West Chester School District Art Teacher Presents in NYC

WEST CHESTER – West Chester Area School District art teacher Bette Naughton presented her students’ artwork recently at the 2022 National Art Education Association Convention in New York City.

Naughton’s presentation, “Equity and Inclusion: Innovative Practices for Creating an Inclusive Art Room Where Every Student Shines,” stood out among the proposals as she has focused her years of experience on developing adaptive and engaging lessons that motivate and spark excitement in children of all abilities.

As one of this year’s presenters, Naughton shared how she encourages imagination and expression in all of her students with fellow art educators.

“It is wonderful and valuable to learn from others in this field and have discussions about education and how ‘art’ should be at the center of it,” Naughton said.

The convention, which offered both in-person and virtual opportunities for art educators to connect and learn from each other, received almost 1,400 presentation proposals for consideration.

Naughton's topic advocated for exploring the importance of creating equitable classrooms that champion working through a student's ability as they create.

“Those who have had the pleasure of visiting Bette’s classrooms to see how her students thrive know how lucky the district is to have teachers like Bette representing the district and art teachers everywhere,” said Kristen Barnello, assistant to the director of teaching & learning and supervisor of the school cyber program.

Kyla Reynolds, assistant superintendent of schools said Naughton is an exceptional representative of the district, East Bradford Elementary School, and the West Chester Cyber Program.

“Her love for what she does, her creativity, and her joy for students are abundantly clear from the moment you meet her,” Reynolds said.

Naughton has been teaching art in the district for almost 20 years and is also a published author of the book “Adaptive Art Deconstructing Disability in the Art Room.”