What are professionals saying?
"This program has brought art into my classrooms whereas I never felt confident or knowledgeable enough or had the time to prepare useful lessons at other schools. My students have benefited from the lessons and projects, and their appreciation for art has grown!"
The Art Connects Us docent program manages to do two really important things at our school. First, it welcomes parents into classrooms and allows them to be active participants in their child's learning, whether they are talented artists or simply enthusiastic and willing to learn as they go. These parents do not need to be professional artists because the lessons come with clear instructions to prepare for the projects and an easy-to-follow slideshow to guide their lesson and project. Second, it provides meaningful instruction and practice in artistic concepts like perspective, shading, and texture. The students also learn about the lives of talented artists from today and years past and their contribution to the art world. This program has brought art into my classrooms whereas I never felt confident or knowledgeable enough or had the time to prepare useful lessons at other schools. My students have benefited from the lessons and projects, and their appreciation for art has grown!
Cristina M.
3rd Grade Teacher
After taking a few years off from participating in the art docent program, I welcomed an art docent into my classroom this year and was pleasantly surprised with the changes that were made to this program! Julie did an amazing job developing lessons that were simple for my students to understand, easy for my docent to plan and teach, and included a variety of art projects that were so fun for the kids! As a kindergarten teacher, having the lessons short and simple is very important in keeping my students engaged. This program does that! Julie developed very detailed, easy to follow, instructions for my docent. This included a tutorial video, sample lessons, and even included a pacing schedule for my docent. My docent always arrived well prepared for each lesson and knew exactly where to find the supplies needed for the projects. My students loved the projects so much because they were different from the typical art projects we do in class. They got to work with clay, practice weaving, do potato stamping, use chalk pastels, and so much more! These projects provided my students the opportunity to practice and strengthen their fine motor skills too, which is so important in kindergarten! I look forward to inviting an art docent into my classroom again next year!
Kindergarten Teacher
This art docent program has been a game changer for the art program at our school. Having the lessons outlined with supply lists included and educational content allows for parents to volunteers and teach the kids the art lesson without having to piece together the lesson. The children have been enjoying the lessons. As a parent having the additional educational information included is very important. This program has saved many parent volunteers hours of time and as a result many more parents are willing to volunteer to teach the lessons because they are ready to go and comprehensive. I would highly recommend this program to any schools who want to incorporate art into their children’s classroom.
S. Lennon
Parent Volunteer
