BCAM Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School • • •
to create and implement an inquiry- and skill-based English Arts curriculum that is engaging, challenging, and relevant; to organize exhibitions, publications and events that will inspire students to write at the very best of their abilities and share it with the world; to be more organized and maintain my health and sanity.
Christy Herbes, Media Arts Chair I was born and raised in the Southern hills of Tennessee, but managed to escape about 13 years ago and have spent the last decade of my life as a nomad- living in Greensboro, Washington DC, London, Chicago, and New York. Trained as a traditional oil painter in my early years, it was only after finishing college in Chicago that I transitioned to commercial art, becoming a multimedia designer in the field of Graphic and Commercial Design and doing interactive ads for all the mega-corporations that flood the virtual realm. Upon moving to Brooklyn 4 years ago, I woke up one morning and realized that I would rather teach youth how to deconstruct mass-media than produce it. Two years later I had a Masters from NYU in Art Education and a goal to help students become active producers of alternative art and media, challenging the negative messages that flood our lives every day. Teaching art has taught me so much about the unique and powerful voices of our BCAM students. In this past year alone, I have witnessed the incredible talent of our student artists, continually impressed by the creative and mature content that has arisen out of our founding class. From contemporary self-portraits to activist ad campaigns, teaching art at BCAM is inspiring as both an educator and an artist! I look forward to teaching our 9th grade students this Fall while further developing the artistic style and content of our 10th graders in the Spring. When I’m not teaching, grading assignments, or designing in front of a computer, you can generally find me consuming large quantities of pasta (my mom is Italian), talking pop culture and modern media with friends ( maybe recapping the latest “I love New York” episode with Mr. Greer), or going to local art and music shows. Much to my students’ dismay, you might even find me watching an old skate video or two back from my adolescent days of boarding and punk rock. Hard to believe, I know. My main goals as Art Department Chair at BCAM for the 2007-08 school year are: • To design an art curriculum that includes knowledge of contemporary issues in the arts and media fields, encouraging students to understand their roles as artists and people in our contemporary world. • To create a cohesive, art curriculum for the 9th & 10th grades that incorporates 2 semester themes of Community and Identity that makes connections between artwork discussed and created in class and their relevance to the lives of our students. • To include many opportunities for students to be exposed to the rich cultural Arts located in NYC. The opportunities will include off-site visits to a variety of NYC Museums, Galleries, Artist Workspaces, and Institutes.
Patrick Howell, Mathematics Teacher I grew up in South Dakota, but moved as soon as possible to the big city. I started college in Chicago in 1985, earned a BA in History in 1989. I had become a big Cubs fan, so I stayed in Chicago after I finished college. I explored a few different jobs after graduation and eventually began teaching for the Chicago city college in 1991. I taught adult education classes in several different neighborhood centers. In 1996, I moved to Brooklyn. I continued to teach 31