My experiences and knowledge from being a student, educator, and teammate in different fields are all interwoven, like the crocheted blanket here. My goal as an educator is to be like the crochet hook; I strive to be an educator who empowers students to stitch together their knowledge and experiences. Sometimes our connections -- whether it be of knowledge, with people, or to other aspects of our lives -- can feel like the tangled knot of yarn here. It's important to remember that our students often feel this way, too. Untangling a knot is hard, but when we draw on our knowledge and support network, we can work through the knots and create masterpieces.
A teeny bit of insight into the symbolism pictured above:
The graduation pendant represents my own experiences as a K-12 student
The paintbrushes to represent art
The coin purse was a gift from my mentor teacher during my provisional teacher program
The book represents my training & experience in Higher Education (Marcia Baxter Magolda is my favorite Student Development theorist)
The roller skate wheel represents roller derby; my roller derby families have been some of the most supportive people in my life post-college
The background is a baby blanket that I am crocheting for the child of a friend from college
While I was editing the image above and adding text (on twitter I posted a version of the pic with the text in the image), my cat decided to take over my carefully planned display:
Sometimes when I'm not teaching or lesson planning, I like to make DIY projects. I know I have found a lot of inspiration for my home decorating projects online (hello, Pinterest!), so I have decided to share my results and products... Starting with this nifty piece of furniture that I transformed last summer.
I moved back to NJ from Massachusetts, and in my new abode I needed a new way to store my shoes and makeup. The piece of furniture that I desired needed to have a narrow depth -- only about as deep as my foot is long -- in order to not block a set of drawers positions perpendicular to it. And it needed to fit under my window.
An old twin-sized headboard with shelves turned out to be the perfect base for this project!
I used the instructions from this blog post to paint and finish my my particle board/laminate headboard with great success! If you want to refresh some cheap furniture, this is the method to use.
While the existing structure provides shelves for beauty products, I need to add some additional shelving for my shoes. Enter crates from the craft store!
I used L-shaped brackets and a power drill to attach an additional shelf inside of each crate, then had my dad (best dad ever!) cut a board of wood to rest on top of the crates for the long shelf.
Of course, having this awesome piece of furniture to hold my stuff was all well and good, but let's be real -- I also needed to be able to organize my cosmetics! This is where things got crafty...
I had already purchased a few rolls of cute-printed wrapping paper from the Dollar Spot at Target (Shoe boxes of supplies look much nicer when wrapped). I used some of the paper to wrap a clementine crate as my base container and a toilet paper tube (yep, keepin' it cheap) for eyeliner pencils. I had a few pastel mini Chinese food style take-out containers leftover from my cousin's bridal shower, which nicely held individual eye shadows & chap sticks. In my search for little open-top boxes, I found containers intended to hold sugar packets at Christmas Tree Shop. Throw in a couple glass jars, and I had a very accessible, useful way to store my makeup!
I've used this cute method of storing makeup brushes since college! All you need is a clear container (mine is a candle holder) and some plastic beads. [Shout out to RDs Treya & Janel from William Paterson University circa 2008 for teaching me this trick.] The organizer tray that holds my hair products & deodorant, etc. was from Michael's arts & crafts store.
So, of course, my vanity isn't always styled this neatly. I went minimalist for the photo shoot... my version of minimalist.
When I get a chance, my next DIY project to share will be my jewelry organizers! (Or maybe the hand-dyed duvet cover & curtains that I made last summer... we shall see.)
If you teach in one of the states that used the PARCC exam this year, then you know that Analytical Writing is a big part of our students' standardized assessment now. Our students need to be able to prove their ability to:
If you've ever held a formal critique or taught your students the skills of art criticism, you can probably already see how the "Analytical Writing" skills and art class can go hand-in-hand.
Behold... a fantastic TED Ed video that exposes the importance of Art Analysis:
How art can help you analyze - Amy E. Herman
Seriously... if your students don't start paying attention at the bit about bank-robbing ninjas with lasers, then I can't imagine how hard your job must be. But I digress...
It seems that most art teachers follow some version of Feldman's Model of Art Criticism, in which step two is even called "Analysis." If you're like me, you encourage your students to learn and use appropriate art-related vocabulary during critiques (for example, if a student says, "The yellow makes that shape pop," we discuss how the artist "used color to create contrast and emphasis"). We're only on Step 2 of the critique process, and we're already touching upon five of the six analytical writing skills listed above! Art Teachers: WE ARE CHAMPIONS!
Except maybe your students aren't writing... maybe your critique is verbal. Maybe you don't really want to have your students write essays. What can you do?
One option is to grab this popular lesson (beautifully illustrated by Julia Sanderl and her students) and take it for a spin. I recently did, and I got some fantastic results!
Examples from my students at RMHS
My students have 90-minute blocks, so we were able to finish this assignment in one class period.
The handout I gave my students was actually a print-out of the "Feldman's Model of Art Criticism" pdf linked above, with Julia Sanderl's illustration and a short numbered list of instructions on the bottom. I found that my students got a bit confused about which set of questions to answer (the ones in the illustration, or the one at the top), and that some of the questions had wording that was too vague and caused additional confusion. At some point I will make an updated handout for my own future use, and I'll post a link here!
I think if students start using this process early, then writing a more in-depth formal analysis later (in the year or in their progression of courses) would not seem like a daunting task.
Another resource that I have found indispensable this year is this 5-page pdf by Mrs. K. Wood at Forsyth Country Day School. I used her document to create a "Guided Written Art Critique" packet, which served at the mid-term exam for my Advanced Art Students this year.
If you're in search of more resources about art analysis, I tend to gather all the neat stuff I find about critiques (and artist statements) on this Pinterest Board. Please send me your favorites!
P.S. The MOST BEAUTIFUL example of a sketchbook art analysis I have ever seen:
Click to visit the website where I found this analysis
You probably already know that colors can affect the way people feel and think. Today you will explore the emotional and psychological meanings of color.
You will work in groups of your choice – every student must be part of a group! No going solo today. Your group must have at least 3 members and no more than 6 members.
Each class must complete the assigned activity for ALL 8 COLORS listed below; you may choose to break into 8 groups, or each group may “study” more than one color:
Your Task: Work as a team to create one cohesive work of art that will instantly show the viewer what that color means.
Your project should be predominantly monochromatic: you should use ONLY the color your group selected, but you can use tints and shades of that color (lighter values and darker values). I will also allow you to use variations of the hue (pure color), for example: warm green and cool green, perhaps some yellow-green, but no plain yellow!
You can use any media you like (mixed media is great), but remember we are almost out of red acrylic!
EVERYONE in the group must take part in the planning AND making of the project.
Please create a composition (arrangement) that nicely fills the entire page -- I don't want to see a tiny drawing awkwardly sitting in one corner.
HAVE FUN!
Please do the BEST job cleaning up that you've ever done in your life!
