my student and our classroomThe Service Learning portion of the Concepts in Art Education (Art325) course was held on the Colorado State University Fort Collins campus, in the art education studio of the Visual Arts Building. Each student enrolled in the course was assigned one of four organizations, which work with disabled individuals. I was assigned an organization called Community Connections. Community Connections is a program through the Poudre School District, which aims to help students with developmental disabilities prepare for a fulfilling life as adults. The individuals signed up to participate in the Service Learning program would be brought by bus to meet their student teachers in the studio.
I had the pleasure of working with a young man named Dawson. Dawson is a freshman at Fossil Ridge High School. Dawson suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child but was one of the most high-functioning individuals in his session. Dawson was very vocal, outspoken and social, learning all the names of the other students and student teachers and showing off his artwork to everyone when complete. He paid special attention to the time and was always cleaned up and ready to go before everyone else. Dawson loves basketball and plays on a team at school; often Dawson would come to our class sessions wearing a basketball jersey. Dawson’s favorite color is red and he loves Colorado State University, talking extensively about attending CSU when he was done with high school. In his artwork Dawson often focused on his dog, drawing many portraits of her outside in the grass, and Star Wars, drawing lots of red light sabers. Over the course of the semester Dawson and I got to know each other and work together very well. When Dawson began experimenting with materials and paint his artwork became freer and he was more focused on colors and shapes than depicting a particular person, place or thing. After working with paint for several sessions Dawson discovered that he enjoyed getting his hands in the paint and using his fingers to create marks; he found he liked getting messy. |
AUTHOR
Tiffany Trotter is a senior Art Education student at Colorado State University. Originally from the Cayman Islands, Trotter now resides in Fort Collins, Colorado. Within the field of art her chosen medium and area of concentration is painting and she is recently completing her capstone show. The current focus of Trotter's art making is climate change, sustainability and endangered species, issues which she is very passionate about. Trotter's main passion however is education, she believes whole-heartedly in the power of education and its ability to change the lives of students, their families and communities. Trotter looks forward to working with her own students in the future and is considering pursuing a Master's degree focusing on special needs education or art therapy. |