Local artist and educator Marc Nelson is featured in the current “Dare to Teach and Learn” education blog written by Illinois Master Teacher Ellen Jo Ljung.
Nelson teaches art fourth through eighth-graders in Kewanee. After 16 years, his passion for showing his students the world through art remains ever strong. He exposes them to art from the world beyond them and leads them through projects that engage with that world.
An example of that is when Nelson’s students were reading Maus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust. He taught his class about the humanitarian crisis in Syria and about Bana, a girl he’d drawn being pulled out of the rubble. For their “heroes under the radar” project, many of Nelson’s students then turned to Syria for their subjects.
Western Illinois University held a show of Nelson’s work last October, and one of his portraits graces the cover of the Syria supplement of the “International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict.”
National Public Radio (NPR) and CNN have both extolled his work, which may also be viewed online at https://marcnelsonart.com/.
Ljung, who blogs frequently about the teacher shortage and the inadequate pipeline for new teachers, interviewed Nelson, her former student, to learn how he sustains his passion. His description of the joys and challenges of teaching illustrates what schools and communities need to provide to teachers to help them reach their students. The post is available at https://blog.imwriter.com/.
