Collegiate Continues to Honor Faculty and Staff for Excellence

Independent schools are full of talented teachers who relish the many opportunities afforded them to develop and expand their curriculums to the ultimate benefit of their students. Collegiate, as no surprise, finds itself fortunate to have many teachers who fit this mold and as a result, boasts an educational program that provides a challenging, supportive and exciting experience for its students across the divisions.

 

This year's Craigie designee, Ms. Teresa Coleman, creates such an experience through the physical space of the art room and in her delivery of creating a full-on fine art experience for our Middle School students. While it is always common to see students eagerly engaged in their artwork when you step into HCA 108, there is far more to the story of how they arrived there.

 

Teresa strongly believes in choice, which helps to build her budding artists from teacher-led instruction with step-by-step processes toward choice-based teaching and learning. So what does this exactly mean? It means that the student is the artist, and the artist is a problem finder and problem solver. It means that the student selects both content and media. It means that students have full ownership of process, directions, and outcomes. The creation of this framework and environment takes a considerable amount of pedagogical skill and craft, and equal parts patience and belief. Ultimately, this works for Teresa and her students because they both believe in each other and themselves.

 

And if you know Teresa, you know that her philosophical approach to teaching art beautifully matches her philosophical approach to fostering growth in young adolescence. Yes, learning to be a more confident artist who experiments with new mediums and develops new fine motor skills through creativity is important. Very important. But really, Teresa is helping our Middle School students find ideas. Find meaning. Find expression. Find a voice. And there is nothing more important to a Middle School student than to find their voice.

 

Teresa's support of students stretches to every corner. Teresa always seems to have the right answer for whomever she is conversing with, from a calming and rational point of view to having incredibly attentive and active listening skills; her repertoire is deep. While Teresa can also be found helping throughout the Middle School, such as facilitating Mosaic to chaperoning the Dungannon trip. Wherever Teresa is and whatever she is doing, Teresa is helping to make our community better and stronger.