Woodland’s new art teacher, Eileen Portelance, plans to use her past in graphic design and illustration to become as successful as she can in this new chapter of her life. For many years, Portelance has worked for Grolier Scholastic and Taunton Press.

In addition to this work, Portelance also enjoys working with private clients to design baby rooms and custom murals. Portelance’s past skills in art make her the perfect fit to fill the role as the new art teacher.

Not only does Portelances hard work and dedication allow her to thrive at Woodland, but also in her community. Through her past careers but also, she has grown not only as an educator but as an individual. Portelance also uses knowledge from volunteer work to be successful at Woodland.

Portelance has an active role in her community, and enjoys volunteering and the environment it holds.

“I just thoroughly enjoyed being in that role,” said Portelance.“I volunteered a lot and just loved the environment where I was working, whether it was for Groiler, Really Good Stuff, Canterbury.”

At times, it has been difficult for Portelance to adjust to a new environment, she wants to allow herself opportunities to grow and become better for her students. Throughout the beginning stages of the year, Portelance spent a lot of time troubleshooting Schoology and internet problems, which has made it a bit difficult to stay on pace with the curriculum. Overall, Portelance’s main goal is to allow children to grow and reflect on their work while keeping up with the pace of the classroom. Portelance also asks students to complete and submit work to a website made for each student to have their own portfolio so they can look at all of the work that they have created throughout the year.

“I am a facilitator. You know, I bring forward the opportunity to either explore a part of art history, and then you guys get a chance to then explore it yourself in a specific medium,” said Portelance. “But I’m that facilitator, with modeling but also allowing enough space to struggle a little bit but then be there no matter what your ability is in the arts to feel a measure of success.”