JAN 18, 2020: Breakfast & a Workshop, Middletown, NJ
Save the Date: Breakfast and a Workshop! Registration begins Dec. 10, 2019
This is an annual opportunity to learn from your fellow art educators! We will meet at the Middletown Arts Center on Saturday, January 18, 2020 from 9-11:30am. Choose from elementary, middle, or secondary lessons presented by our 2019 Division Award winners. Keep an eye out for our email when we open registration soon! In the meantime, learn a bit about presenters Charlene Anolik, Megan Hawthorne, and Barbara Russo below:
ELEMENTARY: Charlene Anolik
Charlene attended Boston University’s School of Fine and Applied Arts, studied Photography and filmmaking at the University of London in the UK, and holds a School District Leader certificate. As a child, she traveled to 25 countries on five continents, discovering the unique geology, art and cultures that enabled her to understand visual communication on a deeper level. She presently works in the Bergenfield Public School District where she has taught everything from Pre-K to AP Art History over the years. In addition to teaching art, Charlene started an art-literary magazine with middle-schoolers, Bear Tracks Art Literary Magazine. It earned a Gold Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the highest accolade bestowed upon a scholastic publication.
MIDDLE: Megan Hawthorne
Megan teaches in Highland Park, NJ. Hired in 2006, she was the first solely MS art teacher in a small, but quickly growing town. Now entering her 14th year, Megan has since worked to expand the middle school art programs and curriculum with a teaching approach that revolves around building relationships with an emphasis on diversity and social emotional learning through art. This past January, she and her students participated in the Windows of Understanding project, a collaboration with Mason Gross School of the Arts, and the Arts Councils in both Highland Park and New Brunswick. Megan was named Teacher of the Year at her school in 2018. When she is not teaching, Megan can be found spending time with her two daughters dabbling in various creative projects around their home in Hamilton, NJ, sharing her talents and spreading her love of all things creative to those around her.
SECONDARY: Barbara Russo
Barbara teaches at Hightstown High School in East Windsor. She knew teaching was something that she wanted to do from a young age, but first and foremost she wanted to be an artist; she did not realize until later in life that she could do both! Barbara worked as an assistant teacher at the elementary, high school, and college levels while attending RISD. She explored several careers before teaching, all involving some form of art and design. She shares her experiences as well as her love and joy of art making and art history with her students today. In becoming a teacher, she has not only realized her true vocation, but also that it is rewarding and fulfilling in a myriad of ways. Barbara advocates for the arts by collaborating with teachers in other content areas as well as administrators and the community as a whole. For example, she has her students create beautiful murals for all who enter her school to enjoy. Outside of the classroom, Barbara advises the club Artists Union, which hosts a school-wide art show to encourage creativity and artistic confidence outside of an academic setting.