“One of the things that I find funny is very few of the kids here watched any of the cartoons that I created, but their parents did,” he said. “So I said to my wife, ‘It’s funny – I warped their parents and now I'm fixing their kids.’”
John has some trepidation about making the transition from animating TV shows such as “The Fairly OddParents,” “The Wild Thornberrys,” “Rick and Morty,” and “Invader ZIM” to the daily work environment of a teacher. But Peak, which has outperformed the district since Day 1, quickly became a second family, and not just to him.
While living in New York John did animation for various studios and his wife Leigh was in public relations. They moved to North Carolina when their daughter reached school age and while at Peak for an open house, he jokingly told her to mention his background in animation in the event that there was an opening for an art teacher.
It just so happened that the art teacher was leaving. After interviewing with then-principal Steve Pond, John realized teaching would be a great fit. Leigh later left her public relations job and now is the Language Arts teacher.
“What started out as a devious scheme just to get my daughter in the school is our second home now,” he said with a laugh.
John had taught before, but more in a side gig capacity. His extensive background aside, his main goal is to reach students of all levels. More importantly, he is trying to reimagine traditional expectations of art class into more of a creative thinking exercise.
“Peak has been nothing but supportive of my little mad scientist lab here,” he said. “I’ve had kids who love art tell me all the time that they love my class, but most importantly, I’ve had so many kids come up to me and say, ‘I used to hate art class and now I love it.’ That’s been a huge win as far as I’m concerned.”
Fountain has incorporated an elective called “character creation” in which students come up with a character and a backstory. They learn different techniques for illustration, but more importantly they form a symbiotic relationship with the character by seeing the world through their eyes, stirring up feelings and emotions.
He surprised even himself when his abstract art lesson left his fifth-grade class riveted. He explained that abstract art is a language that you can use to express the things that there are no words for and create shapes and colors that have personal meaning to you.
“The ones who couldn’t draw or who weren’t great at the illustration aspect of it suddenly felt empowered, and that's what was great about it,” he said. “They felt empowered that abstract art is something that is there for them.”
Borders and constraints are just that in Fountain’s class – restrictive. A poster he created for the first day of class encouraging students to color outside the lines serves as an edict for them to not simply follow a rigid path with the end result of making a shape, for example. He wants them to make something out of it and make it their own creation.
“I never colored inside lines,” he said. “That’s boring. I’m going to add backgrounds.”
Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Fountain!
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About Peak Charter Academy
Peak Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Apex, North Carolina, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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