Jennifer Mueller is our Art teacher and has been teaching St. Martha since 2008, where she’s taught all grades. Ms. Mueller holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art and Master’s degree in Teaching from Bellarmine University. She has a mixture of both traditional and progressive teaching methods that encourage a mix of individual and team-based learning to help students not only grow in their understanding of concepts, but also in their ability to collaborate and understand peers. When Jennifer is not spending her time changing the lives of our students, she enjoys exploring her other passion of painting and photography.
Q & A with Ms. Mueller
Highlight of the year:
Students always love the media/green screen activities and when they get to teach their own science experiment/mini lesson.
Passion:
When it comes to teaching I am most passionate about history and culture. I loved tying Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical to our unit on climate change and the way it opened up the class to the world around them.
Philosophy:
In my classroom I use a mix of methods. I present information and students work on note taking and comprehension skills and we do a lot of student-guided learning through science centers and exploratory questions. I like to allow students to explore concepts through discovery and problem-solving. I try to bring in real-world relatable problems and allow the students to navigate through them to help guide learning with the questions and observations they make. In the classroom I use a mix of individual and team-based learning to help students not only grow in their understanding of concepts, but also in their ability to collaborate and understand peers.
Favorite part of teaching:
My favorite thing about being a teacher is sparking new interests in students and watching them become enthusiastic about the subjects.
Favorite teaching memory:
One of my favorite memories was when the students were testing rockets they made using chemical reactions. One group had such a great launch they asked to show their rocket again. On the second trial, there was a launch failure that left us all covered in the sweet smell of vinegar for the remainder of the day. That experience led to a follow up of why system checks are important every time.
Favorite thing about St. Martha:
My favorite thing about St. Martha is the community. Once a Shamrock, Always a Shamrock!
My hope for my students:
I hope to leave my students with a curiosity and a lifelong yearning for knowledge. I hope they know that there is always a place for them at Saint Martha.
Fun fact:
In my free time, I enjoy painting and photography. Although I don’t enjoy the short daylight hours of fall and winter, the season makes for excellent artistic lighting.
