Hi. I’m Brooke.

I love teaching, and I love art.

My favorite part about teaching is when I see a spark of understanding and excitement in the eyes of student who didn’t think they liked art. I have seen this in Kindergarteners and I have seen it in twenty-year-old college students. My goal as a teacher is to instill the love and excitement of learning into my students, and for them to know that art is for everybody.

I am currently teaching Art Integration at Millersville University. This is a course for Early Education majors and Special Education majors. In a nutshell, it teaches them how to equitably use the visual arts as a tool in the regular education classroom, alongside math, science, social studies and English language arts. I also supervise Art Education student teachers, observing them multiple times throughout their student teaching placements, and working with them to successfully graduate and earn their K-12 Pennsylvania teaching certificate.

I had the honor to teach Kindergarten to fifth grade art at Union Canal Elementary School in the Cornwall Lebanon School District from 2007-2013. During this time teaching at Union Canal, I also rewrote the K-5 curriculum, coached groups of 5th grade art students to develop and exhibit a body of artwork, as well as completing my Masters degree in Art Education from Kutztown University.

What happened during the time in between teaching Elementary Art & College-level Art Integration? I decided to spend more time at home with my two children while teaching private art lessons out of my home studio, developing a body of my own artwork, and volunteering as the Art Educator and Art Track director for Camp Rock, a summer arts camp at Mission Church.

Teaching at Millersville University as been such an invaluable experience. As a supervisor, I have the opportunity to see many art classrooms and the variety of ways they function. As a professor teaching Art Integration, I have increased in my passion for and understanding of the importance of art in learning: not just in the art classroom but in the regular education classroom. The arts provide natural differentiation, higher engagement and excitement, and help develop critical thinking and 21st Century skills.

I love art, and I think everyone should have the chance to love it, too.