Ipad App: AirSketch

AirSketch - $9.99 iTunes

Apple (whether you believe it or not) is revolutionizing the educational world by storm.  Like most MacNerds, I am constantly learning new tricks, playing, researching apps, and I sit around waiting for them to reveal their newest gadget.  The possibility of the iPad is a power that can be harnessed so much in schools.  (I'm very jealous by the way - I had to beg my mother when I was 13 to buy me the original Ipod Classic)  Anyway, what I'm getting at, is that I am VERY fortunate to be in a school district that supports my love of Technology (and Apple) and now I get paid to play around and incorporate it as much as I can in my classrooms.  Hope you enjoy this app review and you enjoy it as much as I do!

#waitNOmorePinterest?

Yesterdays SOFA/PIPA blackout was everywhere.  You could not open your Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, pretty much anything without reading the messages urging to petition back and the general masses speaking out.  Myself, like everyone else in the world, is completely shocked at the possibility of no longer having the internet be what it has grown to be today; and also yet what it can still be.

So as a little test, I reflected back on my day and macbook's history to see how the internet played a key factor in my day...

nylon, wire, & clay - oh my!

student work.

My art room is back in full swing as we ride on into the start of the second semester.  And although I have many new projects starting up, I wanted to share the 3D Sculpture projects my 5th grade group created just before winter break. (Because, well they're awesome)

Half of my 5th grade classes, worked on creating Picasso-inspired wire/nylon abstract forms, while the other half transformed simple pinch pots into very wild creature sculptures.  

Both going with my districts' assessments standards - It was great to see the two completely different projects in action and let students' observe the many differences that sculpture art really are!

"Fun is good." - Dr. Seuss Landscapes

student completed work.

Fun is awesome - and what is not to enjoy about the artwork of Dr. Seuss? This project was a simple combination of landscape drawing (foreground, middle ground, background) with pattern in order to create these very fun and vibrant landscape images.

First Year Art Teachers; what they didn't teach you, and what you're going to find out.

As a first year art educator, I am constantly following other educators on Twitter, going through blogs, reading new articles all trying to develop the wild flying around that has now become the start of my career as an art educator.   Sometimes, however, it seems overwhelming how much information I am trying to teach my myself, and I often reflect how I can benefit others in my field as much as they inspire me?

With all of that searching, talking to other teachers, reading on my own, I am engulfed into my own education as much as that of my students.  What I guess is more evident now, is that learning is truly never ending.  And although I am greatly appreciative of my education throughout college, there are some things you just don't figure out until you're thrown into the "real world".  So here we go, what knowledge I have to offer in the art education community.  What you won't be taught, but you're going to find out soon enough (and just maybe my tips/to-dos can help you along the way).

how do you display artwork?

I'm always looking for new fun ways to show off all of the amazing work my students produce, so I wanted to share my bulletin board and hopefully have some posts for some more ideas. (So go comment, I'd like to learn about what more I can do!) Outside my classroom, I have a changing gallery. After each project, 4th and 5th grade, I pick one student from each of my homeroom classes.  It's become a big hit, and students have been excited to watch the art change throughout the school year.  But that's all for today - Happy Friday!

"we're now a quarter of an inch tall. ."

isn't this just awesome?

". . and 65 feet away from the house. That's an equivalent of three-point-two miles. That's a long way.  Even for a man of science."  When I showed clips from the movie, Honey! I Shrunk the Kids!, you should have seen the laughter coming from my students at the how cheesy those realistic, shrunken scenes appeared to them.  It was almost as funny as the giant shrink ray I created and pretended to shrink them all with. (ok, maybe they didn't think that was that cool)  Needless to say, movie-making has made its progression in the realms of realness, and although Honey I Shrunk the Kids could use some updated effects, it still portrays a fun new view on our world to express through art making.