"When we look at or read you all’s [River of Words] poetry, 你的艺术作品, 它激励学生说, “我能做到. And I want to be able to do work that is of that quality and I want to be able to love nature the same way these other students are doing all around the country.它就像一个火花. 它生长.——林德·帕特森
2018 River of Words/卡尔马诺维茨教育学院 Teacher of the Year
Lyndrid Patterson, of the Da Vinci Academy; Gainesville, GA
Lyndrid Patterson teaches 艺术 and 英语 at The Da Vinci Academy, a small public middle school of choice located in Northeast Georgia in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 被悉尼拉尼尔湖环绕, the school is unique as it has “The Museum of Inspired Learning” as its center. It is a true functioning museum that hosts three different exhibits every year that are student researched, 设计, 建, and docented to over a thousand visitors, and almost all have a strong environmental presence. Two of next year’s topics are “Water” and “National Parks”. The school emphasizes the da Vincian principle of the “connectedness” of all things.
Passion put into action have been hallmarks of Lyndrid’s more than twenty years of teaching. “My goal, cliché as it sounds, is to ignite life-long learners. I want my students to get excited about how amazing the heavens and e艺术h are, to be as in awe of a grasshopper as poet Mary Oliver is, and to wonder at the intricate machinations of the body. If they fall in love with the lake or the ocean, they will naturally want to be good stewards of it.” Her students and former students are proof of this, 志愿参加当地的湖泊清理工作, 河流守护者-扫岸者, 回收, 人居环境建设, 人道协会工作, and even teaching at the local nature center. Recently one high school student organized a Water Summit including DNR, River Keepers and other important persons on the panel. Her students provided and organized 艺术work for the evening.
P艺术icipating in real world situations and exhibits is one way Lyndrid motivates her students to high quality work. Her students consistently place in numerous 艺术 and poetry contests including ROW, 少年鸭邮票比赛, 青年GA作者, 霍尔县写作比赛, 托伦斯遗产创意奖, and Kiwanis Youth 艺术 competition to name a few. Her students have placed in ROW for over ten years. 目前, four students have North Georgia landscape themed 艺术 displayed for the session at the Georgia capitol.
Although there is an image of “anything goes” relaxing creativity in some 艺术 rooms, Lyndrid believes creativity (breeding and connecting ideas) is rigorous work – but greatly satisfying and enjoyable. An 英语 class culminating Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 may have various students working on videos, 诗歌分析与写作, or organizing their photo essays that illustrate symbolism, 字符, 或主题. 在艺术中你可以看到, 都在同一时间, 制作科普特针法书籍的学生, 创建蜡染, 缝被子, 绘画, or anything else they decide to learn, but all under a challenging and unifying theme such as “What it means to be Southern”. Often times she collaborates with other teachers using parallel curriculum to connect ideas in social studies, 英语, 艺术, and whatever the student is studying in their museum research.
Lyndrid is also a working 艺术ist whose 绘画s have been described as “poetic musings”. Her work is abstract in general, and inspired by the landscape of Georgia. 原产芝加哥, Lyndrid had the privilege of regularly visiting The Art Institute of Chicago from an early age. This lifelong love of the 艺术s is seen in her community work on the board of the Gainesville Theatre Alliance as well as her daily 绘画 and teaching.
下面, please enjoy just a few of the submissions River of Words has received from Lyndrid's students over the years.
"Boiling Point," by Brisa, age 13, Gainesville, Florida. 艺术2018入围名单. The lower right quadrant of a circle takes up the upper left hand corner of the page; that circle is made up of many smaller circles in varying shades of orange. In the lower right hand corner of the page, we see a larger upper left hand quadrant of another circle. This circle is also made up of many smaller circles, but they are all different shades of purple. 背景是蓝色的. The medium appears to be watercolor paint.
"Hatchlings Beware," Ashley, age 13; Gainesville, Georgia; Art 2017 Finalist. 几只小海龟, scattered on a light yellow beach that is littered with bottles and plastic beverage rings, 向水挣扎. A dinghy and boats float in the distance.