Grades: 3–12
Best Format: Multi-day residency / consecutive days
Focus: Giant puppetry, visual art, theatre, hands-on making, STEAM integration, and collaborative performance.
About Thaddeus
Thaddeus Jurczynski has been a teaching artist for over 30 years and was a classroom teacher for nine years. His work has taken him from Port Townsend to Taiwan, where he helped students and participants create ensembles and giant puppets for an annual parade and performance.
Thaddeus considers himself a catalyst. His goal is to provide students with the tools, materials, and guidance they need for discovery learning. He believes that learning is something people do, not something that is done to them, and strives to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued. He is currently developing arts lessons that integrate science and math.
What Students Can Explore
Thaddeus’s workshops bring together visual art, theatre, and interdisciplinary learning through hands-on making and discovery. With more time, students can build technical skills and creative confidence, create original work, collaborate more effectively, complete larger projects, and prepare work for performance or exhibition.
Students get the most from Thaddeus’s teaching when: “They develop a sense of pride in acquiring a new skill or means of expressing.”
In Thaddeus’s classroom, students: “Can create art in an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued.”
Thaddeus focuses on helping students: “Learn new skills and techniques to bring their visions to life.”
Students leave with: “A sense of pride in acquiring a new skill or means of expressing.”
Teaching Experience
General education classrooms, inclusion classrooms, English Language Learner (ELL) classrooms, Highly Capable programs, alternative education settings, outdoor learning environments, and community-based learning.
Learner Needs Thaddeus Can Adapt For
Students with IEPs, neurodivergent learners, English Language Learners, students with communication differences, mixed-age classrooms, and advanced learners.
Best Learning Environments
Traditional classrooms, art rooms, flexible or open spaces, small-group instruction, and whole-class instruction.
Helpful Information + Teacher Support
Student age and grade level, class size, a brief planning conversation before the visit, teacher support with classroom management, and information about the space, materials, or technology available.
Contact + Artist Information
Email: artsthaddeus@gmail.com
Phone: 360-215-0080
Website: artsthaddeus.blogspot.com
