Our Attempt at a Peace Pole

I was cleaning up some files and found this group of photos to share.

In our aftershock program we decided we were going to transform our schools support poles into peace poles. (You can read more about them here) The students wrote out "may peace prevail on earth" in lots of different languages. They decorated them and made them look really, really nice.

We put them all up...

with the help of some goofy 6th grade girls.

They looked really, really nice when we left....

But the next morning was a different story...

I think it took me so long to blog about these just for the sheer disappointment we had in the project. They didn't just fall down; they fell down and taped themselves together. These goofy girls are now freshmen in High School! Wow!

Aftershock #1

I like to help out with our school's after school program called AFTERSHOCK. It is a great chance to know the kids a little better and tackle some art projects or ideas you just can't do with large classes or 300+ students. This year our sessions are broken into 4 week groups. For my first 4 weeks we did a beautify NMS group. We tackled the severely neglected flower bed from the front of the school. I didn't take any before or during pictures.

Here are the after pictures!  A HUGE improvement!

the hardworking crew!

2 of my 6th Grade ROCKSTARS!

Miss Haylee helping us add beautiful flowers to the inside of our building

We finished one day early a decided to fill our front windows with flowers! 

20 Minute Classes

If your school is like mine there are a few times a year when your schedule is re-arranged for early outs. At NMS we have a few times when we have an 11:30 dismissal.  All the classes are still held but we only have 20 minutes per class period.  That isn't much time to get anything out, let alone accomplished.

Rob to the Rescue....

Rob from Art for Kids has a lot of really great "draw along" videos.  I love that he draws along with at least one of his own kids so it is super kid friendly.  He also has lessons broke down into different age groups and mediums.

Our last 11:30 dismissal was earlier this fall.  My 5th graders drew along to create an awesome owl.

recreated on the computer... how cool!

My 6th graders drew along to create a tough looking football player.

recreated with an entire football field

While these work great for as a time filler I have struggled with how I could make this into a creative activity.  I solved this dilemma by turning the project into a contest.  Each class drew along with Rob in during class time and then were given the following week (until I saw them again) to finish it in the coolest way possible.  Each grade level had the top 3 projects selected for a prize...

5th grade 1st. 2nd and 3rd place

6th grade 3rd, 2nd and 1st place

I do TWEET!

This time last year I was not a fan of twitter...

It seemed like ONE MORE THING that I was supposed to be doing but who has time?

Then I attended an NATA (Nebraska Art Teachers Association) conference hosted by Timothy Bogatz (check him out here and here).  He was talking about using twitter in his classroom and it seemed really interesting.  Then he told us about tweetdeck... and I was SOLD!

My biggest hangup about twitter was getting trapped in a time suck.  You know, like when you go to facebook or Target to look for one quick thing and find yourself still there an hour later... and you still don't have the one thing you went there for. Tweetdeck allows me to organize all my twitter information in an orderly manner.

From one screen I can compose and send tweets, I can scroll through my home feed (everyone I follow), I can see any interactions with my account (who is following me, who favorited or retweeted my tweets, etc), I can create searches and follow relevant #hashtags, I can search for a specific person or #hashtag... and so much more.  This website is the reason I felt comfortable jumping into tweeting!

No I have two main reasons for LOVING twitter.

1. I can easily interact with other teachers, even those I don't follow.  If you tweet out a topic or search for a #hashtag you can be connected with other "experts" in less than 24 hours, sometimes minutes.  You can also search by hashtags for topics that you want to know more about.  
2. I can QUICKLY share what we are doing in the artroom.  I don't always have time to write an entire blog post about one fun thing but I can quickly tweet it out.  Just this week I have tweeted about a students "What it means to be an artist" card and a naughty lady who painted on her hand.  

* bonus reason to love twitter is to search for the emmys/oscars/etc and read the hilarious tweets that roll through while these events are happening.  

Funny thing is that now there are even times I get a "twitter high"  Like when the Jon Gordon retweeted my tweet about him or when someone like ArtwithMrE likes one of  my tweets.  It's like I really talked with that person and I get all giggly.  

 

Telling on myself...

Last night I was out to eat with my family (that is what happens after cutting your finger on the mandolin while making pickles) and a student approached me smiling and waving.  I smiled back and asked her how she was liking the Jr. High.  She laughed and reminded me she was still in 6th grade and that she is in my class this year.

YIKES!  I know that I have 600 students and that I have only seen her class twice but wow... I felt awful!

I was talking to my husband later sharing how I spend so much time in her class period "dealing with" a few high needs students (code for unable to follow directions, stay on task or be respectful) that I didn't even realize who all the other kids in that class were.

Today I was reading through my feedly account and this great article from Connected Principals was waiting for me.  It is about a teacher and her preconceptions about a students.  It got me wondering if I was approaching my T8 class with the same attitude.

I also got to thinking about something a friend put on facebook this week. She grew up in poverty and her status update was just her sharing that "as a child of poverty, the idea of being anything she could dream of was unrealistic.  She was so focused on surviving that there wasn't time to dream of the future."  It  got me wondering what my high needs students might be surviving outside of school.

Funny how things happen when they do... here is to a new week with new viewpoints!

Random Tidbits...

We have lots of things started but nothing finished so I am posting some random tidbits...

A sampling of my Jon Gordon notes... Love him! 

Jon Gordon came to school and spoke at our opening assembly.  It was so AWESOME!  If you haven't read his book "The Energy Bus" yet, I highly recommend it.  It is really common sense stuff but put in a great way.  Basically you want to be feeding the "positive dog" while slaying "energy vampires" on your bus. 

now if that sentence doesn't make you want to find out more...

My classroom's windows covered in Jon Gordon quotes...

My spotlight artist display that is going to change every month.
I am going to try to make it focus on an artist who has overcome a disability of some sort. 

My art display case as inpired by Art with Me!
(check it out here)

Love using iPads for looking up visual references in the classroom.
Love getting the students the information they need, when then need it.  

So there is a few random tidbits... hopefully I will have some lessons up and ready for you soon.  

If you haven't checked out my google site you will have to take a look.  I created it during one of my summer classes. I view it as a "filing cabinet" for all my stuff.  You will be able to follow along on the calendars to see what we are learning and even access my lesson plans.  Hopefully this online accountablity will help me be accountable as the year goes.

May 5th- Art Literature

So I have to share a great book I just checked out from the library.  It was for my kids but I ended up loving it more than them.

The Mad Potter:  George E. Ohr is written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan.  (If they sound familiar it is because they also wrote Action Jackson and Ballet for Martha.)  I grabbed it because I loved his mustache (and I choose most of my children's library books by the jacket art) and the title sounded interesting.  I never expected to be blown away by the content.  

photo credit

George Ohr was an artist who was totally devoted to his ART.  He made some "standard" pottery pieces just to make a living but his true passion was his "mud babies."  He was a perfect example of someone totally devoted to their craft.  He never gained huge fame during his lifetime but the prices on his pieces are currently a little out of my price range... like $20,000-$60,000. 

In all, this book and this artist were an awesome little surprise from the library. 

Another fun read I have been blasting through is:

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Last summer I checked out The Aviators Wife by Melanie Benjamin.  It was my first time reading a fictional biography and I was hooked.  (Imagine that someone researches a person in extreme depth and then writes a pretend diary... that is pretty much a fictional biography.)  I have gone on to read several her books and have not been disappointed.  On my last trip to the library I searched for fictional biography and saw this one.  It is the story of Mamah Cheney who had a huge, scandalous love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright.  It is  a fun, easy read that keeps you up at night wanting to know what is going to happen next.... and makes you want to go study Frank Lloyd Wright. 

What would you do?

So today is the last time I see my kiddos for the quarter.
We are having a work day followed by "THE GREAT FLAKE CHALLENGE" for those who are done.
I have told all my classes...Your work HAS to be turned in by Friday!  No Exceptions!  No credit for 1st semester work will be given during 2nd semester!  
I told them they could take their work home and finish... just make sure I have it by Friday!

3 different times today I had students leave unfinished projects in their folders.
1 student took his to finish... he claimed he didn't understand that he had to have his done Friday also?
1 student turned it in unfinished... he said he would just take whatever grade he got on it.
1 student refused to do anything.  I reminded him that turning in something was better than nothing.  Nope. He wasn't turning any of it in.

I don't get it.

What would you have done?

A working mom's contribution

My daughter's kindergarten class is having a Thanksgiving party today.  They needed someone to lead the craft project and NO ONE came forward.  Well I couldn't do it as I had to be at school today (some legal rule about not being gone the day before or after a school break).  I felt bad... so I solved the problem in my own way...

I made a video of me teaching the lesson.  

So I am leading the craft project...but I am just not actually there to do it! 

I hope it works out!  

What I learned from my students... today!

I am always learning things from my students and usually it has a lot to do with "what is cool."  Today in the middle of class a student made my world SO MUCH BETTER!  I am not sure why I never thought of it, but I hadn't...

In the middle of a lecture on forms, as I was saying, "this is a lot harder to do with markers..." One of my kiddo's said, "why don't you use the crayon?"

Use the crayon?
Why that would make a ton of sense!
I was so used to drawing with the smart boards pens that I never thought to change the pen style to crayon.... but it Rocks!

I can actually get some gradual shading into my example drawings.  

I am so grateful that my student shared such a great idea (even if it was a blurt during lecture)!

Some notes from class:

Not my lesson... But I have to share!

I love it when other teachers share what they have done in their room with me.  I teach with some really fun, awesome, amazing and creative teachers.  Just last week a teacher came down and handed me a stack of papers and said, "check these out.  They are awesome."  He was right.  They were pretty cool.  He had done them the first few days of school as a way to get to know more about the kids.

He started by giving each student a piece of paper with this line on it.

They used the line to create some fun and creative images. 

Did you find the line in each picture? 

I am thinking this would make an awesome and easy sub plan...

Feeling a little lighter...

So I just finished going through all my paperwork... and man did it feel AWESOME!

You know how we all get paperwork and then we put it into the "I'll deal with it later, its not top priority pile"  Well tonight it became priority.  To the left is the keepers, to the right are the recyclers!  It is awesome to think that I am carrying about 1/2 as many papers!     

So now my thoughts turn to what else I might want to tackle... I was just noticing that my district is open on the Nebraska Art Teachers Association Board.  It is has left me contemplating if that would be something good for me. 

With the house moving I think it is best left off my plate for this year, but is something I am really thinking about for next year... 

Wow...that really is my name on the presenting schedule.  YIKES!