Showing posts with label art teacher book club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art teacher book club. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Art Teacherin' Book Club: Growth Mindset Coach, 1

Howdy, bookworms! I hope everyone's summer has been a relaxing and rejuvenating one so far. It's in this chilled-out state that I thought it might be fun (heavy on the "might") to begin chatting about the upcoming new school year and how we might improve on our art teacherin' awesomeness. One book that I think will really help us and our students is The Growth Mindset Coach by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley. 
As some of you know, I do a Facebook LIVE chat right here every Wednesday night at 8pm CST. I did take the month of June "off" as I was traveling and teaching quite a bit. I've so missed chatting with my Wednesday night art teacherin' crew so I'm excited to "see" y'all this evening. In previous chats, we've needle felted, worked in clay, brainstormed, shared nearly every idea under the art teacherin' sun. You can find all of our past chats archived here. When I threw the idea of a book club out there, many enthusiastically agreed. I chose this book because it's one I started midway through the school year and really enjoyed...but one I also felt like I needed to discuss with other art teachers. How can I make this work in my art room? What have other art teachers done? How can we empower our students together?
Tonight I thought we could tackle just a few of those thoughts. This book club is not limited to just art teachers. You don't have to have read the book to join. Feel free to join the fun, no pressure. We'll be happy that you joined, regardless! 

Also, if you join the fun tonight, I've got TWO BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS about this book to share!
I have read the Intro as well as chapters on August and September. I'm excited to discuss the difference the following:

* Fixed vs. Growth Mindset: Where do you fall?
* Growth Mindset in the Art Room: What does this look like?
* Practice and Persistence is a Path to Achievement: We got this!
* Introducing Growth Mindset on the First Days of Art

See y'all tonight!
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Sunday, January 12, 2014

What the Art Teacher Wore #85 and Book Club Contenders!

Welcome Back, Tuesday: So we managed to score an extra day of winter break because of the weather (thank you, Mother Earth, you're a dear!) which pushed back our return to Tuesday. It was a no-kids-all-day-faculty-meeting kind of day in the gym...where the heat had not been on for two weeks. It was definitely a BYOBEBandEC affair (that'd be: Bring Your Own Electric Blanket and Extension Cord...which I totally did). scarf: I forget!; sweater: DIY here; dress: TJMaxx; tights and leg warmers: Target?; boots: Anthro, last year
Hello, ya'll! I hope you all have had a great week. I went back to school for a coupla days this week...which happened to be just the right amount. Too many nights of staying up until the wee hours partyin' (which, around here, means crafting) made it super tough to get up and get moving. One big motivator for me this past week was introducing my first and second grade students to the art of suminagashi (which is Japanese for "floating paint"...or paper marbling). We had big fat slimy fun with that and I can't wait to show you the results.

A week or so ago, I ran the idea of a book club past ya'll and what an enthusiastic response I got! So I spent some time searching for books I thought looked promising and I've put together this list. Some books are about teaching, a couple are about exploring drawing/painting, and a few about creativity. I tried to give you a variety to choose from. I've added a tiny blurb about each book with a link to amazon where you can read the full description. If you are interested in joining the fun, read these descriptions and cast your vote on the right hand side of the screen. You don't have to type in a code or any other silliness to vote. Just pick and click. I'll leave the voting up for a week and then announce the chosen book.

 Once we've chosen the book, then we can read and chat! If you happen to have a blog and you'd like to let others know about our book club, that would be great. I say, the more the merrier, don't you think? 

And then I got ANOTHER idea...if you happen to join the book club AND are attending the NAEA Conference in San Diego (like me, eeee, so excited!), what do you say we have an actually book club meet-up? Details on that to come, just wanted to throw that thought atcha.

Okay, without further a do, here's the Book Club Contenders!
Why Are All The Good Teachers Crazy? by Frank Stepnowski A refreshingly honest look inside the teaching profession, Why Are All the Good Teachers Crazy? is a captivating collection of hilarious stories and unreserved observations from one man’s odyssey in the classroom. 

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith Perhaps the most famous fifth-grade teacher in America, Rafe Esquith has won numerous awards and even honorary citizenship in the British Empire for his outstandingly successful methods.

Easter Egg Wednesday: I know, I know, I look like the Easter Bunny exploded on me. In January. I can't help it, I need color to deal with all this gray! dress: The Limited; sweater: DIY here; tights: Target; shoes: thrifted
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron  The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life.

One Drawing a Day by Veronica Lawlor Through 46 daily exercises which make up a complete 6-week course, you will keep your artistic skills sharp and your imaginations fertile by doing One Drawing A Day. Each spread in the book features a beautiful drawing by one of 8 professional illustrators, with a description and comments by the illustrator as well as a companion exercise.
One Watercolor a Day by Veronica Lawlor  Spark new ideas and increase your creativity with One Watercolor a Day. This enchanting art book contains six weeks’ worth of daily watercolor paintings and exercises to help you cultivate your imagination and develop your style.

Thursdayness: I got these amazing bakelite bracelets from my mother-in-law for Christmas. They are my new favorite thing and I wear them all the time. Bakelite is like super duper pricey...and I lose every ebay auction I attempt. So I'm glad to have these lovelies! felted sweater: DIY here; blouse: gift; skirt and tights: Target, old; boots: Anthro; necklace: thrifted

Out of Our Minds by Ken Robinson In this extensively revised and updated version of his bestselling classic, Out of Our Minds, Ken Robinson offers a groundbreaking approach to understanding creativity in education and in business. 
 
Friday, You Got Here Fast!: Thank you for hearing my prayers. By the way, did you notice I wore a felted sweater every day? Yeah, it was kind of my theme...which I've noticed that having a theme makes getting dressed in the morning so much easier. For me, anyways. sweater: DIY here; dress, belt and boots: Anthro; tights: Target; necklace: gift


Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.


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Sunday, January 5, 2014

In the Art Room: Teaching Vocabulary

Okay, ya'll, it's confession time: I stink at reinforcing vocabulary.

Now don't get me wrong, I teach the stuff. But getting 'em to recall the stuff, well, that's another story. For example, after teaching all about Pablo Picasso's Blue Period, the following art class will sometimes go a little sumpin like this: 

Me: So! Yesterday we chatted all about the artist Pablo...

Kids: Picasso!

Me: Right! Remember, he was the artist that was really sad so he chose to paint with a certain color to show his emotions...

Kids: {crickets}

Me: Ahem, it was blue, remember? And we added a little white and a little black to the blue to make...

Kids: {blank-faced zombie crickets}

Me:  Tints and shades! Remember, I taught you a poem, we read a book, WE PAINTED A PICTURE?! (Scratching my head and checking my schedule)...wait a minute, did you guys even have art yesterday?

Kids: {awoken zombie crickets} YEEEEESSS!

Me: (muttering) Really? Were you awake during any of it?! I SUNG A SONG FOR YOU PEOPLE!
Yeah, so. It turns out the little people need a lot of reinforcing of the vocabulary so that it sticks. Just telling them once, even with jazz hands and a musical number, won't do the trick. I've known this forever so my solution is usually just to bring up that vocabulary every time it applies to a particular lesson. The prob with that is, it's often a struggle to squeeze in all that vocab. 

But I think I might have a new idea thanks to Ron Clark's The Excellent 11. I thrifted this book recently and I've really enjoyed reading his different techniques and dreaming up ways to make them work in my art room. Now, I'm not gonna lie, reading Ron Clark's books are not easy for me because the dude is like a super hyperactive teaching genius and I often feel overwhelmed. So I thought I'd try just one technique of his for a while before attempting any others. And that was his means of introducing and teaching vocabulary.
In Ron's book, he talks about how he researched and found 1000 words he thought his students should know. That sounded like a lot of work and I'm rather lazy. I did find a great resource for art elementary vocabulary here that I loved. After adapting the list, I typed out the words, printed them and cut them down to the strips of paper here. 

Ron's idea was simple: as the children enter the room, they are to (attempt) to read the word shown to them. No need to tell them what the word means, just let them get used to sounding out the vocabulary. Once they've read the word, they may enter the room. Flip to the next word and ask the next student. 

So far my 2nd though 4th grade students have done this step with vocabulary A-B. When we return from break, I will continue to show them the same words, this time asking them for the definition. I'm very curious to see what they already know (hello, pre-test!). If they do not know the definition, I will give it to them. I am hoping that by the end of a couple art classes, they'll have a better grasp of the pronunciation and definition.
Now, this little technique has a couple flaws: 
  1. The kids won't get a chance to read each and every vocabulary word. Especially when I begin to introduce more in the next couple weeks. I've not found a solution to that. Suggestions would be great if you got 'em. Right now I'm content with simply introducing them to words we might not otherwise chat about.
  2. I never ever want to rush a child that might struggle with reading. Or processing. However, as the children enter my room, they are to stand silently while the rest of their friends trickle in.  I kinda feel weird about that as they are just standing there when they could be learning. So I've got a kinda solution to that which I'll share with you in a moment.
Because I'm World Famous for losing stuff, I keep the vocabulary in these little holders by the door. I've decided to start this technique with my kindergarten (pray for me) and 1st grade after break, hence the "Little Rockin' Artist Words." For them, I've written down names of colors, shapes and simple vocabulary
Okay, so I mentioned that I found a kinda solution for the kids waiting for their friends to finish reading vocabulary. Well, I had this fantastic idea that I'd have a powerpoint running on my television (can you believe the size of that thing?! I know I'm retro, but c'mon!) that would alternate between a famous work of art and the artists name. This way the kids would not only be gaining vocabulary skillz but masterwork recognition!

The problem? My mammoth television won't hook up to my wee lap top. This seriously saddens me. I'm hoping the tech-dude comes up with a solution (fingers are crossed) but until then, I've got a piece of artwork taped to my 'set. Classy right? I choose a student to play "What do you See? Think? Wonder?" (details here) while they wait.
After we've done the vocab bit at the door, it's then that we recite our "I Can" statements before getting down to business. Details on that here.
That thing on the right is a wrap-up game we sometimes play called The Smartest Artist. You can read more about that game here.
I'll keep you posted on how this works for me. I've got a Word Wall (well, Word Cabinets would be more accurate) that I plan to add these words to as we master them. I don't know if this is going to work or not...but it's worth a shot, right? 

How do you guys go about teaching and reinforcing vocabulary? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Also...I've got an idea. Would any of you out there be interested in starting a virtual Art Teacher Book Club?  When I was reading Ron Clark's book, I thought how fun it would be to have a group of ya'll reading this book with me. You know, to brainstorm ideas and share experiences. If you are interested, just let me know...and suggest a book! If there's enough interest and book suggestions, we can vote on our first read and get started. That sounds like a fun New Years thing to do, don't you think?



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