With the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering schools this spring, educators have been thrown into an unfamiliar role — trying to teach their students at a distance.
We wanted to throw a spotlight on Greater Sudbury educators who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for their students in these unusual times, and perhaps shown a bit of creativity as they engage their students.
Sudbury.com asked readers for their nominations for local educators who fit this bill, and we received a nomination for Vanessa Catto, the visual arts teacher at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School.
She has been keeping her art students busy during the pandemic through her COVID Art Challenge.
Catto, who has been a teacher for 22 years, gives her students a theme which they can use as inspiration to create art pieces.
One of the themes was “COVID challenges,” asking students to create art depicting what life is like during the pandemic. Another was “art appropriation,” where students were asked to recreate their own versions of famous art or album covers.
Other challenges included the themes “blue” and “well, that’s unusual.”
Students were allowed to use whatever medium they wished for these challenges, including dressing themselves up and taking a picture, or utilizing whatever objects they could find. At times, she would have about 40 kids taking part in the challenges.
“Keeping the kids engaged with what they have was my biggest challenge,” said Catto, who would create a piece along each of these themes herself.
“I have a lot of strong art students who take art year after year because they want to. I felt like at the beginning my goal was to give them a little joy and a little bit of fun for extra marks.
“lt wasn’t like an assignment, per say. It was to give them a challenge they could do and they could share.”
Catto said it hasn’t been easy teaching art over the internet. She’s had to do things like arrange an online art show for her senior students after their show that was supposed to take place two days after March Break was cancelled.
“Teaching art virtually is very, very difficult, partially because part of my job is to help them get better, but I don’t see their day-to-day stuff, and I’m not there to help them and prompt them,” she said.
