What the Art Teacher Wore #171

Happy Holi-daze! These photos are completely random and outta order which is fitting for this week, don't you think? disco top: UAL; Christmas tree skirt to lady skirt: found at Big Lots, made by me last year with my tacky teacher buds; tights: Amazon; silver chucks: Journeys; big red bow turn hat: Hobby Lobby

Hello, Craziest Time of the Year! I know I'm not alone when I say WOW. Could things be any more bananas right now? And yet, would we really have it any other way? I think not. 

Adding to the craziness, I also decided to start sharing short videos on Instagram with y'all this week. Stay tuned for more of those. And if you've missed any, I'll be archiving them here. 

I also hosted my first Facebook Live chat this week! It is still up in case you missed. I'll be back this Wednesday at 8pm CST to chat about classroom management...something I know I'll be cracking down on after the holidays. Hope you'll join me! 

I'm still in school until Wednesday...here's to makin' it, y'all! 

Last year, my kindergarten teacher friend Heather (left) and my second grade teacher buddy Bethany made these skirts from tree skirts found at Big Lots. We wear them every year for our annual Tacky Holiday Sweater day! Aren't they the cutest? We're so famous for our tacky, we were even featured on BuzzFeed! 

Fourth grade is rockin' and wrapping up their Faux Stained Glass project. I am so in love with their work!

Light Up Dress Ain't Got Nuthin on No Elf: Seriously, after showing the kids the Elf Cam 2016, they were so not interested in my light up dress. They're all, "nice but WHERE IS ESMERELDA?!" sweater: vintage, thrifted; light up dress: made by me, details here; shoes: Aldo

Second grade is weaving right now and it's just the most perfect project for this time of year. I see my second graders at the very end of the day when we are both tired. For the last week, we've been siting on the floor in a "Weaving Circle" while chatting, reading books and helping others learn to tie knots. It's just been the best way to end our day!

Polka Dotted Holidays! I so love this noisy dotted dress. It was a lucky estate sale score and it's one of my faves. sweater: Target; dress and brooch: vintage; boots: Frye...paint splatters by me

This week, I went LIVE on Facebook! If you weren't able to join the fun, it is currently archived here. I'll be back this Wednesday at 8pm CST to chat about Classroom Management. I think that is on everyone's mind at this time in the school year. I hope you'll join the fun!

I forgot to snap a photo on this day...but I did make a run to the grocery store. I was stopped by one woman who said, "My nana had a tree skirt in that same print!". I didn't have the hear to tell her that I probably was wearing her nana's tree skirt. Then a dude stopped me and said, "OMG, I was so going to wear that exact same outfit!" I told him it was a good thing he didn't seeing as how I looked so cute. Nobody wants to be the loser in a Who Wore It Best, right? 

First grade had a blast painting their Bebo-inspired birds. I heard comments like, "I'm a serious artist!" and "I love painting" the entire time we were working. It was so sweet. 

Friday Funday: I think everyone's schedule is cray right now what with programs, plays, etc. I've decided just to let it go and ride the crazy rollercoaster. Having a wacky outfit certainly helps. dress: made by me, here; tights: Amazon; candy cane chucks: Marshall's years ago

One of my favorite things ever is to host a craft night. I try to do one every coupla months but life just got so crazy this summer and fall, I just couldn't squeeze it into my schedule. I was determined to make a Christmas Craft Night a thing this year. So I through out an impromptu invite and we had a house full of food, booze, crafts and laughs. We missed y'all who couldn't make it and so sorry we didn't get a photo with everyone! Our Christmas Crafts of Holidays Past here and here. 

 The next morning, I went to my first ornament exchange at my friend Camilla's home. I had the best time opening ornaments from these sweet ladies. What a wonderful way to share our talents! You can see my ornaments here. 

I hope y'all have a fabulous week! May it be full of friends and fun. 

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In the Art Room: My Favorite Tool in the Art Room

In lieu of my usual Art Teacherin' 101, I thought I'd share with y'all a wee video I created with The Art of Ed involving one of my favorite tools in the art room: my Time Timer! 

I use this thing like crazy in my art room. I use it to break up my instructional time, keep students accountable and keep me on schedule. You can hear me chat about more ways to use the Timer here:

I even have a small Timer Timer that I use at home! I have a bad habit of wasting time (in second grade, on my report card, my teacher marked me as being a "Poor Time Manager"...I remember asking my mom what that meant and she replied, "You are a lollygagger." I blame my day-dreamy Pisces nature). It helps me not to get tasks completed within a timeframe that I can check at a glance. 

I'm sure a timer on my phone would work as well...but I just love having these big visuals both in my home and my art room. 

Love to hear how y'all keep track of time in your art teacherin' world! 

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In the Art Room: Wisconsin Fall Art Conference, 2016!

So, never having been a teacher of any other subject, what I'm about to say is completely based on my totally biased and awesome opinion: Art Teacherin' Conferences Are THE BEST Conferences. There. Take that Typing Teacher Conferences (1. Is there such a thing? 2. It took me five minutes to come up with some sort of teacherin' conference to reference without hurting feelings. Sorry, Typin' Teachers. Y'all just don't strike me as the party animal type).

Last Wednesday, I got up at the butt-ugly hour of 2:30 am (that is MORNING, people) because I was so eager to get to the Wisconsin fall art conference and join my soon-to-be best friends. Well, that and the fact that the only decent flight I could find was at that unholy hour. Flying over Wisconsin was a beautiful treat. Can you believe this landscape? 

The WI fall conference was in LaCrosse which is my new favorite town. There's a bar, an antique shop and coffee spot on every corner. That's a winning town in my book. As I was walking out of the airport, my two favorite Wisconsinites were walking in to pick me up: Jen Dahl and Tiffany Beltz. Both Jen and Tiffany worked their tails off to make the WI art conference amazing. Tiffany went above and beyond recruiting fantastic presenters, hand-stenciling over 400 packets for each attendee, baking cupcakes for all involved AND presenting her self! She's a beast, that Tiffany Beltz. I want whatever she's having. Seriously, Jen and Tiff, y'all made my trip a wonderful one, thank you so stinkin' much!

After having a wonderful breakfast with Jen and Tiff, I did my best to lend a hand and help set up. Really, there was nothing to it, they had everything so well organized. That evening, there was a lovely reception for the art teachers who had artwork on display. It was there that I got to meet my online friend Jeanne Bjork. What I loved so much about meeting my folks whom I've only known online is the ease that I can chat with them. It's almost like reuniting with old friends. 

That morning, after a lovely breakfast with Jeanne, I managed to pop into a sessions that looked like so much fun: Stuffed Monsters. Dustin Anderson, Wisconsin art teacher, lead the session and it was so much fun. Big shout out to Dustin for allowing me to crash his monstrous party!

My kids are gonna LOVE this lesson!

My favorite thing about attending conferences: making new friends and seeing what others create. Art teachers are so stinkin' creative, y'all. Go figure. 

Immediately after Dustin's session was mine. I taught two hour long needle felting classes back to back. I love teaching needle felting because it's a craft that EVERYONE can do. It's like having a big ole craft night with all of your new favorite friends. 

We stabbed and stabbed ourselves palettes or anything else we had in mind. My buddy Lindy needle felted poppies onto a pair of leg warmers!

 I do believe I created a bunch of needle felting monsters!

 The following hour long sesh created the same cuteness. Our supplies came from Back to Back Fiber (thank you, Sue!). 

I mean, look how cute! I wonder how many of these were worn when the teachers returned to school. 

I taught over 60 ladies to needle felt! I need to invest in a herd of sheep, y'all. 

After attending a wonderful presentation on mindfulness in the art room, I met up with a group of art teachers who wanted to take the later afternoon to soak up LaCrosse and it's vintage offerings. I had so much fun with my new buddies! We hit LaCrosse Prairie Vintage, a coffee shop and a three story antique mall all before settling down for Bloody Marys, deep fried cheese curd and something called Tat-Chos (um, tater tot nachos aka HEAVEN ON A PLATE). It was so funny, when we were paying the tab, my friend Bonnie remarked, "it seems like it must be so late!" We looked down at our watches only to find it was only 7pm. We'd worn ourselves out!

Bright and early the next morning, I was up and on stage. I was the keynote speaker for the conference (that sounds so strange to say!). I had so much fun sharing stories about my art teacherin', art makerin' and life living journey. Normally, I get a touch of the jitters when presenting but the folks of WI make me so comfortable that it was like chatting with old friends. Love all y'all!

Right after that, I was back to workshop teaching. This time, I taught two hour long sessions on weaving. We explored cord and straw weaving. 

Special thanks to Leah Keller, Frank Korb and Jeanne for helping me wrangle up supplies since I ran out! I managed to overpack my outfits and under pack supplies because #priorities. 

I really gotta say it again: my fave part of the conference: making new friends.

Hanging out with folks like Frank, making new friends and catching up with "old" ones is my most favorite thing ever. Thank you so much, Wisconsin, for having me. I love y'all and had an absolute blast!

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In the Art Room: You Be You Mural Complete!

So, like, at the end of August, I shared with you my You Be You lesson inspired by the wonderful book of the same title by Linda Kranz. I did this project as apart of our kindness and growth mindsets theme with my first through third grade kids. It was fun, easy and a great way to reintroduce the elements of art as well as drive home some super positive warm fuzzies. 

Unfortunately, I suffer from a serious case of Squirrel-itis and got sidetracked from assembling this mural. However, right before Fall Break Eve, I conned my special area buddies into "helping me" with the mural (two hours later, my friend Ali was still glueing and outlining the fish in blue...thanks, buddy!) and getting it up on the wall. Yay! Another Mammoth Mural in the books.  

In case you wanna give this fun lesson a go, feel free to use the video. You are always more than welcome to use any of my videos in your art room. I try to update weekly (with an Art Teacherin' 101 going up every Wednesday-ish). If you subscribe, you can stay tuned. 

So...true fax: this mural was only supposed to be a You Be You tribute...but with so many fish created, I had to create a second mural. This one with the title of Linda's first book in the series. By the way, when the murals went up, the edges just felt a little meh. I picked up that cute border at Joann's and added it today. I think it makes a big difference. 

Right after the mural was hung...I discovered another bin of third grade fish sitting there all, "hey there, forget something, Stephens?" Looks like I have more fish to add to the mural!

When I have my students create large murals, we usually create huge sheets of pattern papers. We call this our Painting Party. I throw papers down on the tables and either I'll start a pattern motif of the kids will. They are to repeat that pattern until their paper is full. Once complete, I remove the paper and replace it with another large sheet. This gives me a nice big stack of fun papers to use when assembling the kid's murals. 

First grade fishes just swimmin' and swimmin'. 

After the murals were hung, I realized just how much our school walls (and ceiling!) are devoted to the artistry of our awesome kids. I think it's vital to showcase ALL student artwork (not just a hand selected few) for several reasons: 1. It tells your students that "Hey! You are awesome! Your artwork is amazing! You deserve to be seen by all!"; 2. It showcases your art program and the importance of the arts to your parents, faculty and staff. This is just one small nook that is full of their work from this year! You can see more of their monochromatic selfie mural and the fourth graders' radial prints. 

I think my favorite part of this mural is the message. I'm a big believer in you doing you. It took me entirely too long to really listen to my inner voice. I have spent a good portion of my life doing what I thought I was "supposed" to be doing and being the person who I thought I was "supposed" to be. Letting go of that notion and really being comfortable with who I am, what my interests are and where that takes me is now the place I find myself. I want my kids to get there faster than I did. I want them to know it's awesome to be who they are cuz There Is Only One You so You Be You! 

Thank you, Linda Kranz, for the powerful message!

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In the Art Room: Easy Way to Distribute Supplies

Since I'm hanging with AOE this week and sharing some tips and tricks, I thought I'd bypass on my usual Wednesday Art Teacherin' 101. Because, let's be honest, a little of me goes a very, VERY long way. 

So, let's talk about this cafeteria style routine I'm sharing. I wrote about it a while back in this here blog post and go into a little more depth on the why's and how's of this method. I don't do this every art class but with my 30 minute sessions, it really helps cut down on movin' around time and allows us more time to create. And, after all, that's what we're there for!

While in the hallway, I'll usually give them their "shopping list" of supplies to gather. So that they don't leave anything off their list, I'll usually have them do a call and response which I chat about here:

Once in the room, the kids move quickly to place their supplies on their tables, write their name and class code and meet me on the floor. It helps to have music playing as they do so or even a short video. I like to have something going on my big screen telly as it gets them excited to move quickly and join me on the floor. Also, short fun songs and videos give them a glimpse as to what they'll be learning that day. In an upcoming blog post, I'll share with you some of my very favorite art teacherin' videos to play for my students. By the way, here is a video tour of my art room I created for my younger students...

When I give instruction, I always have my kids gather on the floor, away from their supplies. I do this for a couple of reasons: it removes any distractions for the kids and allows them to focus. It also gives us a cozy feel. I don't have carpet on my floor (I love the look of carpet but I really am not a fan. To me they are like big sponges for germs to gather) and I've never had a child complain about sitting on the floor. Once the directions are given, the kids are free to head back to their seats and dive right in.

In other news, if you need a tool to help you manage your time with your students, I really love my Time Timer!

I hope that is helpful for you. What have you found to be the best way to have your students gather their supplies? I know I've tried giving the kids jobs and they are wonderful at it...it's just that their art teacher (ahem) is miserable at remembering routines. We do what works for us, right?! 

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Art Teacherin' 101: Episode 21

In last week's 101, we chatted about saying NO to requests for your time, your talents and your art supplies. I received so much feedback from y'all in the comments and in emails that I realized I'd touched a nerve. We all feel so much pressure to be agreeable and generous, as it's our nature. However, it's not fair when our kindness is taken advantage of. Many of you asked: what do I do when the request is coming from a superior? How do I say no when I feel pressured? I'm a new teacher, should I really say no?

These conversations took me back to my early teaching years. I don't know if it was the fact that I was new, young and/or relatively agreeable (I'm a recovering passive-agressive) but when requests came in for my time, talents and supplies, it was often under the guise of "do this cuz I said so." What I didn't realize was that I was dealing with bullies. I'll give you an example: when I first started teaching in my school district, I was told I "had" to do a project with my students simply because the other art teachers in my district were doing it. I didn't agree with the project, didn't think it was a wise use of my time or my students' art education, so I said no. Unfortunately, bullies don't like to be told no. Rumors spread that I was uncooperative and that landed me in the hot seat with my (now former) principal. From there, I was bullied by my administration to acquiesce. And I caved. What was the result? Well, for a long time, my administration and art ed colleagues thought I would do what I was "told" to do. And I did for entirely too long. Finally, one day, I decided to remove those bullies from their pedestal. I started listening to myself, the needs of my students and my time. And I started saying no.

It's not been easy. Since then, I've battled unpleasant comments, eye rolling at meetings and one very nasty email (that my current administration handled beautifully). And you know what? It doesn't bother me. When I took away the power from the bullies, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I could breathe. And I could also focus on what I knew to be important to me and my students. 

It's interesting how we address bullies so much with our students but not as adults. Bullies never grow up. As long as folks give them power, you'll find them trolling online, in your workplace and, shoot, at the grocery store! Kick that pedestal out from underneath them. Reflect, listen to your gut, do what you know to be right and follow that path. From there, you can't go wrong. Love y'all!

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In the Art Room: Radial Relief by Fourth Grade

I love a project that leads right into another. I also love a project where there is zero waste. 'Tis the reason I'm totes lovin' this Radial Relief by the Fantastic Fourth Grade!

If these look familiar to you, that's because these were our printing plates we created a couple of weeks ago! You can read all about that lesson and see video demos here. 

For that project, I ordered cardboard pizza rounds (we used 14" but in the future, I would def use something smaller) and self-adhesive foam stickers. Michael's seemed to have the best deal in town on those. I love that Michael's and JoAnn's offer teacher discounts and take competitor's coupons as well as their own...unlike some craft megastores (not naming names...but their initials are H.L., ahem). 

This really proved to be an effective lesson in teaching all about radial balance!

 And resulted in a ton of colorful prints.

For the second phase of this project, we used spray adhesive, extra wide rolls of foil from the Dollar Tree and Sharpie markers. Just before the kids came, I took their printing plates outside, sprayed them with adhesive and slapped a piece of foil on top. 

From there, they trimmed the excess foil off, folded it around the backside and started adding color to their designs. We reviewed our study of radial balance, the elements of art and chatted about the principals of design. 

I love that we were able to create something beautiful from their printing plates. And they really enjoyed this process.

Of course, we did have a coupla dudes enter Emoji-land. Who can blame them? Emojis are rad. 

 By the way, the patterned papers you see in the background are what all of my early finishers have been creating. They will be used in our upcoming What Lifts You mural that I'm super stoked about.

But I really love the backdrop they create for these pieces so I just might have to make them apart of the hallway display if we have any extra!

Have y'all used this technique with your student's printing plates? I'd love to know if you have and what spin you put on this project idea. 

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