Save the Dry Erase Markers!

At my school, we don't have blackboards and instead we have white/dry-erase boards. When I first came to this school over five years ago I was really excited about this fact because in public school I had blackboards that I had a real love-hate feeling toward for all of the reasons you might imagine if you have any experience dealing with blackboards. Still, having white/dry-erase boards wasn't nearly as awesome as I thought it would be. They soon became just as annoying to me as the blackboards were but just in different ways.

(Now, I understand this is totally a "first world problem" that I am referencing but just please bear with me.)

One of my biggest issues with having a whiteboard in class is the marker issue. Markers go missing all the time but if they aren't missing, we have issues with them because the ink seems to run out very quickly. For this reason, I barely use my whiteboard and I'm almost always fussing about not being able to actually use it.

All of this in mind, a week or so ago, I started noticing that even though I wasn't using my board, the markers would always be arranged and positioned the way they are pictured above. While it seemed a little strange that they were like that (and seemed to always be put back to be like that), I didn't think much of it and I wouldn't disturb them either. Then the other day, I found the individual who was putting them like that! It was a STUDENT ARTIST!!! And almost every day, if the markers weren't like that, he would arrange and position them like that. While in the midst of him doing it, I commented and laughed and said, "Oh YOU'RE the one who is doing that! I was wondering what was going on!" The student artist, who is actually also one of our star football players and who is a really big and burly guy and sits very close to my teaching station in the front of the room, smiled sheepishly and said, "Yeah... it's me." And then I asked him why he was doing it and he said, "Well... Mr. *so-and-so* does it all the time and it makes a big difference and makes it so the markers always have ink. It really does make a difference so I was trying to help you to have markers that wouldn't be so hard to use."

I gotta tell you - when he said this and said why he was doing it? It just about made my whole month and I feel like it's one of the nicest things any student has ever done for me - however small it might seem because it makes such a big difference. And OF COURSE it works, y'know? Because it helps to keep the ink flowing toward the writing tip vs. having it settle in the middle of the marker. Why didn't I think of that?

Anyway, surely you all have been doing this and I am the only one not doing this but I just wanted to share this little "feel good" anecdote because this kind of stuff is always nice to hear about in my book.

My Back to School Night "Commercial" :: Multimedia Teaching Tools

I know. This is my second Powtoon in a week. I guess you could say I am slightly obsessed with them. *shrug* I can't help it! They are so creatively challenging and fun to make!! Anyway...

My last one was for the students but this one is actually for their parents because I "premiered" it last evening at Back-to-School night in an effort to introduce myself. This one is definitely more elaborate than the last one however it's over half as long in running time (exactly 30 seconds). I think it might have taken about the same amount of creative processing and design time as the last one though and I believe this is because I am just a lot more familiar with how Powtoons work and so I'm getting a lot faster.


I doubt this will be my last one but so far I might like it the best of all. I really enjoyed layering all of the elements, editing in the transitions, thinking about how things should be done in order to visually communicate and SHOW what I was trying to tell the parents of my students.

You might notice that what I didn't do was give a mini lecture about what goes on in my class and this is because we are encouraged not to do that so much as to offer the parents/school community a little bit more of a personal side of ourselves. That's why you didn't see any educational jargon and other bally-hoo of that sort.

One thing I know I want to do though after logging so much Powtoon time already is that I already know that I want to include this as an assessment tool for the Graphic Design student artists. There is just so much range and it's so fun. My only concern is that I don't know that the computer system we have right now can handle it.  Well... I guess there's only one way to find out, right? I'll let you know when that happens.

Work Smarter, NOT Harder :: Why you should sometimes use PicMonkey instead

So, obviously, I am an art educator but did you also know that I am quite well versed in graphic/digital/visual design overall? It's something that I have been doing for 10+ at this point while going the many paths my career has taken me in the way of printed marketing material, creating or refreshing visual brands, doing web design and publication, and designing multi-media presentations (powerpoint, keynote, prezi, etc.)

While it might seem strange and also strongly support the argument that I am nothing less than a workaholic, I really enjoy doing visual design work. It's always challenging for me to be able to create (or re-imagine/spruce up) something and it is really gratifying and relaxing for me because you can literally start with a blank (digital) canvas and then let your imagine go wild! As it goes, I have become the go-to gal where I work for visual design work that has essentially made me their in-house graphic designer. I always love being able to support and help my colleagues in this way - I see it as a way of sharing the things that I have been blessed to be able to do. It has taken a few years (yes - years!) to "train" everyone to understand that I do my best work when it isn't requested at the 11th hour but even when it goes like that, I always try and churn out the best thing I can and honestly? Visual design work comes pretty easily for me and through the years I have really been able to hone my workflow and technique so that if/when I need to pick up pace? I can deliver whatever is called for.

Two weeks ago my department head (whom I adore and would do anything for!!) emailed me asking me to take an old poster design (see below on the left) and fix it to have new information so that it could be used for my school's soon to be inaugurated outdoor theater. (I will share about this at some point if I can!) She said that nothing fancy would have to be done with it, she just wanted new info to be "plugged in" but since she knows very little about how digital and graphic design is done? Well... she didn't know that it can't just be done like that without it looking pretty bad. I worked up a fresh design from her original and gave her what you see below on the right with the goal to maintain the feel and look of the original design, including the new information, and also making it look a lot more polished. The whole thing took me maybe a few hours start-to-finished that included researching some inspirational ideas via Google Images and then whipping it up in various visual design software.

Perhaps all of this is small potatoes or "Greek" to you but I gotta tell you that when I "whipped up" the newly designed poster, I kind of really mean it as it is suggested to mean and that is that it was sort of a cake walk of sort. I mean, I can use photoshop and illustrator but honestly? There is something out there that is even more useful than that! And that is PicMonkey (formerly known as Picnik).

PicMonkey saves time, money and hassle - EVERYTHING you see here was done in PicMonkey (with upgrade)

Why is PicMonkey is a great web-based platform that makes visual design a little bit more approachable (and take up a LOT less time) usually?

• It's drag-and-drop in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) kind of way 
• It requires very little technical knowledge like photoshop or illustrator or even gimp need in order to get it to work the way you want it to.
• It is completely affordable since a lot of what it offers is for FREE and requires ZERO registration.
• You can upload already existing photos and/or graphics to it and then do effect work on them and/or add text or graphics to make things look that much more snazzy. 
• Overall, it makes photo editing and simple visual design very approachable and even enjoyable.
• Even if you pay for the upgrade, it's only $5/month OR it's $33/annually and it opens you up to a whole bunch to graphics that aren't totally canned in addition to macros/actions for photographic editing - also, all of these bonuses are regularly updated to match whatever is trending in graphic design at the time. 
• It's a GREAT alternative to not having to pay for vector graphics one by one since it has that regularly rotating inventory to begin with. 

One drawback of PicMonkey that is a little hard to explain to you all is the fact that it can be hard to fully originate a working file. This means that you can't totally start something from scratch in PicMonkey and for my purposes sometimes I will create a blank file in Photoshop - with the dimensions that I want and everything to begin with - and then I will import that into PicMonkey and then export it back out again (to Photoshop) if I need to. Does it sound like extra work that I have made for myself when I otherwise could have done everything in Photoshop? Well... I at least save money doing it like this by not having to buy vector graphics one by one OR I save major amounts of time by not having to make them first and then bring them into Photoshop.

Now, for those of you who are veteran visual designers, you are probably either laughing at me or scoffing at me and insisting that what I am doing is not REAL graphic and/or visual design. Well, let me tell you - and I am not trying to sound haughty or like a jerk - I don't really care about if people think I am legit or not. As far as I am concerned and from actual experience, NOBODY CARES or even asks how I accomplish most things I need to get done. My philosophy is almost always to work smarter not harder and don't get hung up on the details because doing so will actually keep you from getting anything done at all let alone doing something well. In my opinion and experience, what I do sometimes (with PicMonkey in the mix) adds to the success rather than subtracts from it.

Of course, you can't do every single thing with such ease in PicMonkey. Some stuff is better left to Photoshop because it is faster and a lot more painless. Working with layers IS a lot easier in Photoshop and being able to save in editable format (with layers) is something else that Photoshop does and PicMonkey simply does not allow. Other things like pixelating things for censorship and privacy (like what I might do here on the blog sometimes) is also a lot easier in Photoshop because it requires being able to create and manipulate layers. Still, it's completely do-able to do as much as you can quickly in PicMonkey and then import it into Photoshop and do a little more specific things per whatever you need. (See below)

Here I photoshopped in a layer of texturized revolver graphic and pixelated out the location information for privacy

Here is the finished poster with a different graphic since the criss-crossing revolvers are not quite to friendly for our purposes of them hanging around school. I expected that they would be edited out but for the purposes of having a visual placeholder until it was decided what would go in there (which was the locomotive)...

So there you have it! And perhaps if you have never tried PicMonkey before? Now I have convinced you that you must do so. And by the way, I am not plugging the service because they have compensated me in any way and I am telling you about it just from my own personal fandom.

Co-Teaching Art Education with Youtube :: How to Paint Realistic Trees

One of my favorite things to do with my projector set-up is to use it to present e-book pages, student work, masterworks, etc. on the white board instead of the projector screen. Why? Because then I can write and draw things on top of and/or around the image in order to better tell and show the students different things that they need to remember for their work. This teaching methodology works just as well for Youtube videos, too!

You can see some of the labels I drew in order to help the students focus on key points for their tree paintings.

In addition to the labeling, I also wrote a bulleted list (not pictured) for the students that included items like, "Don't forget that the silhouette of a tree's foliage is ORGANIC in shape - not perfectly round and lollipop-like." I also made a connection with their prior knowledge from Science studies and said that the shapes of their tree foliage should be almost amoeba shaped and the trunks with their extending branches should be almost arteries with their vein systems. I LOVE drawing connections from visual art studies to core content areas!!!

Here is the Youtube selection I used for the "co-teacher" this time...

And here are the before and after works of the students' trees! This time I had them each quickly draw what they thought trees looked like and, as expected, there was lots of "lollipop" stylings initially. Luckily, they learned a lot and quickly too about how to go about doing a more realistic and painterly visual depiction of a tree! The improvement from most all of their befores to their afters is astounding in some cases and even the most advanced students learned how to improve their technique!

In this example, the before is very broccoli like with the trunk being stalk like and everything! 

This student took it upon themselves to attempt a second tree (in the after) and was able to achieve great results  too.

What an improvement from before to after, eh? I think this one was very successful with the value and color work too.

Actually a very advanced student's work but even the before is very broccoli like. 

Much improved since the after doesn't have the exposed roots - though I get what they were going for.

I feel like some of the hardest (but most requested by them) techniques to teach are things like drawing/painting clouds and trees. Both are very similar in how you do them - and the students are slowly making that connection - but this repetitive exercise between what I shared yesterday and then today really help them to see that what looks so hard actually isn't that hard. Also, they are learning to see simpler shapes and masses within larger and more familiar forms (like trees and clouds) in order to better create them in their individual works.

The next step I took them to after this one with the trees (and yesterday's with the clouds) is to have them create a realistic sky with clouds. So, basically I am taking yesterday's work and having them apply it to today's so that they have a finished work of art. I am also going to encourage them to look up other tutorials like ones for waves or mountains in order for them to better understand how to combine different techniques to achieve a more realistic and refined landscape piece for the place of grace project that they are about to launch into.

One of the biggest woes that I heard the last time I did place of grace last semester was students who had issues doing the simple things like clouds and things. After doing these brief exercises with Youtube the way I have, I predict that the students will turn out even stronger work than last semester just because they will be more confident and will have a decent amount more working understanding and real experience to apply to their individual works.

And one last reason why teaching using Youtube as your co-teacher? If you have students who are out of class for any number of reasons, you can simply direct them to your collective of linked videos and they don't have to be totally behind because they missed in-class demos!

Co-Teaching Art Education with Youtube :: Teaching how to paint realistic clouds

How do you feel about co-teaching methodology? Is it something you use at all? Do you like it? Love it? Or could you honestly just leave it?

I teach at a private high school currently but I used to teach core subject (Reading and then Social Studies) in a public middle school. While I don't have a requirement to use the co-teaching model anymore - both because of where and what I teach - I, honestly, miss it. Whether in a special education setting or not, I feel like it's an effective way to teach students especially for certain things. Now, visual art education is not something that would typically have co-teaching even in the public school because it's usually restricted to special education settings for core subjects alone. However, that doesn't stop me from trying to bring it into my visual art education classroom. Sometimes an extra set of hands in the classroom for the sole purpose of doing "hand over hand" type guiding would be awesome and it occurred to me that I could make it happen with the extra set of hands being my own!

Perhaps I am behind the game on this but I am discovering that Youtube is a wonderfully useful instructional tool to use in the art classroom specifically for the following reasons:

• You can start and stop it or replay portions of it as often as needed
• In real time demos, sometimes you can't redo certain steps but maybe one time for the students to see again so it can feel like you are using unnecessary amounts of materials. 
• When you are doing real-time demos you also can't see the students doing things alongside you as easily because you are the one in the front of the class. 
• If the students end up really going in the wrong direction while following you (in a real-time demo), they keep going that way (and using unnecessary amounts of materials, in turn) until it's too late to stop them. Of course, you can use their misstep as a teachable moment like anything else but? Well... I don't have an exorbitant amount of materials to use like this - do you?
• Youtube or streamed video almost always yields a captive audience for this age-group. Even if the video is bad? Well, it's that much more compelling for them to watch from beginning to end.

First off, picking the right Youtube video is key. I have about 53 minutes of instructional time but even with that much time, I have to consider getting the students set up with their materials and then the stopping and starting and replaying of the video that will inevitably happen. Through trial and error I have discovered that five minutes running time is about the most ideal. Below is a video that runs slightly longer than that but not so much that you can't make up the time with just fast forwarding through it. 

Here are some samples of what was turned out! Bear in mind that many of these student artists have incredibly limited experience in the studio arts. The 2D Design class is a foundational course which means many of them have never taken a high school art course before and maybe even never will again since taking this course satisfies a half fine art credit that they need for graduation. Considering all of the aforementioned, I would say the student work is very successful.

Some of my goals with this were the following:

• Quick(-ish) skill building for the purposes of having more successful and realistic finished works in the Place of Grace painting project that they are about to embark on. 
• Help them to realize the importance of the integrity of the marks they leave in their work so they are more painterly and, in turn, produce more realistic depictions of things in the end
• Teach them to paint what they see vs. what they think a cloud looks like
• Build confidence within them so they can see that doing something the right way can be learned relatively easily, can be very fun, and makes a huge difference in the quality of their work in the end
• Show them how to use color AND value together along with layering in order to show depth and dimension on a 2D surface
• Prove to the students the importance and power of following directions just as they are given because it really does produce stronger and better results in the end
• Complete an assessment for the creative processing of their individual paintings

Something that can be done in conjunction with this for the sake of really strong experiential learning and connection is by having them do a quick exercise before this where they draw/paint what they think a cloud looks like with no reference whatsoever about how it really should be done. They will likely draw the puffy, cartoon-like clouds and be convinced that is not only adequate but even successful visual depictions overall. Once they do the follow along with the Youtube demo at least one time they will see how easy it is to draw/paint realistic clouds and they will want to do it that way because it honestly does look so much better. 

Tomorrow I will show you one more round of co-teaching with youtube along with student work that was before the demo and after they had completed it. I will also discuss where to take this skill-building and how to connect it with others in order to have a series of assessments to evaluate them from in the end.  

Art Teacher Hack :: Best way to clean up Plaster of Paris

This is a great video demonstration useful for any projects using Plaster of Paris. I use Plaster of Paris a lot and after enough disasters with trying to clean up effectively (and failing miserably!) I thought really critically about what I had done wrong and discovered the secret to cleaning up dried plaster from the utensils and vessels/bowls that I was using!

The secret is... 

Use a FLEXIBLE mixing bowl so that you can do this when the plaster is completely dry

[watch the video below]

I tried scouring the local thrift stores for flexible mixing bowls but I actually found the best deal for them at the local dollar store!!! I would recommend when you find one/some that you think might be worthy of buying for your class, try and flex them in the store the way I demonstrated you do it to determine if they are worth the money. I mean... the dollar store isn't expensive but buying enough bowls for your class aren't cheap! I have had a few bowl end up cracking and breaking over time but it's been no more than a $3 loss probably so that's a pretty good deal.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: The Corny Collins desk

I pretty much had very little labor invested in this piece until the very very end. Just the same? It was a bit of a pill to deal with for the two lovely art students who took it on. The desk was built by the set builders and then it was painted by some parents who basically have spent the entire last month painting everything and then the individual letters were designed and then hand-cut from foam core board by two very dependable art students in order to echo the original design of the Corny Collins desk.

The major issue with this piece is the fact that this piece was discussed as one that wouldn't be used and would be dismantled and rebuilt because it was questionnably too large to use in the show. This means that the girls ended up making the lettering and then it was shared with us that that work might have really been done for nothing.  o_O

In the end, it was decided that there wasn't enough time to scrap the desk and we were actually able to go forth as planned. But amidst all of this? One of the L's got damaged/lost so the lettering couldn't be affixed until that issue was corrected and then when all was said and done and we thought we were ready to put the letters on? It was discovered that we still needed the words 'the' and 'show' to bookend the lettering. *ARGH!!!! IT WAS LIKE A NEVERENDING BATTLE!!!!!*

When I realized the aforementioned I took it to Google Image searches and realized that we could get away with two small signs in black/white and not have to bother with cutting out little letters like the big letters. I got two scrap pieces of foam core board and tried FOUR TIMES to make little signs that said 'the' and 'show' with a sharpie marker but for whatever reason I made them too small or too big or too messy/far from the style of the big letters. Then I just sat there being mad for a little while and thought, "Why in the world don't I just make them in Microsoft word and then paste them to foam core board and call them done?" So I did just that! And within 10 minutes the whole thing was DONE and it actually even looked kind of awesome despite all of the strife involved with the process of it. One of the big lifesavers was the fact that I could just staple the letters as you see them arranged and so there was barely any fuss getting them all on there finally.

Tomorrow I will show you the final touches of the set that only happened because I basically spent a whole work day painting with hand-selected VERY dependable students while several of my colleagues covered my classes (very last minute!) and the whole process ultimately landed me home for a very legitimate sick-day last Friday.

The Interactive Notebook :: Creation beyond the Art classroom

Did you know that before I become the private high school art teacher and blogger that I am I was a 6th grade core subjects in the public schools? Indeed I was! I spent two years at a public middle school teaching Reading/Language Arts and then Social Studies and then - praise be to GOD(!!!!!!) - I was given the opportunity to be where I am doing what I am now. And while I love what I am doing now and wouldn't ever want to go back, I still remember all of the ways and days spent getting bit by the bug that helped me to find my heart for teaching and then follow it to where I am now.

Last week I really got to reminisce and revisit that time when I started teaching by facilitating a professional development workshop at an inservice event done by my school every year. I don't know when this inservice event started but in the four years I have been here it has been formally named "Brainfest" and we have invited other local area private schools to join in the day that includes at least two teacher-led workshop sessions for professional development purposes and then a wonderful catered lunch. Just about anybody who is in attendance can jump on the side of being a facilitator and you're allowed to instruct/speak on just about anything you want to. Last year I paired up with a colleague and did a workshop focusing on the Millenial generation in the classroom. This year I single-handedly tackled the AVID Curriculum's brilliant idea of the Interactive Notebook that I used to use and LOVE daily in my early teaching career days of the core subjects. Ever heard of it? Well! Let me just tell you about one of the most awesome ways to teach AND learn on any content area and grade level EVER.

In a nutshell, the Interactive Notebook is multi-dimensional vessel for a student to collect knowledge every day and then be able to take and CREATE something with what they have learned. Every page of a student's notebook becomes completely unique and is created to have a specific purpose for something else to springboard off. Also, many of the pages require action in order to access the material/information on them. Students have to lift, fold, tuck, adhere, or color just about every page of the book so that their notebook becomes (for lack of any other way to put it) a POP-up version of what was once a boring school notebook easily lost, forgotten, or despised because of what it contained. Each project or double-page spread is a mini-project unto itself that only serves as encouragement to keep doing more and more and MORE pages and spreads. You want to talk about good return on investment? The Interactive Notebook is absolutely worth it's weight in Ticonderoga pencil leads!

[via] This person can't get enough of the Interactive Notebook either and I don't blame them.

I LOVE the Interactive Notebook and before I was able to be in a classroom that allowed me to create without bounds, the Interactive Notebook mostly satiate the unquenchable thirst I have to be creative AND create. And because I can't help but remember where I came from, I fully acknowledge that were it not for the Interactive Notebook, I probably would have quit teaching forever and maybe even never made it to where I am now.

As a visual art educator I feel like I am always having to "fight" for and assert my position that I am a "REAL" teacher. So sad that I even have to acknowledge such a thing but it's the truth. *Shrug* Doing this session for my colleagues last week at the Brainfest was a great way for me to really prove and SHOW that cutting, pasting, coloring, and CREATING has a place not only in the art classroom but also in EVERY classroom and content area. It also showed - without a shadow of a doubt - that I am not simply "hanging out" with my students everyday "making stuff." It was a blessing to be given the opportunity to share what I love with everyone I work with and help them to see that what I love aligns and scaffolds beautifully the things they do in their classrooms.

I don't have the full presentation to show you about how/what I did at my session because it was a very hands-on step-by-step process that I did alongside them where I helped each of the attendees make their own "take-away" notebook page-by-page by way of showing them demonstrations with a document camera. Every attendee was from a different subject area - core subjects and electives alike(!) on ALL grade levels - and not one of them had ever tried something like this before in any of their classrooms. By the end of the session each of them was very SOLD on incorporating it into their classroom goings-on and they were very excited to do so even despite their hesitation just because this was something different than what they have ever done.

I am a visual art teacher but I also know I am so much more than that and that goes the same for YOU. We as art teachers know we are something special (seriously - it's OK if we toot our own horns to others and not just sit in our art rooms being misunderstood!) but nobody will know that if we don't show them. I mean, we teach our student artists everyday the importance of SHOWING over telling. So, I implore you all to do something similar as what I did - you don't even need a special event to do it - and teach one of your colleagues how powerful folding, cutting, pasting, and coloring can be. And if you need any help? Here are some awesome links for you to help be a better teacher of teachers yourself...

• An entire book in PDF version of Foldables from the awesome Dinah Zyke who is the pioneer of foldables
• Foldables just for Mathematics in PDF form
• Another PDF link for Foldables for Social Studies
• Foldables for Language Arts on a teacher's wikispaces site
• A whole site just for Science Foldables 

I shared the above links with the attendees of my workshop and I hope they are useful to you or a colleague you might know. Here's to spreading the LOVE for CREATING a type of learning that will only greatly expand upon itself. 

Update: Classroom Management for Classes that PAINT!!

Sorry this video isn't edited or anything fancy like the last one. I am fighting a cold and I have little (to no) energy to be fancy this week and it will be pretty miraculous if I don't end up out sick at all this week. 

Anyway, thought you all might appreciate an update on how the classroom management for painting activities has gone since I introduced it at the beginning of the year. As things have happened, I have decided to change things up a bit! Check out the video for just what I decided to do differently and why...

And this almost does it for me for the semester. As I said last week, the kids have been working diligently on their final projects and at this point they are all pretty adept and autonomous at doing the things they are doing. This means that I only need to play "lifeguard" (if you will) while the students are all doing what they are doing. It's kind of nice to have it be like this because it means that I did what I set out to do this semester (and I did it pretty well!) but it's also kind of sad too because when this happens? It means the end of the semester is definitely here.

So... this is all to say that I don't really know what else I will be sharing here on the blog between now and a little bit into when the new semester kicks off other than my own art endeavors. *shrug* Bear with me and I will be back to things that are more art education centric.

Review of the double-decker drying rack for the studio classroom!

Not entirely sure how this will come up for you but thought I would try it! 

I am posting from email publishing complete with a picture of what I wanted to post and share anyway: a review of the new double-decker drying rack/dish rack I snagged on Zulily.com some months ago but only just recently got. (Zulily is awesome for steals and deals but you do have to wait for a while sometimes in order to be able to get your packages.)

Anyway, this type of drying rack is something I pinned on Pinterest originally because I thought it was so amazing but I was hesitant to get it because it was priced beyond what I was willing to spend - with shipping it would have been slightly over $40. Still, the price tag did not deter me from virtually "stalking" it and hoping that I would find it more in my range which I did eventually and that brings us back to square one of me sharing this information.

And as for the details of why I like it so much? Here it goes:

The upper level is great because it has a grate that would otherwise be used for dishes but it works just wonderfully for the purposes of drying freshly scrubbed wooden platforms for the 3D Design class' current clay sculpting endeavors. The lower rack provides a place that would otherwise be great for bowls or cups but for our purposes I have spread have spread out freshly scrubbed clay tools and I have also place them in the dual drying cups at the one end of the rack that was otherwise meant for utensils. At the opposite end of the rack there are places that would work for classes/cups but in the picture I have here you see I have hung a single water basin/reservoir there. One last thing about this drying rack? It is so compact that I can easily pick it up and put it out the way (because I share a classroom) so it can be a storage vessel for art tools/equipment as well! I suspect this would work for someone in an "Art on a Cart" situation or someone who has to work going from building-to-building. This drying rack is so solid and easy to move that it's hardly a pain to deal with if you have to. 

So that's my review of the double-decker drying rack that while made for home and kitchen organization is very ideal for the studio art classroom. I originally wanted to get one of these for you and do another giveaway but two things kept me from doing that:

1. I didn't want to give something away that I otherwise didn't know was good, great, or (thankfully not) terrible
2. My Christmas budget is just about tapped at this point and I didn't have the "funds" to do it just that. (I am praying that God will provide though and I will be able to do this giveaway at some point).

And that's it! Other than the fact that if you want to snag one of these before God makes it that I can do a giveaway, HERE is one like it that you can get for yourself and use a lot more immediately. It is exactly the one I have reviewed here but it is definitely more than I paid for it via Zulily.

Give Handmade | DIY Sharpie Mugs

So this is kind of unoriginal of me but that isn't the point. You know those Sharpie mug tutorials that are all over pinterest and the DIY crafting blogs? (Perhaps I am behind the times and they were actually all the rage last year or something. Whatever.) Well, last week I made some of them as gratitude gifts (just in time for Thanksgiving!) for the three gals from work who I call my #bffl (best friends for life, if you didn't know).

Some things about us:

• We call ourselves many things including the "Multi-culti Crew" but more often "The Unicorn Club" because it seems so girly and middle/high school-ish and silly.
• We sometimes talk in hashtags to our kids and to each other because it is ridiculous, annoying, and also endlessly entertaining/amusing.
• We are all so fluent in the language of sarcasm that it might as well be our native tongue at this point. 
• Last year we used to do this thing on Thursdays (when we all had a planning together) that we called "Thursdates" where we would skip out and go and get ice creams or smoothies or coffees of whatever. The point was simply for us to just get off of campus for a little bit on a day that was almost Friday.
• We are all so different but at the same time very similar and we have a unique and wonderful bond where we can be somber and (sort of) crying for one another in support as much as we can pray together as much as we can busting our guts and laughing in the next moment. 

I love these ladies like nothing else. I really do. They are such a God-send and I am thankful for their friendship every day!!! And for all of these reasons, last week I made them all some gifts of gratitude where I made some giant Sharpie mugs with personalized designs for each lady. See below...

This was for the original unicorn of the group. On the side of the mug you can't see it says "#unicornstatus"

This was for the original unicorn's little sister. I have mentored this lady in the ways of professional photography and she is an outstanding talent in the way of portrait photography especially! 

This is the mug that actually started it all. I posted the one mug I made for a student on instagram and this lady saw it and showed it to her awesome mom and they laughed for 15 minutes straight and then she told me she had to have one. 

It's hard to tell but these mugs are actually gigantic. I got them all at Michael's and I have been scoping them out for (literally) years. You can't just give a gigantic mug to someone though, y'know? I mean... you can but it can be taken in the wrong way or at least not fully appreciated. For my fellow unicorn ladies though? I knew that they would appreciate them completely AND they would use them!!! It is this reason why I did gigantic mugs and not just standard ones. The point was that they mugs would make a statement and that's why I opted to make them as big as possible. (See below the picture of me holding the one. That's not forced perspective, people. The mug really and truly is that gigantic. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!!!)

See the giant mug in relation to a standard sized one? I tell you what. Gigantic mugs RULE. 

I might only do Sharpie mugs in extra-large/gigantic size from here on out. Seriously. I mean, they are awesome but (also?) I always automatically enlarge things so the larger surface area was a lot easier for me to work on.

So there you go. The Sharpie mug on the gigantic scale. If you are interested in making some for yourself you can pick them up at your local Michael's or other arts and crafts superstore. I would hyperlink them here but I can't find where to buy them online. They were about $10 in the stores though if that helps you at all.

It's here!!! The Dream. Pray. Create. Lesson Planning Template!!!

It's here!!! It's here it's here it's HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRE!!!!

As I have said before, this year I decided to be a first year/sixth year teacher and it has absolutely transformed everything about my classroom. If you have already forgotten what I am referring to I will tell you again that it has all come from my implementation to do inquiry-based teaching with a teaching model I designed and discussed HERE.

Approaching teaching and learning in this way has done the following in my classroom: renewed me with fresh inspiration, empowered and encouraged my students to be more autonomous and personally accountable in their creative efforts, and given both me and my students much needed structure in order to have a working studio art classroom that is more like a "well-oiled" machine than I ever might have dreamed it could be.

I am calling this teaching model "The DreamPrayCreate Teaching method because I can't think of any other way to call it. *shrug* (Seriously.) Calling it "A Framework for teaching Visual Arts Education + The Creative Process" makes it sound so dry and official and while it has become a very official thing for me to use that certainly does provide an amazing framework for Visual Arts Education it jus seems like it could be called something a lot more colorful, imaginative, and inventive (in what it suggests it does for teaching/learning.

The template itself is not necessarily six pages (as seen below in the snapshot of the multi-page view in Microsoft Word) but when I typed it all out for the Our Common Threads | Intro to Printmaking lesson idea, it ended up being longer than the 3-4 pages it started out with in it's blank state.

I have (for you to download and use!!) both the BLANK version of this lesson planning template as well as a completely useable and fully articulated lesson plan for the Our Common Threads | Intro to Printmaking project. Both versions are being stored online in the Google docs folder I set up to be able to share documents with you all...

• DreamPrayCreate Lesson Planning template worksheet in word document (the most recent/up-to-date version of word docs - (3) pages - as well as in PDF format
• DreamPrayCreate sample lesson of Our Common Threads | Intro to Printmaking in PDF format (6 pages) and HERE it is in word document as well

Regarding the visual formatting of the above documents, the word version of the Lesson Planning template worksheet should be downloaded and not just modified in Google docs because it is definitely off in how it is viewed via the Google docs web-based platform. The correct visual formatting is viewable only via the PDF formats for both the lesson planning worksheet AND the sample lesson.

I invite and welcome you to use both of them AND share them with others in an effort to (perhaps?) inspire, invigorate, and reshape the teaching and learning that happens in your art classrooms. Still though? I feel like this could work just as well for any other type of content-area as well so share it with your non-art education colleagues! What I have designed and created is something that definitely is indicated to be for a classroom/school of Christian faith, the section that indicates the connection to a Christian worldview could just as well be thought of us being a Character trait connection so that the teaching of Visual Art is a vessel for learning principles and values like integrity, perseverance, selflessness, etc.

As for me providing lesson ideas in the future in this format? I am undecided. This year is a curriculum review year for me at my school and while writing up everything in this lesson planning document for each of my lesson ideas would certainly align with the assessing and revamping of my curriculum area, well... I have a lot more to do for this process other than writing lesson plans (micro-level type planning) and I have to focus on the big picture and the long-term/far reaching goals of the visual arts program at my school. While I would like to say I am "that good" and I can both stand a little bit in one place while also making leaps and bounds in every direction, I am realistic in knowing that I cannot do it. Still, it doesn't mean that there might be some lessons/lesson notes that I won't sometimes present in this format. I mean, now that I have it it is certainly a lot easier for me to implement/use/share with you all so perhaps I need to just TRUST in the Lord that He will steer me and provide for me so that I am using it - especially if it is helpful for you all.

I see what I am doing as a little bit of collaboratively planning with you all and I am happy to do it as long as the Lord Almighty provides a way for me to do so. Let me know how you like this lesson planning template and/or how you think it could be modified to be more useful! I know I'm not perfect and so I am always open to constructive feedback of how to make what I'm doing better.

Just for Fun: The no-sew Superhero cape | Give handmade

Do you sew?

Strange to lead off a posting (on here) with such a question but it occurred to me the other day that of all of the kinds of handmade arts that are out there, the kind that involves or requires sewing does not appeal to me. I don't know what it is about sewing but I am just really REALLY not into it.

Now, this doesn't mean that I haven't attempted to sew or like sewing in the past. I have! And pretty much every time I've done it, I have pretty much failed miserably.

Well, wait a minute... one time I DID succeed (in grand form) when I made a giant teepee out of PVC pipes and Harley Davidson fabric for my nephews for their Christmas/Easter present (no pattern - it was all improvised from pictures I found online).
So, correction: I can sew and I have done it in the past but usually it's for purposes of novelty and/or amusement and not usually things that can be/are intended to be worn.

Anyway, all of this sidetracking is my way of sharing with you all something I stumbled upon in my avoidance to sew (ever). I would like to introduce you to the No-sew Superhero cape!!!!! (see above for a picture of one)

To make the No-sew Superhero cape, you need the following supplies:

• A crew neck t-shirt (this will be the cape itself) - any size but if you do something much larger than the person's standard size, you might have to cut the neck strap and treat it like a tie-on cape
• A pair of sharp scissors that can easily cut through fabric
• A marker or fabric pencil (to outline your cutting line) 
• Things to embellish/decorate your cape - fabric markers/paint, sticker appliques, fabric glue etc.

And this is how you CUT (not sew!) a t-shirt into a pretty legit superhero cape! Check out this... the dotted line is the path that you need to follow with your scissors in order to cut the t-shirt into a cape shape...

And here are some actual pictures that I took doing this myself...

This cut line of the back view of the t-shirt - so the cape portion that flows down the back..

And this is a cut line of the front of the shirt at the neckline.

Something really important to remember when doing this is to not cut too close to the neck ribbing and leave a little bit of extra fabric outside of the seam (where the ribbing is sewn to the body/torso of the shirt) because the ribbing with a little bit of fabric (maybe a quarter inch?) helps to add structure to the neck strap so it's more comfortable to wear and lays nicer when it is worn. Also, make sure not to cut off the bottom hem of the shirt (in the back that is the cape part) because it helps to provide structure in the way of being a little bit of weight to hold down the cape. The hems of t-shirts are usually tacked with a serger so it should be an issue that the fabric unravels itself OR comes undone all that easily.

In theory, you could use a pre-printed t-shirt with a superhero graphic printed on it but I kind of like taking a plain shirt and embellishing it with fabric paint/markers, etc.

I did this with a whole summer camp of children (ages 4-13) two years ago for "Superhero week" and while it was a lot of prep work for me - making sure every child brought in OR had a t-shirt to begin with, pre-cutting or tracing out the cut-line for the younger kids, having all different types of embellishments (to make a sort of embellishment "bar") for the kids to go crazy with and decorate their capes! All told, I think we made over 150 capes that week at summer camp. It was pretty rad (in the words of my kids).

So there you have it - the No-sew Superhero cape!!! And if you didn't have a Halloween costume planned for yourself/your kids? Well... now you can be your own kind of Superhero and NOT have to deal with the pesky chore of sewing it. Last-minute doesn't have to be a pain, right?

Go Green with Google | Art Teacher Hack

I am not very good with my conservation efforts but I am always very envious of people who are. I mean if there is a (not full yet) recycling bin in the general area where I am  at the time when I could use it - like after I just finish ANOTHER Dr. Pepper - I have no issue putting my empty can in it! Mostly though? My "green" efforts only occur at my convenience.

(I know. I Know. I KNOW! Trust that I am not bragging about this and rather this is me confessing my own sinfulness because I feel convicted at the notion that I am hardly as "green" as I could be.)

All of that being said, there is one thing that makes me decidedly very green despite my best lack of efforts. How is that? Well, in any of the digital art courses I teach, I do things entirely paperless!!! That's right. They get their assignments via our school's closed server/shared drive and they submit their work for grading electronically as well. Recently though, because of server issues, I switched to using Google Docs (well, not it's Google Drive but I am also the person who continues to call New York & Company, Lerner).

 Here is a snapshot of me sorting through student work on Google drive...

I really REALLY like Google Drive because it has made it possible for me to not be on campus and still access all of the student work when I need to grade things. (Which I do. I am SO backed up with things lately. *sigh*) I don't know why I never used Google to do file sharing but now that I have switched? I am NOT going back.

Recently I made a HUGE discovery that is changing the view of the way the shared files are presented to me. I used to have to deal with a long list of text but I discovered on accident the other day that if you toggle the switch (indicated below in the picture) you can see snapshots a little bigger than thumbnails of ALL of your files!!!!

This is SO awesome because it means that I don't have to deal with reading and for as much as I don't like to broadcast it? (Especially after my one posting about teaching reading in Art Education) I am not a fan of reading and I try to avoid it usually to not slow myself down. (Because of my unique learning challenges)

Google Drive is AMAZING and the upgrades they make to it for the purposes of networking, sharing, storage, etc. etc. etc.

Pinterest for the Visual Art Education classroom

How do you feel about social networking? What's your favorite avenue for that? Are you a Facebooker? I recently decided not to be for my own personal interests and concerns. I used to be an avid Facebook user but it just seemed like it was counterintuitive and counterproductive to actually connecting people as it supposedly seeks to do. So... I quit it. (Facebook.) Despite what this might suggest, I am not against social networking. I mean, I'm an avid blogger (obviously) and I am questionably addicted to instagram. Another type of social networking I know and love? It's Pinterest!

I have been on Pinterest since it first started. I am blessed enough to be very well networked and so I got one of the earlier invitations that were given out. As Pinterest has grown and more people have discovered it, it has been exciting to sometimes even stumble upon people's pins made from my very own website!!! I know a ton of teachers who use it for lesson planning and classroom organization and I have used it for that very same purpose. Recently though, it occurred to me to use it for something other than just inspiring my curriculum and instruction.

The 2D Design class is starting a new project of painting where they are learning how to paint from/by photo and image reference. This endeavor was NOT planned and I had much different plans but I veered from them about two weeks ago and I have been praying about it and knowing that I need to make it happen for my student artists. Trouble with all of this is that teaching painting is something I am definitely NOT (entirely) confident or properly trained to do. Still... that isn't stopping me. *wink*

Taking notes from my amazing painting professor from the summer course I just took, I am crash coursing my students on understanding how to use visual composition in order to help them intentionally design and thoughtfully create works of high quality and successful visual art. One thing that has really helped me is the book called Mastering Composition. Another thing I am doing? I am looking at a TON of different types of visual art examples (masterworks, pins from people on Pinterest, personal works, etc.) with the students. AND(!) I am encouraging the students to DRAW on them in order to help "unpack" how and why the composition on each piece is either really successful or not so much.

Last week I projected one of my Pinterest boards up for my classes and we went through multiple photographs and I had draw on the white board all of the leading lines, forms, and space that helped to contribute to the successful visual composition. The goal is that by doing this, they will learn to read composition so that they can translate what they read to be strong composition into their own work. 

Just for Fun: Make your own (mobile) Refrigerator (door) ART gallery!!!

So, yesterday I teased you all with a long drawn out story about my quest to obtain a refrigerator door for a uniquely creative personal project I have been working on for a year and a half for my school. I absolutely want to pick up the story where I left it off but I also don't want to be a meanie and delay you from knowing where I am going any longer than I have to. I mean, forcing you all to sit through ANOTHER diatribe of unnecessary verbosity is just cruel - agreed?

SO! Without further adieu, here is a video explaining the saga of the refrigerator door a whole lot better...



And if you aren't keen on videos? Here is a picture from my instagram feed that might clue you in a little better until I tell the whole rest of the story next week (or something).

This will be a gallery within the student gallery that requires people to put their own artwork on it freely!!! Top picture shows the back of the door (on wheels) with a place to archive work that has been displayed for a while and a storage bin for cool magnets. The bottom left shows a full-length view of the whole front of the door. The bottom right picture shows the full-length view of the back of the door.

While I have named this gallery after a specific scripture, I see no reason that this idea couldn't be adapted to have a more secular vibe by using a quote like, "Every child is an artist..." by Picasso or the like. As far as I am concerned I think EVERY SCHOOL (or art museum or street corner for that matter) could use something like this. Don't you?

For that matter if you do agree with me and you decide to join me in this endeavor? Please PLEASE contact me and let me know how it goes for you!!!! I'd love to see pictures of your journey making it happen as well as pictures of the final product.

Worth the wait

How do you feel about paintbrushes? Are they a big deal to you? While I am not solely a painting teacher, I do plenty of painting with my classes - most of which are foundational in nature. Because they aren't super advanced artists (yet!) I insist upon using top-of-the-line brushes and I mostly just want to focus on ones that are solidly built without sacrificing key things I want my students to learn - like which brush type/size is most appropriate for specific tasks of painting - meaning I want to be able to have a wide array of brush types for them to be able to choice from for their individual purposes.

All of that said? I have found that the best brushes to use with my classes are the Big Kids Choice Paintbrush sets (with the classroom caddy if you can get them like this!!) by Royal & Langnickel. They are short-handled craft style brushes (vs. being long handled artist length for painting on an easel) with synthetic bristles and both flat and round tips in three different sizes each...

They are very popular among art teachers (as I have come to find out) and around this time of the year they are almost always sold out because they are so highly sought after. Years ago when I first discovered them on accident, I got them for a STEAL by buying them in bulk (I bought more than 3 of them) and they were only $55 a piece!!! Amazing! Nowadays it is much more likely that you see them for at least $75 a piece and if you are lucky you MIGHT score some for just a little less than $70. I have ordered them every time from Dick Blick and if you search for them you will find that there are two listings that appear to be for the exact same thing with the exception of the price. One is listed as $2 more than the other. Why? Because one of them has a blue handled teeny-tiny brush perfect for details and then a red handled one with a nice wide flat one perfect for painting reasonably large areas and the other one has six sizes - three of round, three of flat that I would guess are in sizes that are the most popular overall for artists of any ability or age. That being said? If I were you I would spring for the set that has the teeny-tiny blue handled brush because if you are buying them in bulk, the price difference is only 9 cents. I made the mistake of not ordering that set and though I wish I hadn't I have enough of them on hand that I am not bothering with sending them back and exchanging them.  Below is a picture of three baskets of the cheaper set.

Better than bouquets of flowers in my book!!

Now, while I have made it pretty obvious that I work at a school with great means (read: budget) as it pertains to supplies ordering or just resources in general? I actually don't always just get whatever I want, whenever I want it. I Do have a budget that I adhere and it doesn't allow for me to just order my favorite things all the time/every year. The way I manage that is staggering the ordering of the the frequently used/favorite supplies that might also happen to be more on the pricey side of things like these brushes. I feel like even if we did have the money to buy these brushes though, I might not do that because then I feel like the students wouldn't understand the importance of taking care of your materials so they last. Afterall, art materials (and nice art materials at that!) are not meant to be used once and discarded forever. To be an artist also means learning how to take care of your materials and that includes maintaining them so you can keep using them if they work so well to begin with.

Something else about the Big Kids Choice Classroom brushes with the caddy? They come in these really great plastic cylinder packages that are so useful to use as storage in the studio classroom! I like using them for every day materials because it's easy to chuck things into them without them looking messy - similar to the way a glass cookie jar might look! Currently I have some of these from my last order that are storing/organizing markers and other coloring materials and it is so nice to put these in a cabinet and be able to SEE what is in them so I can pick and choose what will be taken out for use.

These brushes were back-ordered so I only just got them shipped and despite the fact that I received a heads up email that they were coming, I forgot about them and it felt like Christmas unpacking them, setting them up, and preparing them for use. I completely agree that "Good things absolutely come to those who wait" even if that wait means waiting every 3-4 years to be able to get these brushes.

That being said? I also am the proud owner (FINALLY AFTER 1.5 YEARS OF DILIGENT PRAYER AND ASKING AROUND!!!) of something pictured here...

If you watch my instagram feed, you might recognize this as a picture I posted a couple of weeks back when I was in the throes of attempting to acquire some of what is pictured without success. Am I being annoyingly elusive? Don't get what I'm talking about? I don't expect you too because I wanted to share the fact that I have been working on something VERY special (and I guess secret as it has been) for my school to enjoy - both current art students and not AND faculty as well - that seeks to make art appreciation stretch far beyond the confines of it happening in the studio classroom alone. This "idea" of mine is one I have been carrying around for a seriously long time and this year I finally got it in me that I had to make it happen - no ifs, ands, or buts. And that is ALL I will tell you for now until it's good and ready to go for me to present it as something for you to do in your classes too. ;)