Art 310

My name is Maygen and I am from Northwest Indiana. I live in a town called Griffith, which is only about 30 minutes away from Chicago. I am currently working as an art educator to middle school students grades 5-8. The middle school I teach in is in a small township that has a Gary address, but is not a part of Gary school corporation. We are a Title 1 school, and we most definitely are a high needs and low income district.

I work and live within the district that I teach in because it is a special place to me. I went through the entire school system and graduated from it as well. Part of the reason I am so passionate about what I do, is because I know what it feels like to be a child and young adult growing up in a neighborhood that not many people believe or invest in. It’s important to me that our students know that they have people who are on their side, understand their struggles, and are willing to invest in their futures. The other reason I am so passionate about teaching in my district, is all of the exciting things we are working towards bringing to our students. Some of those things are digital design courses, a Visual and Performing Arts program that includes the elementary, middle, and high school; program is backed by the Jackson family, as well as the progression into becoming a STEAM district.

I am excited about joining this program here at The Ohio State University because I believe this kind of furthering of my education will be an extreme benefit to my students. I work very hard to make sure I create an inclusive classroom as well as a safe space for the diverse needs of our student population, and is my belief that my best shot of enhancing that lies within the knowledge of the professors at OSU. I am lucky to work within a district that supports the arts and sees the value in what I am trying to achieve. I work closely with all other departments and content areas towards arts integration. It is important that students see the value in being a well rounded individual, and the chances that they learn that are much greater if we all work together. We can include the artistic perspective in doing projects, learning vocabulary, understanding the importances of processes, and how what is going on in the world in any time period corresponds to the art of that time. In turn, art can support English, all histories and social studies, as well as math and science!

The other thing that I work hard to do, is work closely with our guidance department on ways to utilize art as a means to regulate and develop healthy coping mechanisms. Unfortunately, our kids see and deal with a lot of traumas and homelessness. We have a new system we are trying, which is called the Reset Room. I have helped create some art and social emotional learning activities for this program. We are slowly introducing this small area of art therapy for our students, and I am just so incredibly proud of this effort by my colleagues.

I am passionate about art and I truly believe that it saves lives. I know that it saved mine. My mission is to be the best I can be for my students, and maybe help leave the world a little better than I found it.