About Me

Resume, teaching philosophy, teaching experience, and biography

Art teacher at James Bowie Middle School in Richmond, Texas
art education certification from Texas State University
bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Texas in Austin.
Resume
Email: jillpicou3@gmail.com
Instagram: @mspicou_art_ed
member of:
- TAEA: Texas Art Education Association
  - - attended TAEA yearly conference in 2021
- NAEA: National Art Education Association

My Teaching Philosophy

I believe that art is an organic process of exploring, investigating, and creating. My ideal future classroom would be a creativity class, where students could learn technical art skills as well as ingenuity, critical thinking, material exploration, cultural competence, and any other skill that can be used across disciplines. My views of art education most closely align with choice-based art education (TAB: Teaching for Artistic Behavior).

In a foreword to a book, Engaging Learners Through Art Making (written by Douglas and Jaquith, 2018), Christine Thompson writes:

"I believe that both art and children are best served when art education hews most closely to the strengths of art and children... [having] respect for children's capacity to make choices; recognition that they come to us with lives in progress, interests that drive them, questions that matter; and faith that children recognize and respond well to the confidence we place in them [and their choices]" (2017, p.xii).

Along with these ideals, I would love to build a community of artists inside and outside my classroom. I hope to create a studio environment where students can feel comfortable and heard. Outside of the classroom, I hope to lead community activities such as the Cardboard Challenge.

“Art is not just a set of concepts and institutions, but also something people believe in, a source of comfort, an object of love.” (Shiner, 2001, p. 9)

Teaching Experience

taught for one year at KIPP Connect Middle School In Houston, Texas. There, I also ran the art club, took students to Jr. VASE, and worked with other fine arts teachers to put on programs such as the Black History Month Program.
- Grades 6-8
- art skills taught: collage, weaving, painting, drawing, printmaking, cardboard construction, and more.
co-directed a weeklong STEM art camp through FLT (Families Learn Together) at Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, TX which taught engineering skills to 8-10 year old students.
volunteered and worked for ArtSpace of San Marcos for 2 years
- - students of ages 3-18 years old
  - created lessons and taught each week to a variety of age groups
taught kindergarten & first grade at Crockett Elementary for 5-6 weeks (2 hours a week)
- - for Elementary Art Education class at Texas State University
lead teacher of ArtSpace's first Scratch class during Summer 2021
- - students of ages 8-10 years old
co-teacher in an after-school Scratch club for 5-6 weeks (1 hour a week)
- - for Digital Technologies (Art Education) class at Texas State University
Worked as a nanny at College Nannies, Sitters, and Tutors for 2.5 years
teacher for University of Texas Children's Development Center in Austin
- - students of ages 6 months - 5 years old
research assistant for University of Texas Children's Research Center in Austin
- - children of ages 5-7 years old
Volunteered for summer art camp at the Museum of East Texas in Lufkin, Texas as a high school student

Bio

I am originally from the small town of Lufkin, located in East Texas. I've had a love for art since I was little. You can see pictures from when I was about three with my little red Fischer Price easel. As a youngster, I went to art camp almost every summer at the Museum of East Texas. My love for art is something that I've carried with me all my life.

After graduating high school in 2014, I left home to attend college at the University of Texas in Austin. During my time there, I majored in Psychology, became fluent in American Sign Language, and earned a Creative Writing certificate (as my minor).

Before moving on to graduate school, I decided to take a semester off and work at the University of Texas Children's Development Center in 2017. There, I was surprised to find how much I loved teaching and to see the creativity blossoming in the kids. I also met some lovely teachers who inspired me.

I attended graduate school starting in fall of 2018 for a Master's in Mental Health Counseling at Texas State University in San Marcos to become certified as a mental health therapist. My first year was fantastic. I earned a 4.0 GPA in both semesters and loved my classes.

Throughout my first year, however, I kept thinking about how much I missed being a teacher. This led me to make a change in my career path. I decided to become an art teacher and pursue a teaching certificate at Texas State University. I started classes in Fall of 2019.

While earning my certificate, I taught at a nonprofit organization called ArtSpace in San Marcos for 2 years. I taught classes for students ranging from 3 to 18 years old. In my last year, I became one of the assistant coordinators (student worker) under my wonderful supervisor, Linda Kelsey-Jones.

For the first half of my student-teaching semester in 2022, I was at Crockett Elementary (San Marcos ISD) with Mrs. Amy Hall. For the second half of the semester, I taught at San Marcos High School with Mr. Todd Paladino.

In the 22-23 school year, I taught middle school visual arts at KIPP Connect Middle School in Houston, Texas (6-8th grade). We completed projects that involved skills such as weaving, painting, drawing, proportion, research, constructing, planning, collaboration, ingenuity, printmaking, and collage. I also took charge of art club and collaborated with other fine arts teachers to put on programs such as the Black History month program.

One of the proudest moments of my first year teaching was taking 6 students to the Jr. VASE (Visual Art Scholastic Event) competition. The students and I stayed after school two days a week for the Spring semester to work on their chosen artwork. In April, we attended the competition with big success. One of my 7th graders even recieved a Platinum award (the top 10% of artworks at the competition). But what I consider the biggest success, was that the kids had a blast at their first VASE event! I hope that happy memory will make them smile as much as it does for me.

For the 23-24 school year, I look forward to teaching at James Bowie Middle School in Richmond, Texas.

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