Last Article...

Well... my last article ran this month. If you have ever thought of applying to write for the Art of Education I really suggest that you do so. It is such an amazing place to work. Jessica, Derek, Amanda and the rest of the staff are just top notch. It is a time commitment but I promise you will grow professionally and personally! 

If you haven't seen my articles, here is a list. Click on any article to read the whole thing...

• My Students are Scientists
• A Letter to My Students' Parents
• Should You Use a Theme for Your School Year?
• How to Work with Students with Autism in the Art Room
• 5 Ways to Incorporate Humor into Your Classroom
• A Better Way to Teach Radial Balance
• What Art Teachers Really Want for the Holidays
• The Best Way to Keep Your Resume Current
• How to Tell if a Project is Taking Too Long
• 5 Simple Sub Plans to Make Your Life Easier
• Make Assigning Seats More Fun with The Simple Trick
• 3 Ways Digital Portfolios Benefit your Students
• The Great Art Show Debate
• 10 TED Talks Every Art Teacher Should Watch
• 4 Ways to Sell Your Program at Parent Teacher Conferences
• 4 Ways to Re-Spark Your Creativity
• Essential Tools and Inspiration for Your Next Green Screen Project
• 7 Easy Ways to Create a Green Screen for Your Classroom
• 5 Student Friendly Photo Apps You Should Try This Year
• Is your Desk Ready for the School Year?
• 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before this School Year Starts
• Banish the Phrase "I don't know what to draw" with this Simple Trick
• 3 Addictive Projects to use when Introducing Students To Encaustic Art
• 5 Art Apps to Use this School year
• 5 Stellar Websites for Finding Artist Information
• Why You Should Ask Your Students to Rate Their Projects
• A New Kind of Book to Add to Your Reading List
• 6 Simple Ways to Breathe New Life into Tired Lessons
• Help Your Students Make a Difference By Making Art
• A Genius Way to End Your School Year
• Unplug to Become the "Summer You" All Year Round
• 2 Key Things to Know Before Diving into a Mixed Media Project
• 3 Easy Ways to Get Work Home After the Art Show
• Decoding the ABC's of Education
• Confession of a Not-So-Perfect Art Teacher
• How to Prep for Art Shows Without Losing Sleep
• How to Utilize Art History to Add More Variety to Your Lessons
• Yes! You can Make Cool Artwork with Microsoft Paint
• Keep Up with Hundreds of Blogs the Easy Way
• 7 Ways to Beat the Winter Blahs
• 4 Ways to Collect Your Students' Digital Artwork
• Push Your Student with an Art Room Challenge
• 5 Tips to Stretch Your Art Room Budget
• 8 Tips to Hosting a Student Teacher in the Art Room
• The Secret to Successful One-Day Clay Projects

Hello.... from the other side

Yes, that is a shameless Adele reference but I feel like this is an appropriate re-introduction of myself.

A little over a year ago I started writing for a little ole blog called "the Art of Education." It was an amazing experience writing for them. The idea behind the Art of Ed is to stay ridiculously relevant and that means new writers sharing new ideas. And so like they say, all good things must come to an end.

Being honest, I am a little sad about that part of my "career" being done but the good thing is I will have more time to get back to other stuff. This blog will get a little more attention (okay, a lot more attention). I might clean my art room. I will hopefully exercise a bit more.  I will read a book (or two).

This week I started class by asking students to share what they think the world would look like without art. I had some REALLY, REALLY insightful answers. Here is one of my favorites from one of my 6th graders:

Without art this room wouldn't exist. The blueprints for this building wouldn't exist. 

Bright colors would not survive. Creativity would wash out of existence. 

In small words - DULL!

Without art the subjects would be language arts, math, science and social studies. 

Drawing shapes is art, so math would be more boring than it already is.

Poetry is art with words so that gets rid of a whole unit from language arts.

History would change; beautiful, historical sights would be gone.

Life wouldn't be much without art. 

Wow - I don't think I could have said it any better!