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What is Art Ed?

As I gear up for my Art21 Educators Institute, I was asked to reflect on what the current trends are in art education and how I see this impacting how and what I teach. I used Wordle as a prompt for my analysis. What would you add?

QR Codes in the Art Classroom

Several of my art colleagues have explored QR codes and have already implemented them in the art classroom for creating interactive art exhibits. I am inspired to do the same! So today, I set about creating my own QR code that links to this blog. Now I realize how simple it can be:
I envision a "scan"-venger hunt with QR codes linking to information about artists and artwork for the Studio, also inspired by this resource from @cybraryman1 on Twitter. I use the NeoReader app on the iPhone.

Active Participation

Twitter is amazing. It engages. It shares. It's short and to the point. We learn. We interact. How cool is that?
Today the NYTimes engaged me to visit and interact with its own website, to leave my #6words on a Mondrian-inspired installation. I took a picture--and there they are: my words. Now you can add yours! The work is by Ryan Gander, and is on exhibit at the Venice Biennale.

Write a review in 6 words: http://nyti.ms/kNQclZ

Taking a Leap!

Well, I did it. I completed my first effort at National Board Certification. I know it isn't fully complete. I submitted my box amidst plans for school, community and state art exhibits for Youth Art Month, and a substantial list of other to-do's that in my zeal for getting it all done, somehow all culminated in being due at or around the same time. I could have decided to let it go, to not follow through. Instead I realized that sending the box in with two entries was better than not sending it in at all. Then it was year-end, and my daughter's wedding approached, and I had the assessment exercises to complete, as well as presentations for CEDFA. Like I wrote earlier, doesn't it all happen at once? Her wedding was the most important. I moved the other items way down the list. Somehow I felt it would all come together. I am so impressed with my colleagues who achieved NBCT in one year. "Wow!" That is something. But I had to decide what was right for me. That is why I am sharing this. I want to encourage others to take the leap of school (if that is what you interests you...) or national board certification (if that is what you want to try) and realize that taking a leap requires taking a risk. It is okay to leap and see where we land.

Inspired...

We all learn from one another. We are inspired, fueled, and pushed by our observations of others' work, their aesthetic, and their techniques. At CEDFA's Summit XII, I was learning from the participants while I was sharing my approach to the work I do in and out of the art classroom.
I will be sharing more of what Nancy and I presented, but I want to take a side-step and share a blog that always catches my eye:
New City Arts is an incredible K-6 art program in St. Louis. I wish I could go to school there!
Take a look at her architectural projects with various grades. Check out the wonderful birds her students created from working pinch pots of clay. And the snails... The creative connections that New City Arts makes inspires her students to explore ideas and approaches. She gathers inspiration from her community, from Art21 and the multiple intelligences. Each work is celebrated. Each work is special. Thanks New City Arts for sharing your great work!

Time...

As I logged in this morning to post a "I'm back!" blog-post, I caught a glimpse of others' blogs and saw that I am not the only one who felt that time was elusive this spring. To think that my last post was in February! I really only realized that yesterday as I was sharing my blog with attendees at CEDFA's Summit XII in Austin, TX. Nancy Walkup and I were co-presenting the focus on Assessment and the standards that relate to the Response/Evaluation strand of the TEKS (TX Essential Knowledge and Skills)
Bloom's Taxonomy was a first focus, where attendees created a flip-book with measurable verbs that take the students through the levels of the taxonomy. We then explored 21st Century Skills from the Partnership of 21st Century Skills. Bloom's (revised) Taxonomy and the 21st Century Skills, along with TEKS and National Content Standards for Visual Arts would then be applied to lesson planning/writing and the development of an assessment rubric. Here are some resources that I have collected over the years that connect to what I shared.
We were also creating! As part of our presentation, attendees participated in four different art activities that explored different media and techniques, engaging them as we would our students in thinking in new ways about their approaches to art making.
During the first session, participants created marbled paper for a silhouette project that Nancy shared: