Recent graduate Lizah Vaillancourt (BA in Visual Art Studies, 2018) will be awarded one of the 2018 Outstanding Art Educator awards in the division of Student of Art Education from the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) during the TAEA annual conference on Nov. 9, 2018.
Vaillancourt is currently employed as a school teacher at Brookhollow elementary in Plugerville, Texas. In an interview with the Austin American-Statesman, Vaillancourt said that, while the award took her by the surprise, the special recognition gives her confidence in her teaching abilities.
“As a first-year teacher, it’s tricky to navigate, but I think this recognition tells me I’m doing something right,” she said to the Statesman. “It tells me I’m forming this positive relationship with kids and that’s the biggest part of teaching: giving them an environment they feel safe in to express themselves and feel confident in who they are.”
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Vaillancourt said her student-teaching experience with her mentor, Spicewood Elementary art teacher Jen Raybourn — who nominated her for the award — inspired her to explore worldly concepts she now incorporates in her classroom curriculum.
“I also focus on the mindset that not all kiddos are going to be artists, but they’re all going to be productive people in whatever they choose to be in,” she said. “Instilling that from a young age is so important.”
In the classroom, Vaillancourt encourages her students to explore and develop a passion for the world around them, emphasizing culture and history. Recently her class of third-graders designed coats of armor and learned about their historical significance and the meaning of symbols.