Educator Spotlight: Eduardo Martinez

Meet Eduardo Martinez (he/him), an educator at Harmony School of Innovation who brings creative reuse into his roles teaching art, music, and STEM to Pre-K through fifth grade! Eduardo has been an educator for 15 years and his mission as a teacher is to help his students fall in love with art and inspire them to have fun while also being as environmentally friendly as possible. He utilizes reuse materials in a variety of lessons, and appreciates that sourcing secondhand supplies for his classroom helps him to stretch his teaching budget farther while providing a fun challenge for him to plan his lessons around the materials available to him. When not in the classroom, Eduardo enjoys exploring on his bike, hanging out with his senior dog, Bonnie, and making art.

Thank you, Eduardo, for being a champion for creative reuse in the classroom! Read on to learn more about his enthusiasm for bringing secondhand materials in his teaching practice.

What subject(s) and grade level(s) do you teach, and how long have you been an educator?

I have been an educator for 15 years and still going! Just like many teachers in the education field, I have multiple roles that I take on. I teach Pre-K through 5th music and art, and Kinder through 2nd STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). In the Fall semester I dedicate my time to teaching music and music theory. My main focus is to prepare our entire student population for our big Winter Concert in December. Spring semester is dedicated to teaching Art and exploring the Elements and Principles of Art. STEM is taught throughout the entire school year.

How do you incorporate upcycling or reuse materials into your classroom? Are there any secondhand materials you regularly stock?

There are so my ways I incorporate upcycled materials into my classroom. I would say the majority of our lessons incorporate a few upcycled materials and only a small amount of new supplies such as tempera paint, which can't really be reused or upcycled once applied to a project. Some secondhand materials I try to keep in stock include tile samples from big box stores who deem them out of style. This item allows me to teach a fun, engaging, and highly demanded mosaic art lesson. Even though this material is hard to come across, I always try to have a large stock of it because of the students’ love for this lesson.

I bring second hand items into my classroom by attending yard sales, estate sales, or using even Facebook Marketplace. ACR helps me as an educator because it helps save precious limited time by becoming an all in one spot to search for these items.

Beyond the obvious art supplies, what is the most surprising or unique item you've sourced from ACR?

The most unique time I sourced from ACR is tile samples. These tile samples gave me the opportunity to teach a mosaic art lesson that has been one of the most asked about lesson throughout the year. Even former students who are in upper grade levels now comment on how they really enjoyed that lesson and still have their mosaic pieces at home.

What first inspired you to start using reused materials in your teaching?

Being an art teacher on a limited budget required me to become resourceful on collecting a variety of materials for creative engaging lessons. At the end of every school year, I made it a priority to circulate my entire school and collect unused materials from as many teachers as possible. My goal was to collect materials to reserve my budget on purchases that I can't find easily, but also to eliminate as much waste from landfills. Approaching my teaching practice in this fashion challenged me to create lessons based on the materials I had available, which ultimately differentiated my lessons every year. My teacher mission is to have students fall in love with art, inspire, and to have fun in the most environmentally responsible way. Using upcycled, reused materials allows for this mission to become true.

Tell us about a lesson or project that was especially successful using reused or upcycled materials. What was the learning objective, and how did the students react to working with unique items?

One specific lesson that uses a large variety of upcycled materials the most is a lesson titled "Texture Relief". In this lesson we focus the the Element of Art called Texture. Students rummage through a bin full of random materials that have a large amount of texture in them. Some examples can include mesh items like doilies. One of the main first steps in this Texture Relief is to glue these mesh textured materials onto a piece of cardboard. They then place a piece of aluminum foil over all the items they glued onto the piece of cardboard, spray paint the surface of aluminum foil, and finally rub the surface with steel wool to reveal a patina texture on their art. Students are so engaged throughout this whole lesson and are so proud of the final results at the end.

What is your top piece of advice for a teacher who wants to start incorporating reuse but isn't sure where to begin? Any helpful books or websites?

My advice for a teacher is to plan ahead. Planning your lessons will give them guidance on the type of materials they can search for instead of accumulating materials they will never use. Even if they don't find that specific material they planned for, planning ahead can lead them to substitute for a different material that can still achieve the main objective for the lesson they teach.

What is the biggest challenge or misconception about using reclaimed materials, and how do you address it?

I believe the biggest misconception about using reclaimed materials is that craftsmanship will be compromised. Teachers might believe that the final result won't have the appeal they were striving for. I think planning ahead and creating the art as a teacher could help address this issue. Conducting the lesson yourself as the teacher could help alter any issues that might arise during the delivery to the students.

Have you benefited from any of ACR's educator programs? If so, how has that experience helped you or your students?

This will be my first year using the Materials Mobile for our campus and I am extremely excited and grateful for this opportunity. I hope to use more of ACR’s programs in the future. I'm especially interested in Field Trips for our students in addition to the Materials Mobile.

When not in the classroom, what do you like to do? Do you have any pets or family you’d like to share about?

If I am not teaching, you can find me outside either on my bike exploring, hanging out with my senior dog Bonnie at the park, or creating art.