Teacher spotlight: Bringing technology to arts curriculum

Georgia teacher Denise Jennings has immersed her high school art curriculum in technology

December 15, 2000
Web posted at: 1:06 PM EST (1806 GMT)

The extra efforts of longtime instructor Denise Jennings has paid off for the arts curriculum in the Fulton County, Georgia, school system.

When the Fulton schools wanted new art programs, Jennings piloted them; when the system needed to upgrade technology used in its art education programs, she served as consultant; and when the Educational Testing Service designed a new national assessment for educational progress in the arts, the Georgia teacher was the one they called.

The art department chairwoman at Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia, Jennings was recently named 2001 Secondary Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association. She has single-handedly infused technological art into Fulton County's high school art curriculum. She has been an art teacher in the Fulton schools for 25 years and has earned a reputation as a dedicated educator who shares her expertise with colleagues.

Jennings has worked on the local, state and national level to improve the quality of art education by piloting courses, driving curriculum development and providing staff development whenever presented with the opportunity. To date, she has piloted courses in computer art, interdisciplinary art/anatomy connections, interdisciplinary graphic design technology and art history, and she initiated the system's first Advanced Placement studio art course.

Jennings also has served on the Fulton Board of Education's Teacher Council, the Georgia Art Education Association board of directors and, most recently, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' Early Adolescence-Young Adulthood Arts Standards Committee.