BTS Arts Specialist Highlight Tracy Strauss – Guadalupe Charter School

One of University of Utah’s Professional Development Partners, Kerri Hopkins, had the pleasure of visiting the classroom of Tracy Strauss, a veteran BTS Visual Arts Specialist at Guadalupe School. Walking up to the classroom you find images plastered on the front of the door providing encouraging messages that set the tone for the classroom climate.

As students settle into their seats the lesson starts, and a new project is introduced, creating a still life. For many artists and students alike, still life can be a drab experience that is seen as a necessary evil. However, as Tracy encouraged students to analyze an artwork projected on the wall of a still life that included a plate of figs, she also provided students with figs to try, creating a multi-sensory experience.

Students discussed what historical period they thought the painting was from, using context clues from the painting and pulling from history and art history prior knowledge. After the discussion, students worked in groups to organize a still life using objects they chose and began sketching out their compositions. Although Kerri was only able to observe the beginning of the project, she said, “I’ll be excited to see how they turn out when I go back to do some stop-motion animation with them later this fall.”

Tracy is an educator and professional artist that finds unique ways to enrich the learning experience for her students.

“I’ve been lucky to be a part of the BTS program at Guadalupe School since the very beginning. It’s hard to remember back that far. Was it 2013? 
I’ve been teaching art for 23 years, and it just keeps getting more interesting because I’m always learning new things about the classroom curriculum and that gives me an opportunity to create and expand lessons.”

Her enthusiasm for art blends into her teaching as she finds ways to attend workshops and professional development opportunities both outside of and within the BTS program.

 This summer she traveled to Washington DC to take part in a teacher training at the National Gallery of Art called, Critical Thinking and Social Emotional Learning Through Art.

 She uses the methods and strategies learned from these experiences to strengthen her teaching and create meaningful lessons for her students based on current teaching strategies.

When asked what some of her favorite components of working within a BTS school Tracy replied, “Finding ways to connect my art curriculum to the classroom curriculum makes my job super fun and engaging. 

For example, 3rd grade studies animal classification and so we create origami animals of differing classes and then transform them into an Alebrije and put them in their natural habitat. We learn about Pedro Linares and the origin story of the Alebrijes, and we look at how this idea has spread throughout the world with their use in contemporary sculpture and the movie Coco.”

She later goes on to describe a lesson on self-portraits she completed with her 1st-grade class that was based on the See, Think, Wonder, routine gleaned from her teacher training in D.C. Students looked at Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and asked to think about how a picture can provide insight into a person’s life.

 “We looked in mirrors and created our own full body self-portraits, including as many details as possible to tell the viewer about us and where we are. Next, we drew an animal on one back flap and some kind of creature on the other, cut the paper, and transformed the portraits into a flip game so that we could have a snake body, or cat head for example. The kids thought this was a riot!”

The creative process is not lost on the students at Guadalupe School thanks to their art teacher, Tracy. Through her diligent search for new methods and teaching practices she has elevated her lessons to increase student engagement and build higher order thinking skills. We are grateful that she is part of the BTS team!

A Q&A From This Visit is Available Here