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Melanie Swann (Swannie)

Teaching Schedule First Semester:

Ceramics I and II (Periods 1, 2, 4, 7)

CE Art History (Period 6)

CE Drawing (Period 8)

Sculpture (Period 5)

Preparation (Periods 3)

Consultation Fridays 1:30 - 2:15 p.m.

Davis Connect On-line Foundations Art 2

Contact:  mswann@dsdmail.net

Bio:

I love teaching, especially Woods Cross students; they rock!

I currently teach Ceramics I, II, and III,  CE Art History 1010, CE Drawing, and sculpture.  I’ve taught painting and English in the past.

I attended Ricks College (BYU- Idaho), where I received an Associates in Arts. Rexburg, Idaho, home to BYU Idaho is so very cold, but the rural landscape is beautiful, and the professors are awesome.  Living close to Yellowstone, Island Park, and Jackson Hole was fun.  I would recommend BYU-Idaho to the student who is just a little timid about launching into the college scene.  The campus and the classes are still relatively small.

I continued my study at the University of Utah where I completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with minors in ceramics and English and study in art history and education. I graduated magnum cum laude and was asked to submit a valedictorian speech for graduation.  I found the U of U environment to be intellectually stimulating and the faculty and staff there encouraging.  I taught for the University of Utah’s Upward Bound Program/Student Support Services both during and after study at U of U.

While teaching for Davis School District, I enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts Education program at Brigham Young University.  After completing my masters with commendation, I was asked by the department to teach for BYU.  I taught for two years for BYU, while continuing my employment with Davis Schools. Teaching at a collegiate level is fun, but high school students are more exciting.  And while I loved my time at BYU, when the competition is set between the two, I cheer with Utah.

I spent a good chunk of my childhood on a dairy farm in Southeastern Idaho in the growing community of Preston.  I am the oldest of 12 children and have over 68 nieces and nephews. (I’m not ready to count my great niece and nephew, ’cuz that might make me feel old!) Family get-togethers are fun and loud.

I love to be in the mountains, watch documentaries (especially NOVA), read, do handwork – or needle work (tatting, hardanger, needlepoint, quilting), and watch things grow.  I run a small gentleman’s farm with my Dad and occasionally help my brothers with their home construction projects – framing, insulation, drywall, tilework.

Life is exciting.  I love what I do.  (It is interesting that this isn’t what I had planned to do so many years ago as a high school student.  Then, I thought I wanted to be a surgeon, and I could have been.)  One of my favorite teachers in high school, Carla Catani, asked us to memorize “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost.  Take a look at it and enjoy the twists and turns in the journey of your life.  - Swann