#NAEA15

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”  Steve Jobs (Stanford Commencement, 2005)
 I do believe art educators joined forces in New Orleans to live up to his advice on life to the fullest. The  convention was full of ideas, inspiration and a brisk walk out into the city found all the magic, mystery, silliness and food one could imagine.
The first day began with Tim Gunn sharing his journey into teaching and television.
Being a person who adores a great acronym, I was thrilled to hear Tim Gunn share his T.E.A.C.H. philosophy: Truth-Telling, Empathy, Asking, Cheer-leading, and Hoping for the best! I believe we all go those steps every day in our classrooms and its a great reminder in approaching discussions with students to push through projects. When students struggle we as teachers guide students to Persist, inspire them to engage, stretch and explore and help them to find new ways to express their own unique ideas. I know that I have in the weeks following convention have more than once said " Make it WORK!" and indeed we do!

I presented with three fantastic educators, Samantha Melvin, Stacy Lord and Theresa Gillespie Thursday on the power of our #artsedpln. Friday I had the honor of joining forces with 3 wonderful Middle Level Educators for our TEAM Middle Presentation.
Both presentations are available online: TEAM MIDDLE & #ARTSEDPLN
The convention was inspirational and rejuvenating to be surrounded by other passionate art educators. I am already looking forward to the 2016 Chicago convention! (342 days to go!)

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