Believe in the Power of Art

My TASK is Done!

2012-02-26T13:48:00.002-05:00

Myfirst encounter with TASK was last September at the stART on the Street festival in Central MA. The TASK booth, was sponsored in part byDavis Publishing and was a HUGH hit with the 50,000 some odd attendees. It wasamazing to see young and old creating, collaboratingand concocting the 'task' on the card.

The Marchedition of SchoolArtsmagazine had a wonderfularticle on Oliver Herring and what TASK is or isn't :) This TASK eventwill be on Saturday from 11am – 4pm at the NAEA National Convention inNY. I hope to see many of you there, because you know Iwill be!

3D TASK letters for the TASK party at the NAEA

I love creating with a Sharpie, a box cutter and a hot glue gun!

Me :) taken by my 6 yr old

2012 NAEA National Convention

2012-02-04T07:54:00.000-05:00

Very much looking forward to the convention this year. The projection for this year is 6,000 attendees. If they reach it, this could break Seattle's record from last year! Wow, imagine that many creative minds in one place! Don't miss out on this amazing 3 day PD event. Download their 8 page Brochure here.

The NAEA has made an App for easy navigation of the Conference. The app will allow you to directly download the presentations of each presenter in real time (providing they uploaded them first.) The App has also streamlined the evaluation processes by providing attendees the opportunity to evaluate the sessions they attend right through the App. Very Cool!! Download them here:

iphone/ipad/iwant :)

Droids click here :)

Stay in the loop via Twitter: #NAEA #Convention #NAEA12

Museum Discounts

Exhibit tips and Giveaways J

Great first time attendee info compiled into a Google Doc

And, as if you need more inspiration…here's a great Prezi from Deborah Reeve on Cleansing the Pallette

Lastly, some noteworthy advice from Kathy Duse, Convention & Programs Manager, “Even though the 2012 NAEA National Convention takes place indoors, please bring extra layers as meetings rooms can be drafty." This is New England in Feburary/ March people - the weather can go from 65 degrees to 24 degrees in the matter of 6 hours.

The Worst Food I Ever Ate!

2012-01-21T15:56:00.000-05:00

For me eating is a novelty, for others it is an emotional release and yet for another selected few it is hard to eat. Yet we all have our reasons, likes and dislikes of foods and why we eat what we do or when we do it….you can’t argue that food guides us in our daily life. Food elicits certain memories for all of us, like what did you eat on your first date? Where was it? Do you remember who you were with?! This particular project came about from listing to one of my classes go on and on about the awful food they had at lunch. Each one of my students was engaged and eager to tell me about when they had eaten something really, really discussing. I took that energy and created this project, the Worst Food I Ever Ate! It started as a general conversation with a few of my student’s and turned into a class in storytelling.

Business Cards & Conventions

2012-01-14T15:46:00.001-05:00

Took some wonderful advice today from Twitter http://bit.ly/xGQXdi !!! Bring on the NAEA National Convention!

Interest vs. Commitment

2011-04-13T05:07:00.000-04:00

I do believe this is where a lot of people get confused....

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When your interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permits. When you're committed to something,
you accept no excuses, only results."

Make a list for both and see where your interest lies versus your commitment. Then focus your time and effort on solidifying your commitment to the things listed! Liken it to wants and needs...you want your interests but need your commitments to make you whole.

What makes us tick….

2011-04-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

We can, and have, over the years, identified people and events with single images, items and words. What makes us tick is evident in everything that we do; our clothes, our hair, our art room....wait! What??!?!?! Our classroom? You mean, our home away from home, me casa, su casa, where we create, mold, teach and yes, pull our hair out. :) There is an excellent blog out there called Pedagogy & Space. When you have a few minutes or a few hours, surf on over and see the amazing correlation between the two. The metamorphosis between teacher and art room is amazing and I shall let you explore before I venturing further into this area, at least for now.

But on a lighter side of this topic, if you had to name one thing in your art room that you positively, absolutely, cannot live without, what would it be? The twitter responses to this have been as varied as we are, and I expect no less from the creative side of education! Question is; how would you answer this?

Where, oh where, has personal space gone?

2011-04-03T08:39:00.002-04:00

I'm a firm believer of personal space and the need for teachers to maintain some kind of control of it within the classroom. It's very easy to get overwhelmed with students coming up to you asking for help, especially in the art room where there is more freedom to move about. Over the years I have noticed that personal space is lost on many students. Personal space is that invisible bubble that sits an arm’s length around us which makes up our comfort zone. A comfort zone which is chipped away at by our student’s day in and day out. I realize some is cultural and some is learned, but much of what I see is A) a general disregard from students for any authoritative figure and B) teachers whose boundaries are blurred making them more of an equal, a peer, rather than an authority figure aka teacher. This article will focus on the B part, creating boundaries with your students, which in effect will help teach your students the importance of respect.

When a teacher brings themselves down to a student’s level, it sends an unconscious message that you, the teacher, do not have to be taken seriously. It lessens your authority and in a way you end up losing some integrity with your student’s. On top of all this, add in the fact that controlling classroom behavior becomes more difficult, and reining in that respect becomes nearly impossible.

When do we see these boundaries blurred? When you see student’s sitting at the teacher's desk, riffling through papers and going through their 'personal' items. When you see teachers ‘chumming’ with their students, friending them on social networking sites and joking with them on a level that is inappropriate.

When that line is blurred, for whatever the reason, so is the respect for the teacher. This is where problems can arise with behavior in the classroom. If a student perceives you as an equal, then all respect is gone, making it harder to maintain control and redirect behavior.

One way I maintain a level of respect in my classroom without being authoritative and which still allows me to joke around with my students is a simple yellow line painted on my floor around my desk. Why yellow? Because it signifies caution and is associated with traffic signs, which in a sense, is what it does - It controls the traffic to and around my desk. The yellow line painted on the floor sections off a small portion of my room from the students. It is a space where I can keep things safe and out of students reach, while reinforcing the boundaries that comprise of personal space, allowing me breathing room that is just mine. The most important message the yellow line emits is respect for me, the teacher. Yes, everything within my room comes down to respect. Which goes back to the large sign hanging over my door, give respect – get respect. The yellow line, is a nonverbal reminder to the students, that as much fun as we may have in my classroom, I am still the teacher.

Innovation, Creativity and Chaos in the Middle School Art Room

2011-03-23T05:13:00.000-04:00

Just posted my presentation from NAEA Seattle Conference on SlideShare. Working on a piece called 'Reflections' from my 5 days in Seattle. It was an extremely busy, yet amazing 5 days so there's lots to reflect on. So stay tune!

Innovation, Creativity & Chaos in the Middle School Art Room

View more presentations from Stacy Lord, Worcester East Middle School.

NAEA Seattle

2011-03-23T05:10:00.000-04:00

There are things you know,things you know you don't know and things you don't know you don't know- Learned the Latter.

This excellent advise is floating around on #naea11

Experience Music Project Museum - Seattle, WA

I'm through. Now what do I do?

2011-01-10T16:24:00.001-05:00

Here is an excellent list of ideas by Hillary Andrlik and Theresa McGee from the Teaching Palette, for those students who finish their projects early.

&#8220;I&#8217;m through. What do I do?&#8221;

Another whole group game that I would add to this list is Pictionary. It is a great way to reinforce creative thinking and language skills along with team work. My middle school students LOVE playing this game and often forget that they are reinforcing vocabulary at the same time. The following are some of the modifications I made to the game to accommodate my classes.

1) I recreated the game board in a much larger size for all the students to see.

2) I traded the smaller tokens for Mr. Potato Head Spuds, each with different color shoes.

3) I give each team a dry erase board, marker, eraser and their own dice to use.

4) I have a collection of game cards from many different editions of Pictionary Jr. which allows me to find words all my students can recognize, even my ELL students. I also have a set of cards with art terms on them.

Pictionary in the classroom is a wonderful way for students to learn vocabulary, work as a team and get creative! How do you reinforce vocabulary in your classroom?

Wow, what a mouth full.

2011-01-05T09:44:00.001-05:00

I came across this as I was looking for ideas to spark one of my classes into showing some sort of emotion when creating their artwork.

“Effective classroom management uses a variety of instructional strategies that enhances the students' overall experience and optimizes their learning potential.”
(How the Design of the Classroom Affects Learning | eHow.com)

I’m a knowledge junkie, especially when it comes to engaging students and managing my art room. This particular statement resonated with me. Go ahead and ask any teacher if they think classroom management plays a role in the ability of students to learn. 9 times out of 10, the answer would ne YES! Even the best and brightest students will have an exceptionally hard time learning, if the class is chaotic and mismanaged.

So I thought about it…and came up with this breakdown:

Classroom management seems to incorporate three main parts in order for it to work:

1) Having a well thought out lesson. Lessons that have been planned and prepared are the most successful ones we can teach. Not the fly by the seat of your pants kind of lesson (well ok, at least not all the time J)

2) Being prepared and having all your supplies ready, is especially important when doing any hands on type of project, like in the art room! This will eliminate any downtime, which is a calling card for students to fool around. Speaking to a group of Art teachers….I’m sure, we all know what this would feel like ;-)

3) And of equal importance, if not a little more so in my book, is how a teacher manages classroom behavior and environment. If the environment is not conducive to learning, then what good is all the prep work?

With these 3 components in place we set up an environment where not only learning can take place but expectations are exceeded.

Many of us get this, but some of us do not. Problem is, how does a school teach this to those who don’t get it?

Did I really think it was going to clean itself?

2011-01-03T11:46:00.000-05:00

Damn it all....The Desk Fairy didn't show up!

On the eve of week 18

2011-01-02T22:15:00.000-05:00

So this is it...the last few hours before I head into school after a very nice and well rested break. Played with my boys, enjoyed family, hung out with friends, thought about my NAEA presentation and reintroduced myself to my PLN's. Vacation time, much to the contrary of the general public, is not for the students but for the hard working, dedicated teachers who give themselves everyday to making an environment conducive to learning. Teaching never really ends when we walk out the school doors. Our classroom's remains with us in thoughts and ideas, quandaries and questions. The emotional toll on teachers is so very high that we need this time to be able to regenerate and recharge our batteries. Reflect and evaluate what we have done and what we are going to do. As the days progress during 2011, never lose focus on why we are here, why we took up teaching. There's a wealth of information out there in cyberspace and when we have doubts or questions, know that the answers could be just a keystroke away :)

Here's to an exciting and fabulous 2011!

Vivid Layers: Art Teacher Tips from Moi

2010-12-30T12:58:00.001-05:00

Vivid Layers: Art Teacher Tips from Moi: "We all have our little art teacher tips and tricks that help us get our job done better. Jessica, at the Art of Education, posted hers..."

See you in Seattle!

2010-12-28T09:07:00.002-05:00

It's not to early to start planning your trip to the 2011 NAEA National Convention, March 17-20, 2011. This year it is located in beautifully scenic Seattle, Washington. If you have never been to the National Convention before you are in for a treat....4-days of amazingly rejuvenating professional development that brings together leading experts in all areas of teaching, learning, and the arts. All levels are represented through workshops and attendees. This is a wonderful time to be treated as royalty while being exposed to the ultimate in creative energy :)

While you are planning your trip be sure to check out my presentation:

Innovation, Creativity, and Chaos in the Middle School Art Room
Middle Level - Best Practice Lecture - Meeting Room 614/Center

DATE: Saturday 3/19/2011

TIME: 4:00 PM–4:50 PM

DESCRIPTION:

Discover how to create a climate for learning that will not only engage middle school students through thought-provoking questions but also provide you with innovative projects and classroom management skills.

Bell to bell teaching...

2010-12-23T05:20:00.000-05:00

The importance of bell to bell teaching is never so important as it is on the day before a vacation. Any down time allowed to students on such days, usually leads to chaos that is hard to reel back in. Except bell to bell teaching is harder then one thinks in an Art Room! How do you keep 'down time' to a minimum?

Prepping for vacation...

2010-12-22T07:45:00.000-05:00

Oh what a chore this is to prep an art room for 10 days off. It involves a bit more than just walking out the door and shutting it behind you. Kind of like Spring cleaning, where at the end of it you feel refreshed and renewed and ready to face the second half of the year.

Read To Know - Write To Show

2010-12-21T05:42:00.000-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Read To Know - Write To Show

View more videos from Stacy Lord, Worcester East Middle School.

Wems school committee_presentation_09

2010-12-21T05:41:00.000-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Wems school committee_presentation_09

View more presentations from Stacy Lord, Worcester East Middle School.