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3 Tips to Make Assessing Your Students Easier

3 Tips to Make Assessing Your Students Easier

Patty Palmer from Deep Space Sparkle asked me to share tips about assessment with her Member’s Club.    I am no expert on assessment, but I thought I could share a few good ideas about what works for me when assessing my students in art.  If you are not a member of the Member’s Club, you can still see my 3 top tips for assessment by watching the video below. How do you assess your students?  Do you have any tips … Read more…

First Day of School for Art Class

Are you nervous about starting the school year?  Or are you excited to get things going?  Even though this is my lucky 13th year teaching, I still get anxious to go back.  It’s a combo of nerves, excitement and anxiety about getting back into a different routine.  I still have dreams that the class is out of control, I forget that I am scheduled to teach or I oversleep.  Recently, I asked readers to share their top tips for starting … Read more…

Huge List of Contemporary Artists

Are you looking for some new contemporary artists to teach your students about?  On the Facebook Art Teachers group, members suggested LOTS of contemporary artists that they teach their students.  These are now all compiled into ONE HUGE LIST on Google Docs!  I added websites and short descriptions to most of the artists so it is easier to use.  Thanks to all the teachers who collaborated to share their ideas and add artists.  This huge list has about 130 artists … Read more…

Welcome Back to School, Art Teachers!

Welcome back to school!  Are you ready? We start our staff meetings tomorrow and then the kids come on Wednesday!  With the new school year starting, I thought I would highlight some old posts that might be helpful to you. Create a Welcome to Our School bulletin board! Making a collaborative bulletin board display is a great way to start the year.  I have some new ideas for this year, but here is an example from the past! Here are … 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…

15 Favorite Posts from 2013

  Another year is rapidly coming to a close, so I thought I would spend some time reviewing my favorite projects and blog posts from this year.  Here are my favorite posts, in no particular order! 15.  How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor 14.  Clay Castles 13.  Postage Stamp Art Project 12.  Heart Photography Project with 3rd Grade 11.  25 Amazing Books for Teaching About Art 10.  Editorial cartoons are a unit I teach every year.  We even were … Read more…

Cardboard Creations and a Blog Layout Review

Hello all! Wow, summer is almost here! It’s hard to believe, right? I entered a blog giveaway to receive a free layout review from a web designer. I won! She posted the review on Blacksburgbelle’s blog. Bottom line: reduce the clutter.  I think it was very useful and gave me a lot to think about! Maybe you will get some ideas from her review. This will be a little project to work on during the summer. Building with cardboard and … Read more…