Schools, libraries, and art centers can make use of Richard deep and wide artistic experience and knowledge. Richard is available to provide a range of teaching services. All of the activities are provided with detailed lesson plans and drawing resources. And they are connected to the Common Core Learning Standards. For Students (grades 1-12) 1) Lectures & demonstrations about comics, cartooning, drawing, writing, art, & story 2) Hands-on art making workshops (1-2 sessions only) For Teachers and/or Administrators 1) Professional Development: Hands-on in depth workshops focusing on arts integration, arts inclusion, student learning assessment in the visual arts, comics, cartooning, drawing, writing, art, and story. 2) Keynote speeches: Engaging presentations about comics, story, writing, visual art, arts integration, & arts inclusion. 3) Demonstration Teaching (demonstrating any of the above teaching activities/strategies in a classroom while the teacher observes.) 4) Classroom Coaching: Working one-on-one with a teacher to observe their teaching of one of the above activities/strategies in the classroom and to provide them with guidance and feedback. See also: www.comicsinyourcurriculum.com

Richard Jenkins is a published cartoonist, author, and artist. In 1996, he began his cartooning career as the co-creator and illustrator of the nationally published SKY APE series, creating four graphic novels. In addition to Sky Ape he has created short story comics for various anthologies, illustrated a children's storybook, Princess Ann & the Magic Egg, and worked as a freelance illustrator. In all of his work, Richard emphasizes character emotions and unique story settings.Since 1997, Richard has also worked extensively as a Teaching Artist, engaging students in drawing, cartooning, story making, and painting. He works with gifted & talented, Youth-at-Risk, ESL, and Special Needs populations. His student-centered teaching focuses on building up their creative and cognitive capacities. He has served on the Teaching Artist Rosters for the Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Utah Arts Councils. In 2009, for his exemplary work with Special Needs students, Richard was awarded the Teaching Artist Fellowship from VSA arts International. In 2000, Richard began working throughout the US as an Arts & Education Consultant, providing professional development training for teachers in arts integration and arts inclusion strategies. He believes that by empowering teachers with visual arts, cartooning, and story making that they will be able to discover new entry points for their students, making the curriculum both more accessible and engaging. 2008 marked the release of Richard's first Teacher's arts-integration manual, Comics in Your Curriculum. From 2010-2012 Richard also served as a field reporter for the Teaching Artist Journal, writing articles about the teaching artist field and his own teaching work. Richard is currently a Workshop Leader for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, providing professional development training for teachers. And he is writing and illustrating his latest graphic novel entitled TOIL, a murder mystery set in1933 South Eastern, Utah. Richard lives with his wife Stephanie and their son Henry in Lawrence, Kansas.