I caught up with Mrs. Firestone on the challenges faced by the art department during e-learning. 

How have you made your art classes work for students during online learning?

Firestone: “Drawing, Painting and AP classes are pretty much doing the same thing we would be doing if we were in person. The intro to 3d [classes were different because] we weren’t quite ready to send clay home with those students, so we found some pretty fun projects to do using paper, news paper, and cardboard.

What has been your biggest challenge for online classes?

Firestone: Not being able to show my student the techniques in person… They also miss out on watching each other create in the classroom, so they miss all of the inspiration that they get from each other. They aren’t really able to share their ideas as easily with each other.

Was one class harder to manage online?

Firestone: Drawing 1 class is definitely the hardest for me to teach online. There’s so many demonstrations that I need to give and it’s hard to find good ones on youtube. So I have had to create some of my own videos so that’s totally awkward, but I am doing the best that I can with that.

Are you excited about going back in person?

Firestone: It’s going to be very different, [although] it’s obviously going to be very great to see the students in the classroom… but it is not going to be what we are used to. The students aren’t going to be able to sit close to each other, and really have that group work where they can bounce ideas off of each other.