Pop Portraits

Andy Warhol's multiple image "Pop Portraits" and his use of color inspired this exhibit which follows beginning level high school art students through the creation of self portraits--"Warhol Style!"

This exhibit was created at Coral Springs High in Coral Springs, Florida. Thirteen National Board Certified Teachers teach at Coral Springs High School. In 1996, I earned my National Board Certification in Early Adolescent/Young Adulthood Art.

Coral Springs is located a short 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean beaches and 30 minutes from Fort Lauderdale. Our school is one of the 25 high schools in the Broward County Public School District that serves more than 260,000 K-12 students. Broward County is the nation’s largest, fully accredited district. The Broward County School district is one of the fastest growing districts in the nation, with a unique urban/suburban mix of students. The district employs over 14,000 teachers in 238 schools.

Five years ago, the District implemented a technology plan that was designed to place computers in every classroom and give the teachers the tools they need to teach in today’s technological world. Coral Springs High is one of the technology leaders in the district – we have over 800 classroom computers and each of the 130 teachers has a laptop computer. We have a distance learning classroom and 11 computer labs, including multimedia, CAD, ESOL, and Business education labs. 98% of the computers are Apple Macintosh. Teachers have easy access to LCD projectors, digital cameras, scanners, and each classroom has a television to use as a monitor for computer presentations.

The school operates on a 4 x 4 block schedule. We have four ninety-minute class periods per day. Students take four classes per semester, changing schedules in January. To graduate, students are required to take 1 semester credit of fine arts or practical arts.

There are three visual arts teachers at Coral Springs High School. We offer a wide variety of art courses – Beginning Art, Art 2, Sculpture, Crafts, Ceramics, Photography, Graphic Design, Computer Graphics, Commercial Art, Animation, Multimedia Technology, and Advanced Placement Portfolio. After successfully completing Art 1, students are encouraged to take additional art courses. We are fortunate to have a lab that is exclusively for our fine arts students – we have 22 Power Macintosh™ computers that run the latest digital imaging, Web authoring, and multimedia software.

Technology and creativity go hand-in-hand. Technology helps me be accomplished teacher by allowing me to use the tools of today to teach the leaders of tomorrow. Technology is a tool that should be used, embraced, and should be a constant source of learning. My classroom has become a true learning community – where everyone learns from each other – it is a “learning place.” Technology has allowed me to connect learning to life and empower the students to discover their visions and passions. Technology has allowed me to stay connected to my students and their families beyond the school day. It has allowed me to customize learning for my students. My excitement and interest in technology has infiltrated my teaching and, as a result, my students’ learning.