What the Art Teacher Wore, Double Dose Edition!

Hey, friends! Feeling as frazzled and flakey as I am?! Super duper! It would appear that I've lost my ever-lovin' mind (along with my students...yeah, I see you outta your seat totally off task, tip-toeing over to your friend's table). I've also managed to lose the following recently: my house key, my car keys, my To Do list, my cup of coffee (I regularly leave one in the copy room, the microwave and on the hood of my car) and my sanity. Yay! It's the most craziest time...of the year! 

 Me, every.single.day.

In other news, I've got two weeks of What the Art Teacher Wore's to share with ya. So grab a drink (I don't care what, I'm not here to judge) and let's commiserate on just how bonkers this time of year is! 

Also...if retail therapy is your thing, as it is mine, my sweater is from Michaels!

Despite the insanity, the show must go on...and on it is on my art room. We finally wrapped up all of our Artome Art Show work this week (holy smokes! We've had so many interruptions to our schedule that it literally took a lifetime to complete those bad boys! If you are interested in seeing what artwork my students create for this fundraiser, hop over here). In the meantime, wearing these tacky Christmas sweaters with tights are my new favorite and snuggly thing. I scored this sweater last year at Target and the tights were a Christmas present last year from a student.

I have been planning like crazy the lessons for the next couple of weeks. I want to create projects that will keep my kiddo's attention to the very end. This is one I'm working on with my fourth grade students and they are REALLY excited (which says a lot...they are a bunch that does not excite easily, le sigh). I'll share the lesson with you soon...this is just a sneak peak. More views on my Instagram, if you are interested! 

Tennessee doesn't really get much of a winter...so it's been kinda strange to actually have days that don't get above 30 degrees! I'm from Indiana where we do have this thing called winter...but having lived here for 20 years, I've forgotten how to dress for the cold. Thankfully my Mondrian coat is a warm thing for these cold days!

Tis the season to bust out all the tacky sweaters. ALL OF THEM. Even the homemade ones that itch like crazy around the neck! 

Well, after Thanksgiving, our art room elf, Esmeralda, always makes an appearance. This year as been no different. This time, she's gotten our new art room addition, Ricky Rainbows, in on the mix! Ricky was created by the artist Jennifer Strunge and he's just the cutest thing. 

Okay, here's something I'm not ashamed to admit: I have more tree skirts turned lady skirts than I have days to wear them! Seriously, how did this happen?! I know...because they are the easiest thing to make! I have found that Big Lots has the best tree skirts for this: they are inexpensive and long. And tacky...which is a requirement. Here's how to make your skirt! Y'all might remember that this summer, I caught a similar bug when I bought 6 round beach towels from Walmart and made them into circle skirts too! 

So for that snow globe lesson I mentioned above? My fourth graders are using 14" cardboard pizza rounds for the globe. Each kiddo had to spend the first 7 minutes of makin' time creating a minimum of 2 idea sketches before tacklin' their glove. My new favorite thing right now is having my students create idea paintings/media sketches to get their wheels turning. We've always done sketches...but not with paint or chalk or whatever. This is new and I'm loving it. Like I said, more to come!

Don't hate...just appreciate. Found 'em one year at Marshall's and they are pretty much the best thing ever. 

Ah! Friday! This dress is from Meijer and I promise you it appeared much longer on the hanger...ahem.

Kindergarten and first grade have been spending a lot of time painting themselves into dizzy spirals. This has been quite the learning curve for them. Like, literally. Painting such fine lines requires a lot of brush skill and patience. Something we covered A LOT while spending two 30 minute art classes on these beauties.

So, I plan my outfits out on Sundays...do you do this? I started last year and I love it! It really saves me so much time in the mornings.

I'm pretty much living in these tights...please don't judge. Made this dress about four years ago! LOVE the faux fur neckline. 

That third grade lesson I shared earlier this week? LOOK!! I'm in love with the results. More details on how we finished these in a follow up blog post! 

My friend Cheryl loves Christmas ensembles as much as I do! When she walked into art class, all the kindergarten started singing Rudolph and it was the cutest thing ever!

Lately, my early finishers have been diving in to the next phase of the lesson with sketches. My first graders, when finished painting their spirals, started drawing penguins, first on dry erase boards, then on paper, as practice for their big paintings to come later. 

Walmart, men's section, y'all. I had to. I mean, CHRISTMAS AND CATS?! YES.

With the help of a super mom, we got all the Artome artwork organized, labeled, glued, packed and shipped! Yippie! I cannot wait for the show!

So those boots? I'm pretty much living in them. Dress was made by me (with lights in the hem!) several years ago. 

Big ole bingo dauber penguins by first grade, y'all! Next up, we paint and cut these out to add to our spiral paintings! I'll keep you posted. 

 And that's a wrap! Like, literally, if you take a look at my skirt. The rest of the weekend, was Christmas Craft Nightin', hiking, sleepin' and tickin' off my To Do list. Happy Sunday, y'all! 

In the Art Room: Jen Aranyi Inspired Landscapes

Working on a fun new landscape lesson with my third grade kiddos that I'm so excited about, I just had to share...even if we have not finished them yet! We are learning about the artist Jen Aranyi who I discovered on Instagram and I LOVE. Turns out, so do my students! They are so excited about this project. 

We are working on cardboard pizza rounds that I have purchased from Amazon, Gordon Food Services and any restaurant supply place. I usually get a box of 100 for $20. They come in a couple different sizes and I let my kids decide if they wanted a large 14" circle or a smaller 10" one. 

Unlike the video, I actually had my kiddos use a pencil and THIS DRAWING SHEET first. Having this sheet really helped serve as a reminder for my kids after I'd gone thru the landscape directions. They drew in pencil first and then traced with Sharpie. Next week, we'll start the watercolor skies!

Here's the video I created just for you and my kids! Feel free to use in your art teacherin' world. Be sure to take Jen and I on IG when you do this lesson with you students. We would love to see!

Thank you to Jen Aranyi for her sweet words and support about this project. Her work is simply wonderful. Be sure and check her out!

In the Art Room: Fourth Grade Fauves!

I just wrapped up a super fun and VERY COLORFUL Fauve-inspired self-portrait lesson with my fourth grade kiddos. This lesson included so many things: drawing a cartoon or caricature version of ourselves, using chalk pastel in an unusual way, creating pattern and design with oil pastel for a watercolor resist. It was mixed-media to the max with beautiful results. Here's a quickie lesson I put together just for you and your kiddos:

Lemme just say this: I DO NOT enjoy teaching self-portrait drawing to my older kids. They are so stinkin' hard on them selves that it is painful to watch. We will do a more in depth selfie drawing later this year (if time allows) but for now, this was a fun way to ease in to it. These works of art will be featured in our Artome Art Show and therefore have to be 9" X 12"...I really think this would be a great lesson on a bigger scale as the kids could achieve more detail. 

 Normally, my lesson for fourth grade and Artome is this Romero Britto one. While I love that lesson, it does take forever. Also...I have a group of kiddos this year that would just be frustrated with that lesson. I decided to create a lesson based around their interests (working big and bold!) and their attention span (I know my people, what can I say) and this proved to be it. Each kiddo was super proud and successful. 

 Day One: Each kiddo had a bingo dauber filled with slightly diluted India ink. After doing some quiet sketching for the first five minutes, we gathered and chatted about creating simple selfies on our paper. Because of the large line of the dauber and the small size of the paper, the kids learned quickly that they had to work big and without tiny details. They also were not to use pencil first but to just GO FOR IT. I only had one rule: YOU CAN MAKE AS MANY AS YOU LIKE...but if you start a selfie, even if you think it is a "mess up", you must finish it. Each kid ended up with between 3- 5 to choose from for the next class. Extras will be used in upcoming projects. 

The following art class, we started using chalk and "elephant snot" or liquid starch. I get my Sta-Flo liquid starch from Walmart. The best chalk pastels I have found are made by Faber-Castell. The colors are just so bright!

Day Two: Chalk and starch those bad boys! If they finished one, many kids asked to work on their other drawings. I was totes cool with that!

Day Three: Create a background! Using our Sargent bright oil pastels, we drew patterns all over the background of our selfies. Then we used liquid watercolor over that. Each is just as beautiful as the next! I cannot wait to see these at our art show. Will keep you posted on what the other kiddos are creating!

What the Art Teacher Wore #209

Hey, Pencil Dress! You can find out all the details of this dress, including where I scored the fab fabric right here. 

HOW DID IT HAPPEN THAT IT IS NOVEMBER ALREADY?! Like, who allowed that to happen? Who gave this year permission to fly by at the speed of light leaving me behind on all things! Y'all I know I say this all the time but MY HEAD IS JUST BARELY ABOVE WATER...maybe it's because...well, I'm in the midst of finishing my SECOND BOOK! 

Sweater from Urban Outfitters, skirt by me, details here! 

That's right! This one is the same format as my Clay Lab book but it will be all fibers. Coming up with over 50 fibers projects for kids has been a feat. Y'all know that I love to teach fibers and have been doing sewing, weaving, felting and more with my kids forever...but coming up with even more projects has basically fried my brain. It was a small brain to start with. And now it's basically burnt to a crisp. 

And I feel bad because I know I've missed out on sharing so much here, on this blog. This is such a fun place for me to share lessons, what I'm wearing and what I'm creating...but I've had to give up some of that to push on with the book. I know I'll be happy in the end (like, when I'm DONE!) but right now, it kinda bums me out that this space has been neglected. I'm sorry! More videos and posts to come. By the way, these Loud Mouths were created by my KINDERGARTENERS and you can find the video lesson here. 

Found this old photo of me back in '81, totally rockin' the teacher bun! AND kinda lookin' like a hostess from Shoney's. 

I've also been busy hitting fall state conferences! Last month I went to Florida's conference where I was one of the keynote speakers and presenters...y'all. It was such a blast! Florida knows how to conference! I'm excited to be heading to Connecticut this weekend to speak and present there too! 

I've also been getting ready for our Artome Art Show! I'm doing a new lesson with my fourth graders this year and I'm so excited about the results. I will DEF be sharing this lesson with you as it was one that the kids and I really enjoyed. 

Crayon sweater needle felted by me, details here!

Also...it seems that I don't often share that I have a podcast so I'm just gonna throw this out there as a reminder! A new podcast airs each Thursday and I'd love it if you gave it a listen. Also, if you have any suggestions for podcast topics, I'm always open. Feel free to drop me a line in the comments.  

After saying all that...I guess I can see why I feel like my head is just above water! In other news, check out these cute suns that my kindergarten created...it inspired one of my fourth graders to stitch up this sun pillow during her recess/stitching time. Isn't it the cutest?

The suns were created for these cuties. I'll be sure to share this kindergarten lesson with you soon!

I hope y'all have a wonderful upcoming week! Check out my pencil dress here! 

Greg Mike LOUD MOUTH-Inspired Lesson

Hey, friends! I feel like it's been forever since I chatted with y'all...we currently have no internet at my house (long boring story that we hope to remedy soon!) which means I've not been able to share with you. So I'm staying late this afternoon to post a recent lesson I created for my students (this is actually a sub video! My sub and the kids LOVED it!). 

I was inspired by a lesson that Mr. DeWilde shared on his blog. In fact, you can purchase his lesson plan (which is different than mine and, honestly, probably better!) over on his page. DO IT. I saw his kid's projects on Instagram and immediately knew my kids would love doing it! So here's my version...feel free to use in your art teacherin' world:

My sub and the kids did a great job with this! They created their sketches first and then started creating. Most did not finish...which means that next week, they will be wrapping up their big mouth's with me before heading off on Thanksgiving Break!

Leaving videos for my sub that s/he is able to use with ALL grades is one of my most favorite things ever. It means one lesson for them to remember, one set of art supplies, one easy day! I have a TON of sub lessons on my blog and my YouTube channel...you are more than welcome to use in your art teacherin' world. Have a great week, y'all!

In the Art Room: Teaching Scissor Safety

There's nothing quite like finding a pile of clipped hair in the art room just as your email inbox pings with a not-very-happy message from a parent of a child with brand-spankin' new bangs. In a miserably short and asymmetrically style ("But I hear it's all the rage on the runways right now...?"). Who knew we were hosting Beauty School Dropouts up in the art room?! NOT ME!

Look, I learned long ago that with kids, you gotta teach EVERYTHING. Like, EVERY-shouldn't-you-know-that-already-THING. And how to use scissors properly, safely and correctly in the art room is one of them. So, here's my scissor chat with my kindergarten as they prepared to cut out the clouds to add to their rainbow collages (lesson details to come!).

Here are the three things we cover when it comes to Scissor Safety:

1. SCISSORS ARE ONLY FOR PAPER. Not people, hair, clothing, applesauce, pizza, eyelashes (yes, that's happened)...just for, REPEAT AFTER ME, paper! The end. 

2. When scissors are not in use, they are closed. For some reason, I hate seeing scissors sitting on a table open. It looks like an accident waiting to happen.

3. Scissors have a HANDLE. It's where your hands go! That's how it got it's name. When HANDING someone scissors....HAND them the HANDLE. 

Additional pet peeve: do not walk around with scissors. They stay at your seats. With you. And your paper. That you are cutting. With said scissors.

 Kids these days, y'all, they don't know how to hold a pencil let alone scissors. I blame technology. I pretty much blame EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY on technology...but I don't say that too often for fear of sounding like an old lady (which, hello, I am). But, for real, have you even seen how kids hold scissors these days? If it strikes you as odd...then guess what, chicken butt? IT'S YOUR JOB TO TEACH THEM! Remember, we gotta teach them everything. After all, they've only been on the planet for, like, 5 years. 

So, here's how I teach Scissor Usage:

1. Your dominant hand (the one that pretty much does EVERYTHING) is your scissor hand. It's job, when cutting, is to ALWAYS FACE OUT. Never toward you, but away from you.

2. All that hand does is open and close those scissors while FACING OUT (stress this...otherwise you gonna find kids with clipped clothing). Now, that hand that usually does NADA MUCHO? When cutting, it does almost all the work. 

3. The "lazy hand" turns the paper for you! Pretend glue your cutting arm to your side. Put it in FREEZE mode so it only faces OUT. Remember, all it does is open-close-open-close those scissors. That other hand does all the paper-steering like mama does when she drives a car.

Y'all. I know it is a lotta explaining. But, seriously, you'll thank me later. And LOOK at how beautifully they cut out those clouds! And I'm happy to report that not a single one ended up with one of those asymmetrical bobs! 

P.S. Giant scissors came from a flea market...but a fake pair could totally be made with cardboard and a brass roundhead fastener thing. DO IT. 

In the Art Room: Guided Drawing, Part 2

In light of yesterday's post, I thought I'd share a follow-up blog post. One reason I find most folks argue against guided drawing is the following:

It is too restrictive.
It leads kids to believe that there is only one way to draw.
It puts too much pressure on the kids.

AND I AGREE...if guided drawing is a tool used incorrectly in the art room, it can be all of those things. So I thought I'd share some tips and tricks that I use in my art room that eliminates the pressure, the restrictiveness and the notion that there is only one way to create.

I tell the kids that we are all unique and our artwork should reflect that. 
We have a little pep talk before drawing: each of us is unique and that's a wonderful thing. We are all going to hear the same directions...and each of our artist's brains are going to hear and translate those directions differently...and our artwork will reflect that. 

I tell the kids that if I had wanted copies of artwork, I would have just MADE copies. But I want to see their artistry, their work of unique art. 

I call our Guided Drawings, Practice Drawings. 
I tell the kids that this drawing that we are doing together is just practice, not perfect. If they aren't happy with their drawing, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, IT'S JUST PRACTICE...and you can do another one next art class. This eliminates the pressure of trying to be perfect (and how is?!).

I also tell the kids that they are not to throw away that drawing. If they do decide to redo their drawing the following art class, they are to use their initial drawing as their guide...and keep it. Take it home, color it, give it to mama, give it to me. But the trashcan is NOT an option. 

I've also noticed that by the time the second art class rolls around, most kids have forgotten what little thing bothered them and are happy with their drawings.

ALSO...having kids practice on dry erase boards as they draw along with you makes a big difference. Then they can take that drawing to their seat and copy from that onto a piece of paper. 

When we draw on the floor, we either use pencils with no erasers or Sharpies. I don't want the kiddos to use their art time erasing holes in their paper. 

We talk about Beautiful Oops! 
What a great time to talk about all the endless options you can do if you draw something unexpected. It's a happy accident. Let's see where it takes you!

WE KEEP IT SUPER SILLY...
And that really helps release the pressure the kids may feel. I recently recorded myself teaching my kindergarten how to draw Roy G. Biv. If you are interested, you can see how I try to keep it silly, fun and light for the kids. 

Art Teacherin' 101: Thoughts on Guided Drawing

 I often times feel like there are these notions in art education that you have to pick a side. TAB vs. not TAB. Project-Based vs. Non-Project Based. Guided Drawing vs. Guided-Drawing-is-the-Devil.

Here's why I HATE when I'm forced to feel like I have to pick a side. 

1. It pits art teachers against one another. 

Look, everyone's end goal as an art teacher (at least I hope) is for our children to realize the power of their imagination and creativity. It can boost their self-confidence, give them mental strength and allow them to see all of their creative potential! How we, as teachers, get our students to that point, varies. We are all in different situations, with different schedules and different standards and curriculum. What might work swimmingly for me and my diverse students, may not work well for another in their setting. Does that make them wrong? Does that mean they are doing their students a disservice? Something tells me that if an art teacher is giving it their very best...not their most perfect because that's just unattainable, but THEIR very best...than isn't that enough? Should we really beat them up if their best looks different than ours?

2. It paints a black and white picture of art education...in our beautifully colorful world. 

How we teach art is not black and white. You don't have to pick a team or a side. I like to think of all the wonderful ideas on art education as tools in my toolbox. When I use a variety of tools: guided drawing, open studio, center time, project-based, etc., I notice that I'm able to reach ALL of my learners. If I only used one tool in my toolbox, like guided drawing, for example, then my students would only become good at following by example. There's only value in that type of learning if we combine it with other types. This allows our students to see the importance of what they are learning and how they can apply it to their creative life inside and out of the art room. 

With that in mind, I really feel like Guided Drawing gets a bad wrap. I use guided drawing as a tool in my toolbox with MANY other tools. Here's why I value guided drawing and how my students enjoy it with success, confidence and happiness.

So, what are your thoughts on guided drawing? Or any other method of art teacherin'? I've been teaching art for 20 years. For new teachers, I can only imagine how confusing and difficult it must be to hear all of this art edu-jargon. Just know that if you feel you are trying your hardest and your students are responding, you are doing alright. Trust me...your students aren't going to remember some fancy edu-jargon...they are going to remember that you loved on them, created with them and encouraged them every step of the way. And, fingers crossed and knock on wood, that will be enough to have them realize the power of their own creative potential. 

If you are interested in seeing more of my guided drawing lessons, you can use the search bar on this blog...or you can check them out below!

Heather Galler Flowers!

Many of my guided drawing lessons are VERY open ended so the kids can really explore with confidence.

There are MANY MORE lessons on my YouTube channel if you'd like to check them out!