Elementary art teacher Connor Sasin is turning trash into treasure

National Arts in Education Week is September 9–13. In honor of this special week, read below about how one of Northwest ISD’s newest art teachers is turning trash to treasure.

Connor Sasin is currently serving his first year at Berkshire Elementary. Before the school year even began, he had an unusual request for his principal, Shanel Jones. Mr. Connor, as his students refer to him, asked Ms. Jones to include in her weekly newsletter a note asking families for their “trash.”

Specifically, Mr. Connor was searching for any clean recyclables such as toilet paper and paper towel rolls, thin plastic cartons, buttons, paperclips, coins and more.

“I love to teach the importance of utilizing what we have to make art,” said Mr Connor, who has taught art for two years. “I want students to know that art can be made from more than just our traditional supplies.”

Fast forward one month to early September, and you can imagine the shocked reaction he received from fifth-grade students when he let them know their next project was going to include ripping the pages out of books. 

Utilizing donated novels, Mr. Connor provided students with templates to help them create artwork feature bears or foxes out of the paper from the recycled books. He even created an example to inspire the students for this autumn-themed project. Check out the full photo album on the NISD Flickr page.

Throughout the semester, students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Berkshire will all take part in different projects that utilize the donated recycled materials, but also stick to the autumn/harvest theme.

It is extra efforts like this by Mr. Connor and visual arts teachers throughout NISD that led to NISD being named a 2024 District of Distinction by the Texas Art Education Association, one of only 94 districts in the state to receive the honor.

According to National Art Education Association, “the arts teach children the skills necessary to succeed in life, including learning to solve problems and make decisions, learning to think creatively, building self-esteem and self-discipline, articulating a vision, developing the ability to imagine what might be, and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish."

As we celebrate National Arts in Education Week, thank you to all the students, educators, administrators and families who find a way to celebrate the visual arts and know they are an essential part of a complete education, no matter if it happens in the home, school, or community.