Teacher, Collingswood Public School

Lisa Winkler, one of Collingswood Public School’s art teachers, currently teaches middle and high school classes. She has been at Collingswood for the past six years, and prior to that taught for three years in the Lindenwold School District. With an undergraduate degree in Photography from Syracuse University, New York, Lisa enrolled in the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, earning a degree in Art Education in 2000. During this time, she also worked for Life magazine, arranging the sale of fine art prints from Life’s extensive photo archives.

“For my first four years at Collingswood, I would teach elementary classes in the morning, which could be anything from kindergarten to sixth grade, and then move to the middle school to teach middle and high school classes in the afternoon.” Pausing for a moment, Lisa adds, “Which isn’t any different, really.” Things have settled down since then, however, and Lisa has a room which is undeniably hers. There is not a square foot of space that doesn’t serve to display student art or hold art materials.

Some of those materials are there to spark student curiosity. When asked about a few bones visible on one of her shelves, Lisa noted, “Yes, those are fake. However, the cow skulls are real! We do a lot of still life drawing, and I like to change things up. You need to keep things new. What I really like is when they see something like that in the case, and it makes them want to draw it. It’s fun to see the kids go in there and investigate.”

Interdisciplinary instruction is also something Lisa’s students investigate. “This year, I worked with a Spanish teacher. We made Day of the Dead masks. Obviously art is something that very easily connects with cultures, social studies and foreign language. I definitely try to make most things interdisciplinary, and I have often had teachers come to me and ask if we could collaborate on a project.”

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