Ms. Monfrini is an art and media educator and a documentary photographer. She graduate from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C.  Prior to teaching in DCPS, Ms. Monfrini served for three years at the Hirshhorn Museum as an Education Program Coordinator. She has also taught children at a local makerspace, offering workshops ranging from power tools to filmmaking and photography. She has facilitated art workshops for low-income families in Fairfax County, VA and for immigrant high-school students in Gaithersburg, MD. Ms. Monfrini strives to help students to use art to explore their world, to ask questions and to develop problem solving skills, and express their ideas and dreams in creative ways. Ms. Monfrini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has lived in La Paz, Bolivia; Mexico City and London.

At Marie Reed we are building a nurturing and welcoming art classroom that allows children to explore materials and techniques that support their understanding of art concepts, visual literacy, development of fine motor skills, problem solving and independence.

Through creating art students gain self-confidence and become more resilient, learning from their mistakes, embracing happy accidents and practicing to achieve mastery.

DCPS art curricula is rooted in contemporary art practices that allow students and teachers to connect art to themes such as identity, community, history, and social justice. Experimentation and the exploration of materials are used to promote creativity and independence.

Throughout the year students are asked to make connections with the world outside the classroom through their artwork and to reflect on their creative choices. Contrasting opinions and common ground are explored in group discussions, and in one-on-one conversations.

For each new project, students are introduced to an artist or an art movement that will inform their artmaking. Looking at art, students will describe the formal qualities of such artworks, including the use of line, shape, color, value, and form. Students will learn about composition, eg. Is the main focus of the work centered or off centered? Students will be challenged to interpret the work to imagine what the artist is trying to say, and then to support their opinions. As they begin their projects students will explore ways to include some of the elements discussed in their own art.