Accolades from Others

LETTER of NOMINATION

Dear Commissioner DeBacker,

I have had the privilege to Work with Beth Koon as her principal for the past five years and have been able to directly observe the impact one outstanding teacher can have on an entire school. The halls of our school are filled with creative beautiful artwork for all to view, but what others don’t see is the action in the classroom and the progress in creating each child’s personal masterpiece. To Beth, it’s not just about the end product, but most importantly the knowledge and confidence our students develop in her program.

When I visit the classroom I see students creating, discussing, and enjoying the art world. One of Beth’s best attributes is her ability to engage students in the lesson and then clearly model and explain the process through her personal videos. This allows Beth to maximize the instructional time to distribute materials, assist individual students, and review specific steps the students have difficulty with. Beth’s love of art shows in her classroom and the students’ knowledge of art and their confidence in their skills is a direct reflection of her effective instruction.

Beth maximizes every minute of art class, but her instruction and the opportunities for our students extend beyond the Weekly class. Beth leads our students in an after school art club Where students Work collaboratively with peers to use their math knowledge, technology skills, art talents, and interpersonal skills to create projects that are showcased throughout our building. Our sixth grade students lead our art enrichment group and have Worked with Mrs. Koon to design and paint, what Was once an empty beige stairwell, into an amazing aquatic masterpiece that will continue to be enhanced by future students.

Beth also provides students with the knowledge base needed to have the skills to view, critique, and appreciate art pieces. Beth Works collaboratively with our PTA and our staff to share her expertise and make it meaningful to our students. Each quarter a traveling art exhibit highlights a famous artist and students produce a personal piece reflective of that artist’s style. In the third grade classroom Beth collaborates with the teachers as they teach aspects of famous cities in social studies While Beth integrates art history and architecture. Each year our students tour the Nelson Art Museum, and through a scavenger hunt Beth has created, they View art and apply it to their learning in the classroom. Beth’s leadership and vision, and her ability to inspire our teachers and parents to be involved in our art program, enhances the entire art experience for our students.

Our students not only view art galleries in the real world, but through Beth’s inspiration and hours of dedication, they have developed their own online gallery through the Artsonia Program. Our student artwork can be viewed by family and friends worldwide and our school leads the state and the nation with over 5000 pieces on display this year. However, Beth takes our students to the next level and integrates higher level thinking and writing as they have begun to critique and reflect on their own work through artist statements.

Our students create amazing masterpieces that they are proud to showcase, but behind the amazing masterpieces, is a teacher that understands and appreciates the Whole child. This is the type of teacher that inspires students and develops their skills to create, appreciate, and love the Wonderful world of art.

Respectfully,

Pam Lewis

Principal

Raymond B. Marsh Elementary

Guiding Students to Success

LETTER of NOMINATION

Dear Commissioner DeBacker,

It is my privilege to recommend Beth Koon as Kansas Teacher of the Year. I have taught with Beth for the past three years, and have been inspired by her creativity, commitment, and willingness to seek out and provide enriching experiences to students in the classroom and beyond.

Beth is an invaluable member of our faculty, and serves as the kindergarten through sixth grade art teacher. Our students do not simply go to art class. They are transplanted to a World of endless ­creativity and possibility. She masterfully implements many different mediums and art history lessons. For example, Beth researched and identified the Teacher’s Discovery Travelling Exhibit program in order to expose students to the Work of artists such as Van Gogh and Monet, and Egyptian and African art. She Worked with our school PTA to fund the project, and coordinates the implementation across all of the grade levels. Students learn about specific artists or cultures, evaluate various elements, and create Works and projects related to the subject. Additionally, Beth has created Online student art portfolios through the website, Artsonia. Because of Beth, our school has the highest level of participation in the state and is in the top 100 in the nation. She has coordinated the support of volunteers and uses her personal time to scan student Work and uploads the images to Artsonia. They can share their portfolios With their families, and develop .a library of their Work over the span of seven years! In class, We use their Artsonia accounts as a tool to develop meaningful writing projects. .

She is committed to inspiring individual students. She has attended parent teacher conferences with me and shared their achievement in art. For some students and families, this is a much needed boost because it is through their artistic talents that they can achieve, communicate, and dream. She identities students that need this the most, and nurtures their development and confidence. .

Beth has initiated, coordinated, and led multiple clubs and projects outside of the classroom. She is a passionate environmental advocate and has led both the Environmental Club and Gardening Guys group. Through these programs, she coordinated the development of a beautiful water garden on our school grounds. In addition, she compiled a Water garden curriculum which I have personally used to cover fourth grade science objectives. She has also coordinated an art club, the Just Say No Club, and Worked with sixth grade students to transform a drab stairway into an undersea extravaganza.

Thank you very much in your consideration for Beth Koon as Kansas Teacher of the Year. I cannot think of a more deserving recipient.

Sincerely,

Laura Robeson 
2011 Horizon Award Teacher

LETTER of NOMINATION

Dear Dr. DeBacker:

I have worked with Beth Koon for five years. As a third grade teacher, I appreciate her professionalism as a colleague and her skills as an educator. My students always look forward to going to Art class, and are very proud of their artistic accomplishments. Mrs. Koon brings out the artist in every child. The art she inspires them to produce is nothing short of amazing! Art covers the walls and windows of our school. Giant three dimensional art supply sculptures hang from our ceilings. The children love to see their own work, but they also marvel at the work of others.

Mrs. Koon Works closely with our staff to integrate our curriculum with her curriculum. Currently, she collaborates with the third grade teachers in our study of world cities. As we “visit” each city, she teaches about famous artists from the same area. She has created art projects in the style of those artists. For example, when we study New York, she educates the kids on Georgia O’Keefe and her work. The children create beautiful poppies using` oil pastels. When we study Paris, the children learn about Monet and impressionism. The kids paint water lilies after observing our own pond.

Our amazing pond ecosystem was designed by Mrs. Koon. She wrote a grant to fund it and gathered the community to help her install it. Each year she works with a group of “difficult” boys, channeling their energies into planting and maintaining the ecosystem. She has provided classroom teachers with a large notebook of science lessons that make use ofthe pond. She also plants a large ­sunflower garden, perfect for ourw study of Italy and Van Gogh. Mrs. Koon also writes grants to bring many art extras to our school. She secures funding for, and plans, incredible ñeld trips to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for two grade levels each year.

As the parent of a Ray Marsh student, I have the opportunity to observe Mrs. Koon from another perspective. My son has never had well-developed tine motor skills, but Mrs. Koon has patiently encouraged him since kindergarten. His skills have slowly improved, but more importantly, he has a respect for, and an appreciation of, art and artists. He loves sharing his knowledge of artists and their work using specific art vocabulary. He enjoys having his art work displayed on Artsonia for all of his relatives to admire. Artsonia is a website that displays student art. Mrs. Koon scans in the art projects of all 527 students at our school. My 3rd grader has 17 art works on display. Our school has 4,641 works of art posted for this school year alone. Parents can order a plethora of goods personalized with their young artists' work. In turn, our school earns money from these purchases.

Mrs. Koon goes miles above and beyond what is required or expected of her. I am honored to have the privilege of recommending her for this prestigious award. In my opinion, there is no better representative ofthe teaching profession.

Sincerely,

Julile K. Wilcox 
3rd grade teacher and parent Ray Marsh Elementary School

Extra Emails I have received

Dear Mrs. Lewis,

I have a story to share about some unexpected benefits of your art program. 

My son, M----, is supposed to wear reading glasses.  Like many young people, he is hesitant to wear them in front of others and often doesn’t bring them to school.    However, in art class, Mrs. Koon recognized that M--- was leaning in to do his art.   She recommended that he back up from his work to get a better perspective.     That night, M--- told me about his art experience and decided he should take his glasses to school with him because it would help him to see better in art!   What an unexpected and positive benefit of an attentive teacher and a “specials” instructional program.

Thank you for all you and your team do to help develop confident, intelligent leaders for our future!

Sincerely,

Jennifer 

Jennifer,

Thank you so much for your note sharing M---’s story.

Mrs. Koon is a fabulous art teacher and it’s wonderful that she has had an impact on Monty.

I look forward to seeing M---- in his glasses more often and to his future fantastic works of art!

Thank you for your support and involvement at Ray Marsh. I love your kids – they are true gems, kind – hard working – and positive kids!

Have a wonderful spring break,

Pam

Hi Beth,

We haven’t had a chance to meet yet, but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to write a note regarding E---’s Cocao art posted on Artsonia.    It meant the world to her that you took the time to make that note!     Thanks for all your work in teaching the kids.   It is setting them up for an amazing life of well-rounded understanding.

Thanks so much,

E---’s mom (a.k.a) Jenn

Hello Beth.
WOW!! How exciting, thank you so much for all you have done with and for G---, he is so proud.  One of my mom's (G---'s Grandma) degrees was in art, so the whole family is enjoying this experience. 

Thanks for all you do.
Amy (and Adam)

May I just say that I LOVE Artsonia and everything you do for our kids here!  I only wish that I would have had an art teacher as great as you are.  It would have been nice to have had this when I was young, so that my grandparents in South Carolina could have seen projects I did.  It is so wonderful for those families who have relatives in other states.  Thank you for working so hard to allow the students’ work to be on this site.  Thank you for making them excited about art!  Art is near and dear to my heart, not because I am artist, but my husband and his entire family are.  I’m rambling, but I just thought you deserved a little note!  Keep rockin’ it, girl!!!

Michelle Lord J

Our amazing resident technology guru, Beth Koon (Ray Marsh Elementary), provided the staff with an amazing digital camera tutorial on Monday afternoon!  She has saved a short video that will help you to navigate the workings of your new cameras on the v;drive and it is titled, Camera Class 101.  It begins the camera basics (loading the batteries, inserting the SIM card), to camera functions and moving the images on to the computer.

Thanks Beth!

C

P.S. Beth has also graciously agreed to do a PPT training on Nov. 23rd.  The sign up will be available shortly—I will keep you posted!

Cortney Dougherty

Shawnee Mission Visual Art Resource Specialist

913.993.8619