imprint, and to create an artwork that spoke of our environmental vision, commitment and stewardship. It was in this context that the artwork you see being installed above was made, and I had the fortune to be able to coordinate its creation and installation. In addition to the work created by staff and students, Dr. David Suzuki and Dr. Jane Goodall have both graciously contributed their own original artworks to the school. Dr. Suzuki through his piece created with a large piece of bark and stylus has given us the title for our installation “To Mother Nature”. Dr. Jane Goodall’s piece which includes a variety of naturally found objects and a light hand print, reminds us of the “touch that we should have on nature”. As a school community, we hope to have other influential speakers come in to address the staff, students, and community, and have them participate in our ongoing installation.
David Suzuki Arts Nights 2011 – Present
In the winter of 2011 I brought the basic skeleton of the SLSS Arts Night to DSSS, and we have begun starting the tradition here of having one night each semester to celebrate the arts and the community. I like how this has transformed as my teaching partners have added on and have made it a true community event by asking the community into the building for a pot-luck dinner prior to the show. As the traditions become more established, I will be able to add to this section.
Stephen Lewis Secondary School Arts Nights 2007-2011
At SLSS we had a great tradition of hosting an interdisciplinary Arts Night in order to promote the work that students were doing in the classroom and extra-curricularly. We had strong themes that set the tone for each evening, two of my favourite being “fraMEd” based on the board game glue and “Rockin’ the 90s”. For “fraMEd” we had clues and made the evening interactive and at end of the night, guests could figure out ‘who defaced the principal’s portrait’. In addition to the interactivity of the evening, the entire department dressed up as characters from the infamous game. I was able to be Professor Green (see poster in slide show). My most favourite evening was for “Rockin’ the 90s” where we each dressed up as a 90s stereo type – I became the rapper and was asked by the students to emulate the style of Vanilla Ice. At the end of this show, the teachers took to the stage to strut their stuff, which for me brought me way out of my comfort zone (beyond looking ridiculous in order to create a sense of community within the school) as we danced to a mash up of some of the great tunes from the 90s. (see photo in slide show and video below).
Assessment for Learning Workshops
Equitable Assessment and Evaluation for Students
