BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — Time to cut, color and and create in Ms. Livi Crowell's art class at Batesburg-Leesville Primary School.
Her lesson is something we all can learn.
"Be creative, be kind and be brave," says Crowell.
"She just comes up with the most creative lesson plans for these students to push them creatively. And so that makes me happy to see that as a leader that such a young teacher already has that gift and what growth we will continue to see," says Mary Anne Tillman, the Principal of Batesburg-Leesville Primary.
In only her second year as an educator, Ms. Crowell is tapping into her students' passions to get them interested in art.
"Last year, all of them would bring Pokémon cards in the morning and I love Pokémon. I made a lesson where we looked at the art of Ken Sugimori, who created Pokémon and does all the watercolor. And then they designed their own original and learned about how the card game works, how to use watercolors and all that beautiful stuff," says Ms. Crowell.
And this style of teaching earned her a spot at the Art Education Conference in Greenville.
"I would take my video games and look at the cover art and then try to replicate it every single day. I would do stuff like that. But just fall in love with art through gaming," says Crowell.
Growing up in Goose Creek, Ms. Crowell graduated from USC and is now taking classes online at Boston University to get her Masters in Art Education.
"I love learning. And I knew that there was room for me to grow as a teacher and I wanted to do better to serve my students. I was like, yeah, this feels right," says Crowell.
And her students like Porter and Leila agree.
"She's amazing. She teaches a lot. She does good art that we'd never done before. Just makes a whole difference," says Porter.
"She's a very good teacher. She gives us many things. And she makes us do fun things in class like making clay stuff," says Leila.
"I loved working with the kids. And they're so sweet. And they're so creative. This is where you learn your fundamentals that are going to carry with you for the rest of your life. And I just loved doing all of that with them," says Ms. Crowell.
Her message to her students is that it is okay to make mistakes. Just turn over and try again.
"Every single student here is an artist, even if they don't believe in themselves. I want them to come out of this, at least having some type of love for art that they can take anywhere that they go in life," says Ms. Crowell.
If you know a teacher like Livi Crowell who deserves to be recognized for their hard work in the classroom you can nominate them by emailing us at TOW@wltx.com. Tell us what that educator is doing every day to go above and beyond in the classroom.
