My name is Acacia Knox and I am the art teacher at Cuba High School and Cuba Elementary School. This is my third year teaching at Cuba High School and my first year teaching at the Elementary. When I graduated from Spoon River Valley I spent two years at Spoon River College before moving on to Western Illinois University to earn my degree in Art Education.
I first became interested in art when I was a sophomore in high school. I realized that I had very little natural talent, but I loved to create. I discovered that I was a painter by heart, but I still loved to dabble in the other areas. It wasn't until my second year of college that I finally decided to put my love for art into a career that allowed me to instill that love in others. I originally set out to teach only elementary students, but quickly changed my mind once I was had to do part of my student teaching with high school students.
On October first we had the Space Art Family visit both the high school and elementary school. They spent about four hours at each school demonstrating their art. They completed full paintings with nothing but cans of spray paint. Most of the student body was allowed to venture out at least once to watch them work. Teachers and students alike were amazed at what they could create with just cans of spray paint.
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Art I Art I is all about the basics. The year is packed with exercises and lessons dealing with drawing and shading. We strictly work in 2-D so we can concentrate on the very basics of art. |
Art II Art II is all about learning the basics of different mediums. We spend the year becoming familar with the techniques used to complete projects in different mediums. |
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Art III and IV Art III and IV are a little more independant. Students choose what medium they would like to concentrate in and then we discuss projects together. Students are also required to complete a "community service" project once a quarter that I assign. |
Elementary I have spent this year traveling to the grade school twice a week to teach in the classrooms. I have tried to design lessons that not only teaches the basics of art, but also reinforces what is being taught in the classroom. |
