Presenters

Analisa Smith

Analisa Smith is the Creative Movement and Physical Education Lecturer at Utah State University’s Edith Bowen Laboratory School. Analisa has been teaching at Edith Bowen for 20 years, with 30 years’ experience teaching large motor skills, elementary physical education and creative movement. Teaching movement skills and movement methods through a structured skills-based curriculum has been the most effective for her students. Her emphasis is in integrated curriculum of other content areas and art disciplines through creative movement and physical education. Smith’s curriculum validates the Utah State core curriculum, National Core Art Standards and the Physical Education National Standards. Smith has attended various workshops and presented at many conferences, both around the state and nationally. Smith participated in the writing of the Utah State Office of Education integrated Science core K-2 and collaborated with USOE to write K-12 Physical Education Curriculum development and lesson plans for classroom and physical education teachers, focusing on integration. She attended Utah State University majoring in Interior Design.

Courtnie Jensen

Courtnie Jensen is a visual arts educator at Jordan High School in Sandy, Utah. She educates students in grades 9-12 and is currently moving into her fourth year of teaching. Courtnie has a BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from the University of Utah, and has worked in the art field as a graphic designer and art director for over 18 years. She served on the board for the Salt Lake City chapter of AIGA, American Institute of Graphic Arts, for two years. She worked for one of the leading graphic design firms in Salt Lake City; her work is featured in many graphic design publications. Courtnie transitioned into education to not only continue her pursuit and love of graphic design but also her passion working with young people. She established a graphic design arts program at her school that continues to grow each year. Courtnie believes that art plays an important role in education. She teaches classes that guide students in all areas of the arts as well as pathways to careers in the fields of visual art and design.
Courtnie is currently pursuing a Masters in Career and Technical Education at Utah State University. In addition to teaching, Courtnie has her own freelance graphic design company. She loves spending time with her husband and two children and enjoys hiking with her dog in her free time.

Jen Terry

Jen Terry has been a stand-out among educators over the last 24 years as a master-creator and master-integrator of art in the classroom. She has inspired countless numbers of teachers, parents, and students to think, create, and engage with the arts. After teaching kindergarten for 18 years and 2nd grade for two years, Jen was asked to be Alpine District’s Art Integration coach, which many said was a job made just for her. As the art integration coach for four years, Jen showed art specialists and classroom teachers how to integrate the arts into their daily routine, as she had done with her students for two decades prior. Jen is now back in the 2nd grade classroom to show a new batch of children the power of the arts and creativity.

Jill DeVilbiss

Jill DeVilbiss teaches music at Edith Bowen Laboratory School, a K-6 charter school at Utah State University. Jill holds two degrees from USU in Vocal Performance (1990) and Choral Education (2000). She has completed three levels of training in both the Kodàly and Orff-Schulwerk methods of teaching music. She also completed two summer courses at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. Jill served on the National Board of Trustees for the American Orff-Schulwerk Association as a regional representative and is currently the Local Conference Chair for the national conference in Salt Lake City. Jill was named the Outstanding Elementary Music Educator for the state of Utah by the Utah Music Educators Association for the 2012-2013 school year. She was also named Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015 at Edith Bowen Laboratory School in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University. Jill loves being surrounded by children. She has taught at Edith Bowen Laboratory school for the past 20 years and worked with Cache Children’s Choir for 22 years. She has presented at state and national conferences on the Child’s Singing Voice and Integrating Music into Other Core Curricular Areas. She was a part of a four-year study on the effect of arts education on children’s problem solving and conflict management skills at Utah State University. Her passion is helping young voices and young musicians to grow.

Laura Reina

Laura Reina was born and raised on a farm in Salt Lake City, Utah as the daughter of a high school football coach. Her life on, and in, the field lead her to develop a strong work ethic and a love for a challenge. She received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the University of Utah and began teaching in Granite School District in Salt Lake City. She taught 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 6th grades during her 9 years at the district, and she was fortunate enough to follow an outstanding administrator to several schools. She also received a Master’s in Teaching Mathematics from Western Governor’s University. Since moving to Logan, Laura has worked at Edith Bowen Laboratory School in various positions, including: RTI Specialist, Title I Director, Gifted Specialist, Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Specialist, Levelled Library Curator, School Musical Director, and currently as the Curriculum & Assessment Director and Vice Principal. She has taught several courses for the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, including Reading Methods, Writing Methods, Classroom Management, and Movement Exploration. Laura completed a doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Literacy. Her research has been focused on the development of curriculum in early grades with other work in leadership, pre-service teacher preparation, place-based learning, and school change. With a broad range of skills and experiences, Laura finds the arts are the thread that ties it all together.

Lisa Saunderson

Lisa Saunderson teaches at Utah State University in Art Education for Caine College of Art & Design, is the BTSALP art teacher at Edith Bowen Lab School in the College of Education and Human Services, and is an art mentor with Opera By Children, a Utah Festival Education Program. She has taught with USU’s Arts Access, working to establish art integration in K-8 life skills classrooms in Cache District, and co-taught with the Puppet Program, Marie Eccles Caine Foundation-Russell Family public school arts outreach. As a custom design artisan, Lisa has worked with researchers designing and constructing research sampling equipment for stream restoration projects. Lisa has served in several local arts outreach programs, bringing art experiences to youth groups, creating community and quality art installations.
Lisa grew up in Canada, yet she has worked within the field of custom design in Montreal, Vancouver, London, Cape Town, and Logan, Utah. With a background in furniture design, fiber arts, and sculpture, the common thread that has run throughout her career has been design of children’s products. The careful consideration and research of how a child will interact with bedroom furniture, wooden toys, costumes, props, or puppets has been an education in pursuing safe, functional, imaginative design that children can connect with and use. These culturally diverse and enriching experiences help to inform her approach to integration in art education.

Meagan Kristin Velez

Meagan Kristin Velez began her teaching career as a 3rd Grade teacher at UBKinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts in Florida. It was there that she began integrating the arts into her instruction. After participating in an Arts Integration Professional Development Seminar with Kennedy Center teaching artist Dr. Rosalind Flynn, she intensified her efforts to use drama strategies such as Curriculum Based Readers Theatre with her students. Upon moving to Northern Virginia, she began to work with Dr. Flynn, sharpening her skills as a teaching artist to reach a wider audience of teachers and students through arts integration in the delivery of Professional Development & In Person Residency workshops. Mrs. Velez combines her experience as a Title I classroom teacher with her strong belief and background in arts integration to immerse teachers in drama and storytelling strategies they can apply directly in the classroom. She is currently focusing on her work with ELL students, curating standards-based dramatic storytelling to increase English Learners’ vocabulary and content related comprehension skills. Her latest workshop, The Power of Dramatic Storytelling, is rich and impactful for all learners.

Ryan Hourigan

Ryan Hourigan (2010 Indiana Music Educators Association Outstanding University Music Educator of the Year) joined the faculty at Ball State University in the fall of 2006 after nine years of teaching music at the secondary and university level. Dr. Hourigan holds degrees from Eastern Illinois University (B.M.) and Michigan State University (M.M. Wind Conducting) and a Ph.D. in Music Education from The University of Michigan. Dr. Hourigan currently teaches music education and is the Director of the School of Music at Ball State University.
In 2009, Hourigan co-founded the Prism Project (prismprojectbsu.org). This program provides an opportunity for Ball State students to gain skills in the area of teaching students with special needs.
Currently in its fifth printing, Hourigan is the co-author (Alice Hammel) of Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-free Approach. This is a comprehensive text written by practicing music educators, music teacher educators and researchers in the field of teaching music to children with special needs.

Sarah Braden

Dr. Sarah Braden has over 15 years of experience working in education. She is an assistant professor of language education and cultural studies in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University. Dr. Braden holds a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies, an M.S. in Secondary Education, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics. At USU, Dr. Braden directs the ESL Endorsement program and teaches courses related to working productively with language learners (both in ESL and DLI contexts) to pre-service and in-service teachers across the K-12 levels.
Dr. Braden’s research uses applied linguistic and linguistic anthropological methods to understand how classrooms operate as complex cultural and linguistic systems. Her work centers on ways to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of multilingual and multicultural youth in STEM education contexts and beyond. Her research has been published in Language & Education, Bilingual Research Journal, TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, and Global Perspectives on Language Education Policies. Recently, Dr. Braden has been experimenting with the use of arts-based methods as a vehicle for enacting asset-based, “culturally sustaining pedagogies,” which are instructional practices that acknowledge, validate, and build from the wealth of knowledge that diverse learners bring to the classroom. She is also a novice potter and art enthusiast.

William Estrada

William Estrada grew up in California, Mexico, and Chicago. His teaching and art making practice focus on addressing inequity, migration, historical passivity and cultural recognition in historically marginalized communities. He is currently a visual art teacher at Telpochcalli Elementary and faculty at the School of Art and teacher of Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has worked as an educator and artist with Chicago Arts Partnership in Education, SkyArt, DePaul University’s College Connect Program, Graffiti Institute, Vermont College of Art and Design, Prison + Neighborhood Art Project and The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, among many others.
William has presented in various panels regarding community programming, arts integration, and social justice curricula throughout the country, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Guild of Schools in the Arts, National Art Education Association, and the Teachers for Social Justice San Francisco. In 2016 he was awarded the Teaching Artist Community Award from 3Arts Chicago. His current research is focused on developing community based and culturally relevant projects that center power structures of race, economy, and cultural access in contested spaces. www.werdmvmntstudios.com

Angela Hawkins

2nd Grade Teacher

Davis Elementary

Vernal, Utah

During her ten years as a teacher, Angela has been passionate about integrating the arts into the everyday of her rural classroom (think students inviting her to shear sheep and brand cattle on the weekend.) Dedicated to creating holistic learning units that focus on not only the academic, but the artistic and creative potentials, she seeks to engage students in the teaching/learning process and encourages personal and collective best.

Shannon Rhodes

4th Grade Teacher

Edith Bowen Lab School

Logan, Utah

Shannon Rhodes is a 4th grade teacher at Edith Bowen Laboratory School at Utah State University. She also taught 5th grade in the Cache County School District. In addition to her elementary education degree, she has a degree in professional and technical writing. Shannon finds joy in integrating arts in her instruction, from creating dramatic interpretations of literature and science to crafting Spiral Jetty watercolor poetry.

William Estrada

Pre K-8th Grade Art Teacher

Telpochcalli Elementary

Chicago, Illinois

William is currently a visual art teacher at Telpochcalli Elementary and faculty at the School of Art and teacher of Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has presented in various panels regarding community programming, arts integration, and social justice curricula throughout the country. In 2016 he was awarded the Teaching Artist Community Award from 3Arts Chicago.