Inside Out Art Teacher

I am Lauren, and I have been teaching high school visual art for 26 years. I created Inside Out Art to help me spend my time in the classroom more efficiently. I have giant, diverse classes with multiple levels in one group. Because of my resources, I can give every student the attention they deserve and avoid the frustrations of the job that I have learned to anticipate. I can focus on all the positive things I love about art and teaching high school. I feel happy, energized, inspired, and fulfilled. This energy directly influences my students and our relationship in the classroom. I use everything I create with my own classes and consistently update them to make them better, more attractive, and more functional. Each product is a work of art to me. I love graphic design and the aesthetics of my materials are just as important to me as the content. I am so grateful to be able to share my passion and my work with other teachers and help them in their classrooms.

I stress self awareness and try to infuse humor into everything I do with my students. I teach them to learn to see like an artist and explain that this goes against our natural way of thinking. I show them how to become aware of common thought patterns that get in their way and give them tricks to help them recognize and redirect their attention to help them succeed. I am constantly challenging myself to find new ways to organize lessons and projects so that I am spending more quality time with students addressing deep individual needs and less time on common avoidable things that suck away real teaching moments. Through my own awareness I pinpoint situations and occurrences that interfere with my ability to teach high quality lessons. Then, I make materials that solve those problems . I want to enjoy my job and be able to focus on the things about it that I love. My happiness is important and my energy is reflected on my students. Everything I create helps to avoid the common issues that can be frustrating. When a student asks what to do next I direct them to a handout, video, or PowerPoint that has the answer so I can work on refining skills, discussing concepts, and digging deeper rather than repeating simple things over over and over.

MA in Art Education from Teachers College Columbia University. Ba in Art Education from The College of New Jersey

I want every student to be proud of themselves and realize that they can create complex meaningful art. I push them outside of their comfort zones and force them to see that they can do things they may not have thought they could. I start with one skill or technique and each project builds on that idea. Students build confidence and slowly begin to trust that when they focus and slow their mind down they can create anything they put their heart into.