Community Arts Partner

Teaching Approach

Teaching Philosophy + Approach

My approach to teaching as a guest or resident artist is to meet with the classroom teacher beforehand, determine goals and desired outcomes, and come up with a general plan for the entire run of the sessions, which I then share with the teacher prior to the first class. I always try to ascertain from the classroom teacher what skills the students already have, so that I can tailor my lessons to fit their needs. Typically, if there are more than a few sessions planned, I’ll save the last class or two for working on individual culminating projects. When students give a sustained focus to a piece that reflects the all the skills they've learned, it makes clear how much they've absorbed as seen in their creative decisions. These pieces can then be presented and read to the class via a document camera, or collected and printed in a classroom comic book zine made by myself on the school’s photocopy machine. Getting to take home a class anthology both gives a sense of accomplishment and lets students compare the different approaches and styles of their classmates.    

Curriculum Integration Possibilities

Most of the residencies I've done have been in a language arts context, but I've also worked with science and history teachers. I've led sessions that involved turning scientific concepts into characters and stories that helped the students understand the material they were studying. Historical curricula integrates naturally with comics, too. Students can create comics about a particular figure or period, and in the process of having to visualize the circumstances of other times and places, they'll be more apt to retain what they've learned. The comics medium is a flexible one for integrated residencies, and it's not hard to imagine how drawing stories and processes could aid one in learning philosophy, foreign languages, math, or any number of subjects. I'm open to a wide range of possibilities.

Special Skills and Areas of Expertise

While I don't have any special training to work with autistic students, over the years I've had many such students in my classes (as well as in occasional one-on-one tutoring sessions) and I am consistently amazed at how effective comics are as a learning tool for this population. Many on the autistic spectrum self-describe as visual thinkers, which makes creating comics an ideal to way to develop writing skills. More than once, I've been told that a student who struggled with writing assignments was able to succeed far beyond expectations when participating in my classes, and that there proved to be lasting and definite impacts long after the residency ended.

Testimonials from Schools

Alicia Craven, Program Manager, Writers in the Schools. acraven@lectures.org, 206.621.2230 (x13). Mary Whisenhunt, Language Arts teacher (6th grade), McClure Middle School. mewhisenhunt@seattleschools.org. David Lasky, teaching artist. davidlasky@yahoo.com, 206.604.7058.