Tag Archives: art teacher

Alaska Day 8

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Last day. This day made Anchorage not so bad. But still… Anchorage is ick.

  • Went to the Anchorage market and met some cool local artists.
  • Watched salmon fishermen in the local waters
  • Went to the Anchorage Museum (Art and Culture stuff)
  • Hit up a few local artists galleries/shops
  • Champagne and oysters at Bubbly Mermaid
  • Zazu drink and fries at Tequila 61

After many failed attempts to see a moose, and one blurry shot from earlier in the week of a baby moose, we finally saw one near the airport on our way out. The below poem was written when we saw the baby moose. But it feels fitting to put here. 

THE ELUSIVE MOOSE
The elusive moose is a mamma moose 
And she drinks the sweet berry mountain juice.
The elusive moose is one to seduce
And she trollops with her calf at caboose.
The elusive moose seems to be a recluse
And our time is up so me must vamoose.

This poem is for our tourguide, who really was awesome. 🙂

ADAM
He's a wealth of information
With careful pauses of   ...  consideration.
He narrates as he drives the shuttle
With dad jokes that aren't too subtle.
Talking for hours with tales galore
He'll keep on going, even if you snore.
He'll get your ticket and get you there
And tell you exactly how, when, and where.
Be on time and don't be late.
The stress that'll cause him is too great.
He works hard to ensure our happy trip
So we will be sure not to forget his tip!

Alaska Days 1 & 2

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I’m realizing it is very hard to blog while traveling. So I will do this the best I can!

We got in yesterday late afternoon. And though I love being somewhere new, I gotta say, Anchorage is probably not gonna make it on my “must visit again” list. It is quite possible that I am missing something, but I am honestly not blown away. That’s not to say that I’m not enjoying myself, because I definitely am. Just overall- anchorage feels a bit underwhelming.

Day 1:

  • Landed around 2pm
  • Hotel stay at The Aviator in Anchorage- I highly suggest you avoid this place at all costs!!!
  • Walked around a local weekend market right around the corner from the hotel with my pal Jes
  • Drank a beer from local brewery called 49th state and met a friendly local named Sunshine
  • Found a cute bar/restaurant called Tequila 61 and had a fancy yummy cocktail
  • Met our guide from Ruby Range- Adam Moore
  • Dinner at hotel- despite the accommodations lodging the fish and chips was pretty good
  • Passed out and slept like a rock with my face mask and ear plugs on

I began writing rhyming poems on the trip… Here is my first poem written about Sunshine:

Shining in his orange vest
Smiling larger than all the rest.
He's not shy, he'll come right up to you
You'll be confused, not sure what to do.
Engage in a little awkward conversation
Stay or leave? A contemplation.
Just as you decide to go
He stops because he wants you to know...
his number!

Day 2:

  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Went to Wells Fargo Alaskan Cultural Museum and met with Robyn and Megan of the Alaska Art Education Association
  • We got to actually touch historical artifacts!!!!
  • Drove to Alaskan Native Heritage Center and learned about the 5 different cultures of Alaska’s Native people and the different clans within them.
  • Viewed and explored different traditional dwellings of Alaska Native Peoples
  • Bought some souvenirs (Earings)
  • Went to the Alaskan Native Medical Center for their gift shop. It was very small and made me anxious so I did not really look around
  • Walked around downtown Anchorage some more. Still not impressed, but found a cute Oyster/Champagne bar called the Bubbly Mermaid and had both of those things.
  • Went to dinner at the Crow’s nest which had an amazing view but was overrated for food. Very expensive for food trying to act fancy. Would not suggest eating there. Go for a drink at most.
  • Went back to Tequila 61 for after dinner drinks.
  • Played floor is Lava with towels at The Aviator since the floor and carpet was so dang gross

School for Art Leaders Day 5

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This post is a bit belated. Our last meeting together was more logistical and reflective, and then ended with a celebratory lunch. After that, it was off to the airport, and then I stopped over in Atlanta for some visiting with friends and family, so I found my time consumed (gladly) by that.

Saying goodbye to my awesome SAL roomies.
Saying goodbye to the green 21C penguins
Flying into storms… a metaphor for the feelings I was going through! Ha!

Reflecting back on my SAL experience I have a lot of thoughts I am still trying to sort through, as well as papers and readings! lol

Going in to School for Art Leaders, I will admit my skepticism in the program. Other folks who attending claimed the program to be transformational and life changing. I thought to myself, “How will this actually be life changing for me. I am not like everyone else! And how will trust falls and learning about leadership transform me?” Well folks, I drank the SAL Koolaid.

What I failed to realize is that SAL is more about learning about yourself and your story. It is about who you are as a leader, what motivates you, what stresses you out, how to work with other types of leaders, and giving yourself time to sort through all this.

I have come to learn how to accept our differences as leaders (no matter what level of leadership one is at) and how to appreciate the value in everyone’s strengths. And admittedly, I feel a little foolish that it took me this long to figure that out.

The Buckminster Fuller Geodome thrown into nature.

The other thing I was skeptical of, was the location. When arriving in Bentonville, I was like, “Where the heck am I? There is gonna be nothing to do and I am trapped.” But this to, I now see the value in. That isolation was necessary to my allowing myself space to process. There were little distractions, beyond good food and nature, and the nature was definitely inspiring and peaceful to be around. Our walks to and from the museum everyday allowed time for reflection.

I have learned a great deal about myself. I have learned what I need to work on and what I am good at. And I have allowed myself to be vulnerable in front of strangers (now friends) in order to understand myself.

I realize there is a larger more personal journey I have to take that will allow me to feel balance in my life. Ultimately, everything in my life and in my story leads me to be the type of leader I want to be, and so there are some things I must work on. In Friedman’s book, Total Leadership , he identifies 4 domains that play into the role of a leader- work, community, home, and self. I put a lot of my time into work and community, and I know there are plenty of things to work on there, but those two domains line up pretty well within each other. Self (mind, body, spirit) and home (family and relationships) live far outside those circles of work and community and seem to get little in the way of my focus of time and energy. So that has to change, and I have to work on bettering my relationships.

This will be my last consecutive post for a while on SAL. I will probably still make other future SAL/Leadership type posts depending on what I am working on, but the next series of posts will be my trip to Alaska at the end of July!!! Woooo hoooo!!!! And then hopefully… I will continue here and there with blogging throughout the school year.

Crystal Bridges Day 4

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Today was a big story writing and story telling day. Not much in the way of pictures to go along with the stories so I will just throw some fun ones in at the end.

This post is just gonna be my 3 minute Art Education Advocacy story…

Allow me a moment to frame it. I teach in a district where we are referred to as “prep teachers”…by colleagues, by students, and sometimes (though not usually in mine) by administration. Even our union slips into that language. So all those folks would be my audience. And as you probably guessed, the core of my story is that I am not a prep teacher. And away we go!!

What’s in a name? 
What is my label?

I am an art educator. I teach my students about the visual arts and how to apply what they are learning in other classes. I teach divergent thinking in my art room and how to be creative problem solvers. I have created an art room where my students can learn about themselves, explore their ideas, and experiment with different mediums, themes and content. I am preparing them to be creative thinkers and innovators and to understand the visual culture they live in. But please don’t be mistaken by that. I am not a prep teacher. I am an art teacher. 

A teachers prep time is their time to prepare lessons, grade, organize, have a meeting or do whatever they need to do to be ready for their students. Art teachers have a preparation period also where we do such things- preparing paint, cutting paper, hanging art, assessing work, cleaning paint brushes, researching artists, and so much more (like this list could go on for a while y’all!). To me and many in my profession it feels like a misrepresentation to refer to art class as a prep class. It has the potential for misunderstandings. Knowing that students are sent to me under that false label and to hear a student refer to it as such or to call me a prep teacher can be soul crushing. I feel devalued and unimportant in the role of their education. “But Miss, it’s just my prep class- it doesn’t matter. I want to be a basketball player.” Teaching art is my passion and has always been. I want my colleagues and my students to see, feel, and hear that passion and understand what my label truly is.

You know how labels can share the fabric compositions and care instructions on the back? Well I’d like to share with y’all the fabric of my art room and the care I put into it to create a constructive, creative, and safe learning space.

My room is unapologetically colorful. It’s a space organized and dictated by colors that  create systems to help students understand the art room culture.With an art library bursting at the seems, my room invites students to learn through literacy if that is their strength. We sing songs about art and learn kinesthetically through dancing.  It’s a welcoming space filled with smiling students who are learning about our world through art and drawing conclusions on their relationship with that world, and how to build relationships with one another through collaboration. On a painting day, students can smell the tempera paint and are excited to experiment with mixing colors and explore color theory. My room is a place for all students to succeed in  ways that work best for them while making connections to their learning and to discover themselves.

So, what I’d like to do is switch the perspective…to shift the dialogue. To help folks understand what I do and what happens in the art room… That I am not a prep teacher, I am an art educator. As a community we can make this change. We can flip the label.

There ya have it folks. I even volunteered to be one of the people to read it to the whole group. It was nerve wracking, but I was so proud of what I accomplished and I had to share.

Now some fun pictures…


Crystal Bridges Day 3

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Today felt exhausting. I had a headache all day, and I found it hard to focus at times, but I went with the flow and tried to ignore the dull ache.

The walk this morning was really nice, and I stopped by Onyx coffee to try their nitro cold brew that folks rave about. It’s a super cute and hip spot.

The walk to Crystal Bridges via the art museum trail is such a beautiful way to start the morning. It’s a lush green hilly landscape with a huge variety of native trees, flowers, and plants. Today the smell of the flowers was so vivid and strong that I just kept taking giant breaths to savor the moment. Once you are closer to the south entrance of the museum, you pass over this little itty bitty lake reservoir thingy (fed from the springs I believe) that has this cloudy crystal green color. And because of the heat and constant rain, there is always a little bit of a mist rising above it. In all truth, I am tempted to jump right in!

Once we all gathered together today, we first looked at an area of our domains that we felt we needed to pay more attention to and did an activity where we came to 3 words, and then ultimately 1 to focus in on that “deficit”. I am not completely comfortable sharing what got me to my word, but I will share that my word is understood.

Following that we talked about creative leadership and what that looks like- the characteristics and behaviors of a creative leader. A lot of good nuggets of information from this, but this was when my head was really hating me, and I was having a hard time focusing…so I will have to comb through the powerpoint and handouts to revisit what was discussed another time.

“Today is the only day you get. When you get to tomorrow you call it that.” -Niki Ciccotelli Stewart

Elizabeth Guman shared with us the Ladder of Inference, and we had a lot of good conversation around that. I had to think of a situation that was not a positive interaction and think about how my assumptions might have gotten in the way with that. Again, not comfortable sharing that bit, but it was interesting to reflect on that and I definitely will think about how I approach that person in the future.

The last 2 bit of our group work was done in smaller groups. The first group was tasked with relating their DiSC profile to a work of art in the museum and explaining how it relates followed by some problem solving with the group about how different leadership styles might respond to you. If you are not familiar with DiSC prolines, then click here. And for your knowledge, I am a C profile which might not come as a surprise after you read about it. And below is the art I choose to represent me. Of course it has a cat!

This is a piece by Tom Uttech called Enassamishhinjijweian. I feel connected to this painting as he felt connected to nature. I mean a cat and birds! I love both! But what I also see is a quiet and diligent cat waiting for their moment. Maybe they’re in control of the scene or maybe they are just a part of it. Though the painting is seemingly chaotic with everything happening in it, it still has a system. There is still organization. There seems to be an even and thought out spacing of all the birds and animals. And your eye always returns and rests on the cat appreciating the beautiful sunset.

After that we got together with our smaller cohort groups and shared our 3 minute story of why/how we became an art teacher, which we will work on more as a small group.

Holly, Leslie, Laura, Martha Anne, Enid, Jane, and Sally.

After words I explored the museum on my own and truly enjoyed my time outside looking at the color fields exhibit. The evening had cooled off and barely anyone was around.

Total Leadership: Vision & Values

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My Leadership Vision

In this exercise, describe the kind of leader you want to become by writing a short story of your life between now and fifteen years in the future.

From Total Leadership by Stewart D Friedman

The journey toward my leadership began in 2013 when I started working at the School District of Philadelphia. Due to enrollment issues, I was laid off from my previous position at a prestigious private school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and I was definitely left feeling a bit jaded about that. That summer I applied to every teaching position I could find, but no one gave me an opportunity to even get my foot in the door. Labor day was fast approaching, which meant school was starting soon, and I was beginning to think I would have to start waiting tables or become a nanny- neither of which appealed to me.

Labor day weekend I was at the beach and received a phone call from the School District of Philadelphia to come in for an interview that Tuesday. I had to have a portfolio of my own art, showcasing a diversity of mediums and all mounted or framed. I was feeling panicked. I left the beach early Monday morning, to get home in time to go to the art store and get mat boards and to swing by a friend’s to borrow their mat cutter.

I of course got everything prepared and was hired by the district to start the following week. I knew nothing of the schools I had to choose from except what little info I could gather from the internet, which all made it seem hopeless, so I chose the school that said it had a garden, because that it least was a ray of hope to me. It was a tough school, and some of the administration was not at all supportive of the teachers. Many teachers in my shoes would have quit. Many in our district do quit. But I am stubborn, so I stuck it out. It was a struggle, and after 9 years of teaching I felt like I knew nothing. I was isolated in my setting and exhausted. This is when it happened. This is when my journey began, although did not realize it yet.

I started going to these meeting for art teachers hosted by the amazing Lynne Horoschak at Moore College of Art and Design. There were a solid 3-4 of us that would attend at the beginning and just get together and talk about school, and support one another. Lynne started to recruit me to inspire other teachers to attend, and even had me lead the meetings. Then, Lynn informed me she was retiring, but encouraged me to keep the meetings going. She introduced me to Lauren Stichter who assumed Lynn’s position at Moore, and with her help and my leadership of the group, we sustained the meetings at Moore, and the group grew to become the Philadelphia Art Teachers Alliance (PATA).

Around 2013, I also became more involved in the Pennsylvania Art Education Association. Just feeling that dire need to be connected to other art teachers, I went to every event I possibly could. Robin Brewer and Lisbeth Bucci took me under their wing at the 2013 conference, and from there I felt a connection to them. Eventually, I took on a board position with the PAEA as a regional representative for our very large state. I started to consider what my future with the organization would look like. I knew eventually I would want to take on a larger role with the Leadership Council (LC) but when? Robin was president when I started thinking about what my leadership would look like. Then Lisbeth became president-elect, and then I started to think about who I would want to follow in that position, and it was clear as day to me that if anyone, I wanted to follow the line of Diane Wilkin, to Robin Brewer, to Lisbeth Bucci, and then me. So here I am now, as president-elect of the PAEA, and it’s a little scary, but I will figure it out.

One thing about me is that no matter how daunting a task or job is, I know I can figure it out. That’s just how my mind works. It may scare the pants off me at first and cause lots of anxiety but I can and will get to where I need to be. And if I mess up along the way, I learn from it. Mistakes are steps to success. Weirdly I sound positive right now, but I don’t think that I am always the most positive person, and that is something I hope to work on.

Through my work with PATA and PAEA I hope to help support art teachers in their roles and to advocate more profoundly for art education. I want to be a strong and confident leader whom others can depend on and I would hope to have the wisdom to understand boundaries of when I give too much of myself. As a leader I hope to learn how to better focus my time and energy and to balance more goals in the most efficient manner. I want to be an authentic leader leading with my authentic self and understanding my sense of purpose and direction. That’s my destination for the next six years or so, and it’s hard for me to fathom what the day to day might be like, but I know that I will adapt as needed.

Looking further into the future, I see everything I am doing as leading up to taking on a role as a district art administrator, which is something I have said in whispers to close friends before, but in being true to my authentic self, this is something I do feel like I have been and will be working up to. That may mean taking further Graduate courses for an arts administration degree, but I will cross that bridge when I get there. Currently, I am far too busy to consider taking Grad courses again!

I feel like I’ve bonked this first exercise…I mostly wrote about what got me to where I am and did not write so much about how I imagine my future in leadership will look… or how I will make the world better in some way. Is this even a leadership vision?? I am not sure how to envision something so vague at this point. Maybe this will get cleaned up and redone later… For now let’s call this Version 1.

End of the Year! Me, oh my! The time sure did fly!

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So, I did not post on this nearly as much as I intended to this year because everything just got so super busy. As I sit here at my desk, while all my regularly scheduled classes are on field trips, I silently agree with myself that now is a great time for a little reflection, with more to come later.

It’s been a rough but productive year. The district had some issues with the substitute teacher service they shelled money out for, and many teachers were called upon repeatedly for coverage. All across the district this was happening. Some teachers got it worse than others. Some principals would cancel entire classes or specials periods to have teachers cover. Naturally this was frustrating and exhausting for many, especially when there is still so much that is expected to get done by us, but that time to get it done is taken away. So that had a lot of people on edge, including myself. Anytime my room phone would ring, I cringed.

I stayed late many days to get caught up. And by the time I got home, I was pooped. Yet still, I had to summon up the energy to organize and plan meetings for the Philadelphia Art Teacher Alliance. It’s a labor of love, though. I love what I do, and I love being able to connect with other people who love art education as well- teachers or advocates.

I look forward to spending my third year in the same school and second year in the same room next school year. My rapport with students will have grown, and I will be more equipped to meet their needs artistically and expressively…more holistically all around too, really. Being in the same room, will allow me more time to focus on refining my lessons, and weeding out the not so great ones. I also hope for better camaraderie with my colleagues in the school building. I LOVE my basement room, but feel a little left out at times… I know… boo hoo, call the wambulance. But seriously, I want to connect with them more, and connect my art lessons to what they are doing in their classrooms more.

Consider this my summer to do list:

-blog/reflect on each lesson.

-write new lessons

-plan field trips

-plan locations for PATA meetings

-reach out to local artists to come into my classroom

-write DonorsChoose project for adaptive art materials and for printmaking supplies

-fundraise!

-visual verbal journal everyday

-refine student self-assessment sheet- one for all to use…or maybe k-2 and 3-8

– think of more stuff to do

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collaboration is Key

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On May 10th, I lead our 1/2 day teacher Professional Development, with support from the Philadelphia Collaborative Teacher Center. The plan was to create an activity for our staff to participate in directed towards improving school collaboration and culture, improving team building and strengthening community.

At first I struggled to come up with an idea. Whatever we decided to do, I wanted to be sure staff were collaborating, that they engaged in an arts based activity, and that they could be proud with the end results. Eventually, as I was walking in our quite bare stairwell, I had the thought of mural painting. But how could I create this for the staff to be successful?! Simple- geometric masking tape murals!

The 5'x5' area taped off and taped with paint and supplies in the box.

The 5’x5′ area taped off and taped with paint and supplies in the box.

 

I began by showing a super brief Power Point, showing examples of what masking tape murals look like, discussed how they should divide up their time, and ways in which they could create the geometric shapes. The presentation lasted at most 15 minutes. I wanted teachers to get painting as soon as possible. On each floor I taped off a 5’x5′ area in the stairwells. Staff worked together with all who worked on their floor level. I prepared and provided a tarp and plastic to protect the ground, masking tape (just the basic stuff here- not painters tape), paint, paintbrushes, mixing spoons, paper towels, a yard stick (in case they wanted to get technical), mixing cups, and buckets of water. Once they got to their painting station, they dove in.

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It was so exciting to see all the staff’s creativity on display as they began to plan their designs.

Each floor’s design was so unique, and everyone seemed to work together smoothly to create a finished mural in under 2 hours!! 2 hours!!

 

I still have some touching up to do where the tape took a little of the wall with it, but that’ll be no biggie.

At the end of the day, after painting, I had teachers respond to at least 2 of 4 prompts I had posted. Here are some of my favorite takeaways:

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The post it note post session prompts

Enjoyed about the PD:
“Everyone came together as one. Everyone’s idea and vision was respected.”
“Using creativity and we got to paint on the walls without fear.”
“Great way to collaborate.”
“The painting and a chance to be creative.”

“Togetherness.”

How did you come together as a team?:
“Building off others’ ideas”
“We each expressed which design we liked best, which turned out to all be a radial style.”
“Randomly! We all pitched in. It was fun!”
“Some people created the design, others painted, and some procured support and music.”
How can collaboration strengthen or build professional relationships?
“We had to listen to each others opinions and feedback and take turns.”
“Allow others to shine in their place of strength”
“Collaboration is the key to completion of a project.”
“Finding common ground can help bond.”
“Collaboration builds communication.”

“Letting each other know their ideas are valuable by building a complete idea together.”

How can the PD inspire your work or teachings…?

“Find more ways to collaborate in my classroom.”

“Bringing fun back to learning without pressing to meet expectation.”

“Get another perspective from others.”

“Teach students to recognize opinions and differences. Be willing to work with others.”

“Thinking outside of the box.”

“Teach kids to collaborate and respect each other!”

“Putting together a fun activity to involve students.”

“Teamwork. Unity. Friendship.”
Lastly, a lasting effect the murals have had is the teachers actually using them to teach with!!! In the past week, I have seen at least two teachers using them. And that’s enough for me to call it a lasting success of collaboration, cross curricular connection, and school beautification! I overheard one of our Autistic Support classroom teachers having her students identify letters hidden in the first floor mural, and our 4th grade teacher had her students identifying all the polygons, tetrahedron, etc. She took the project even further and is having her students work collaboratively to create their own mini geometric tape designs!! Way to go Mrs. Austin!!! I love it! I can’t wait to see the final pieces!!

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pARTners are making it happen!

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pARTners

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with my pARTners* from Methacton High School. Mrs. Ferenchak & Ms. McCauely are the cosponsors of their NAHS and have worked with their students to help provide some supplies for the Nebinger art room. I am very grateful for their contribution! They plan to continue fundraising, which of course, I am continually grateful and super ecstatic for.

It was so nice to meet with the students and learn a little about them, all while enjoying my favorite bagel in the whole world at Panera Bread. I wish the seniors much luck in college!!

Sidenote- After we parted ways, I went to the Container Store…because it was right there…It was my first time. Oh. My. Gawd. I was in color coded organization heaven! Anyone who knows me well, knows I love to organize my art room. This place will break my wallet for sure. So many ways to organize!!

*pARTners is a pilot program started with the PAEA (Pennsylvania Art Education Association) and PATA (Philadelphia Art Teachers Alliance). This amazing program was developed by Robin Brewer to help support teachers in settings where they have little to know budget (such as the SDP). In this pilot program, teachers with a National Art Honors Society in the suburbs were paired with a teacher from the School District of Philadelphia who is also active in PATA.

Art projects I would consider doing….

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Other teachers, mostly in the Philadelphia area, are in these meetings and stuff that I go to. These are some of their projects. Some of the projects are also from district art shows and what not. I snap photos with my phone and sometimes it stays on my phone for I don’t know how long. Then sometimes I move them to my computer and there they stay for I don’t know how long. Maybe if I move some of those images to my blog I will comitt them to more of my memory and actually do them. I do also have my lesson matrix in front of me too… so I could jot a few of them down. That would be clever of me. 😉IMG_8207

I have been saving toilet paper rolls for a very long time now. I’m thinking 2nd grade. Toilet paper totem ainmals? Something like that??

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I have a handout to go with this somewhere. Oh gosh, I hope I can find it… This one, if I recall, used the textures/patterns of different animals. But there was somekind of connection to the identity of the student… Gotta find that handout. I’d totally do this one with my 6th graders.
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I remember the teacher said she used the crayola water color pencils on black paper with this. I have some of those, and they don’t work well as watercolor pencils, so totally gonna use them for this project. Thinking 7th grade. They love candy…so do I.

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Cardboard birds! These were soooo cute! And cardboard is so easy to get at any school. Right??!! Right! 4th grade?

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This was at the PAEA conference a few years ago… I have tons of paper bags, and need to do some puppet making with the wee ones, so yeah. This. I’ll do something with this…I will do this with kindergarten and 1st grade. Maybe animals for one and people for the other? OR fantasy animals for one and just forest animals for the other….

Now I know I had way more images. But I have no idea where I squirreled them away!! Ugh. I should have dealt with them immediately.