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Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

Art and the Brain:  How do kids imagine their brains?

[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains.   I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children.  Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more…

Interview Questions for Art Teaching Job

Interview Questions for Art Teaching Job

I opened up my email this week and was thrilled to read the following message: I wanted to thank you for your post regarding portfolios and interviewing.  I was recently hired at a fantastic school, and the interview wouldn’t have gone well without your advice about preparation. Yay!  I love it when someone finds something useful in something I’ve written!  The post she was referring to was Art Teacher Portfolio Ideas.  Later, I posted an article about digital portfolios.  I … Read more…

Pinteresting Art Ideas!

Pinteresting Art Ideas!

It’s no secret art teachers love Pinterest.  In this new blog series, I will round up some of my favorite Pinspiration for art teachers.  If you’d like to see all of my Pins, follow me on Pinterest.  It’s a great way to plan projects, find handouts and ideas!  If you have other ideas that fit this theme, add them in the comment section. I was inspired to pick the theme of FACES for this blog post, because I came across … Read more…

Welcome Baby Desmond

Hi!  For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you probably have seen some of the baby pictures.  Desmond was born this past weekend! Desmond Arthur Beckett was born on Saturday, April 19 at 9:47 am.  He weighed 10 lbs 6 oz!  The c-section went smoothly and even though I was SO nervous beforehand, the doctors and nurses were very reassuring.  After I realized that I actually was not going to feel any pain during the surgery, … Read more…

Drawing Maps for Figurines with 2nd Graders

I came up with this idea from my daughter’s obsession with playing with her figurines and maps.  She has a few of these map sets that come with a large fold-out map, a book and a bunch of related figurines (they have these at Barnes & Noble). This project taps into children’s natural interest in miniature toys! I showed the 2nd graders this map with some figures (many of them had similar maps at home) and told them to bring … Read more…

Art Discussion Signs for Bulletin Boards

Art Discussion Signs for Bulletin Boards

I have been dreaming about how I will be setting up my art room next year, as we will be having two art rooms and I will have a lot more space!  The art discussion cards that I created have been popular and I thought that these questions would make an intriguing bulletin board. I designed 33 colorful signs with interesting art discussion prompts that can be used in classroom critiques or art history discussions.  There are 4 additional “title” … Read more…