Teaching philosphy
My teaching philosophy has evolved during my 14 year educational career but one aspect remains the same; how will the knowledge I have for my craft impact a student's future? Although I abide by district mandates and expectations for instruction and assessment, I strive to create an untraditional learning environment in my classroom. Students who are exploring a creative medium must first, before any true instruction can happen, feel comfortable, accepted and supported. Learners are more enticed to explore their creativity if they know they are in a safe space. Exploration leads to experimentation, failure and growth...not necessarily in this order. My classrooms have always been a safe, creative space for all my learners.
Curriculum and instruction
When developing or rewriting curriculums I always plan around the technical progression of what the student needs to know before they can move on. For the Digital Photography courses I begin the semesters using the automatic mode of the camera. Letting the camera absorb light on its own frees the student up to focus on compositional techniques and arranging the Elements and Principles of a good deisign within their viewfinder. I approach this technology based course with a strong tie to a fine arts foundation. Students must recognize how to organize the elements within their four corners to create a strong composition. As the semester progresses students learn how to set the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO while using the Lightmeter to obtain a well exposed image.
Media Arts students begin with a strong foundation of Art and Design Principles. Through the exploration of hand drawn fonts and characteristics students begin to recognize fonts by their family identifiers. This knowledge of Typography fuels the layout and design process for the rest of the semester. Students begin with acknowledging the history of type and design and progress to creating digital layouts using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.
You must learn the history and techniques before you can develop effective compositions and designs. Projects are assigned in conjunction with specific Photoshop tools. As the intensity of the project expectations grow so does the Photoshop knowledge that students can pull from to add to their next project. Babies learn to crawl before they can walk. I teach my classes the same way.
Teaching Credentials and Experience
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Teacher of Art Standard Certificate, New Jersey
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Actively pursuing Commercial Photography Certificate, NJDOE
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Owner & Operator; Amanda FitzPatrick Photography, LLC.
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Rated Highly Effective and Effective Public school teacher according to the Danielson Framework for teacher evaluation.
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Six years experience teaching at the high school level.
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Neptune High School Teacher of the Year 2014.
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Seven years experience teaching at the middle school level.
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High school Yearbook Advisor for five consecutive school years.
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Continually mentoring graduates who are pursing the arts and photography.
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Developed successful memorial scholarship for local high school students.