Beaverton Art Literacy
The Beaverton School District is home to an exceptional, volunteer-staffed elementary and middle school art education program called Art Literacy. About 1,600 volunteers currently participate in Art Literacy in 48 Beaverton elementary and middle schools.
Art Literacy lessons are presented six times a year at the elementary level, from October to June, and three times a year at the middle schools, during regular school hours.
If you are a Community Volunteer, you are assigned a classroom at a school where there is a need. You may present the lessons/art projects to the students, or choose to act as an assistant to the presenter.
This is an opportunity for those who enjoy working with students in a teacher-like role. The classroom teacher remains with the class, but you are presenting or assisting with the lesson.
NO ART BACKGROUND IS REQUIRED AND ALL MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED.
Art Literacy volunteers need to attend a training meeting before each classroom presentation. The times and days for these are different at each school
At the training, volunteers receive a copy of the lesson they will be teaching. The Art Literacy coordinator will present the lesson/artist overview, the focus of the lesson, and then will teach the lesson as if in a classroom setting. The art project the students will be completing is demonstrated and explained. You, too, will complete the art project, so you will know how to best teach the students. All of the art supplies are provided by each school program.
Classroom assignments for volunteers are made at the beginning of the school year, and the presentations are scheduled with the teacher, by you or the coordinator, to take place during regular school hours.
The artists that are presented during the year are pre-selected according to a district-wide rotation that includes a painting, non-painting, 20th century artist, woman, minority or regional artist, as well as introducing art from another culture.
The program’s elementary curriculum is based on 72 artists and the middle schools' curriculum has over 40 artists.
The students study European masters, renowned American artists, some living and local artists, and cultural arts. For example, Marc Chagall, Bev Doolittle, Dale Chihuly, Claude Monet, Beatrix Potter, Grandma Moses, Faith Ringgold, Mary Cassatt, Deborah Butterfield, Rembrandt, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Canadian Inuit, Ancient Greece, and Korea, are all part of the curriculum.
You can see the rotations and a schedule of the artists month by month by looking at the Box Rotation section on this website.
Each year the rotation adjusts to bring a new set of artist lessons to the students.
Generally, each classroom lesson and art project takes a little over an hour. Total time commitment for each lesson is about three and a half hours, which includes training, classroom time, preparation and clean up.
Teaching Art Literacy is an extremely rewarding volunteer opportunity for both the volunteer and the students.
If you would like more information about volunteering for the Art Literacy program in the Beaverton School District, please contact Ann Peplinski at Ann_Peplinski@beaverton.k12.or.us. Thank you for volunteering in Beaverton Schools!
The Beaverton School District requires ALL volunteers to fill out and pass an online background check. Volunteers will also need to create a Volunteer Profile Account for signing in prior to volunteering in any school. Click on this link for more information... https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/departments/communications-community-involvement/volunteer
