I have the wonderful opportunity this week to work with Dr. Kimberly Sheridan a professor and one of the authors of Studio Thinking 2: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. The conversation for Studio Thinking, Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (TAB), or Choice education in the art room has been growing in the arts community for quite some time. The book is helping to solidify many of my beliefs in how I teach and ways to vocalize the importance of teaching art.

My classroom is very close to the studio atmosphere and has included a gradual transformation of how I think and approach lessons. Reflecting on my most successful lessons the concepts of Studio Thinking or Habits of Mind connections can be made.

Part of our discussions questioned how time is spent in the art room. Seeing data that broke down time into segments was interesting to contemplate how we use our allotted time into categories of student work time, demo/lecture, critique, or exhibition time. Many administrators come to observe demo/lecture time when in reality the great learning may blossom in the interactions between teacher and student during studio time. The moments when a teacher can walk around the room and visually assess the progress students are making, redirect when needed, and encourage students to boldly continue forward in their efforts can be meaningful in student growth/understanding. I am contemplating how I can best evaluate class time to make the most of our 47 minutes of learning in the Capitol of Creativity next year.
How do you assess your use of time?

Thanks to the brilliant leaders in Richmond and the staff at George Mason University I am spending the week in the most intense, meaningful, and motivational professional development opportunity of my career.

What is VCET? Virginia Center for Excellence in Teaching is held for six days on the George Mason campus and continues in the fall. Educators have traveled from all over the state of Virginia to join forces to learn how to become stronger Teacher Leaders. The Academies focus on a different areas:

• STEM
• humanities and language arts
• the fine arts
• interdisciplinary studies

The #artsed Academy started Sunday night with a wonderful dinner and fast tour of the campus. We all got settled into our dorm rooms with anticipation for Monday morning! (Yes, we teachers never stop learning!)
Monday morning we met our fearless leaders who will be guiding us on this journey : Dr. Kimberly Sheridan and Robert Stansbery.

The day started with a visual metaphor for teaching by Andy Goldsworthy.
Words bounced quickly around the room with educators relating their practice to the powerful image before us. The Portal to Learning:

• Strong Foundation
• Continual
• Diverse
• Focal Point
• Balance

Our big questions of the morning became
       "How can arts be a powerful entry into thinking?"
       "What is the core of my own #artsed beliefs?"
My own beliefs have been evolving over the last few years with the rapid changes happening in our world. The addition of new technology and ways to help bring artistic behaviors in my classroom have me looking to the horizon. My focus is turned to the outward searching, looking beyond the building blocks that may seem familiar toward the framework that will guide me in the year ahead. In the months ahead I am looking forward to this process of finding a clear vision of my VCET project and the powerful changes that Teacher Leadership can help build.

I would love to hear how you might interpret the sculpture as a metaphor for your teaching?

Skyline students will be traveling back in time this week to explore the Art Nouveau style. The spring clay project never fails to surprise me with new artistic responses to the style and design elements of art nouveau. Students will be learning about the style though a learning to look guided discussion. The power point was created by gathering information from the National Gallery of Art's  Anatomy of Exhibition: Art Nouveau, 1890-1914. 

• Students will sketch their nature and pattern infused vases to plan out their hand build clay creations. 
  
• The design must incorporate three Elements or Principles of Design that can be described as a strong element in defining the art nouveau artistic style.
• The basic form will be built around cardboard tubes recycled from paper towel rolls for support. 
• Students will work with slabs of clay then use additive and subtractive techniques to create their design.
  

Celebrating the beauty of nature on Earth Day we begin to imagine our Art Nouveau inspired vases.

Every week I ask my students to T.H.I.N.K. about a new piece of art work. The chosen work will correlate in some way to the current project, a theme or events. When teachers are making the choice to get rid of posters in lieu of digital projections online I am finding students are more engaged to look at the actual printed poster. Little hidden clues on posters like the Title, Artist, Dates, Medium, and location have students dashing to make the connections with artwork. 

Currently, my students are working on a self portrait project and we have looked at several different Artist's own portraits. The focus this week has been on a self portrait by the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), one of the greatest figures of the Northern Renaissance. As a draughtsman and painter, he rivaled his elder contemporary Leonardo Da Vinci, and his masterful woodcuts and engravings of mythical and allegorical scenes made him famous across Europe. The image we are using for our art critique this week was done when he was only 13 years old. Skyline students are enjoying seeing the talent of an artist close to their own age. What do you THINK about Albrecht Durer's self portrait?


    Albrecht Durer- Self Portrait Age 13

Tell... what you see in the artwork? 
What is the medium? 
Is the image a sculpture, painting, drawing, architecture, etc?
Portrait, Landscape, Still Life? 
Describe lines, shapes, colors scheme, or basic elements of work.
Description = pure description of the object without value judgments, analysis, or interpretation.

How... did the artist create the artwork?
How did the artist use the Elements and Principles in creating the art work?
What is the subject matter?
How did the artist use a color scheme, the space of the image, value, or create movement?
Description Analysis= determining what the features suggest and deciding why the artist used such features to convey specific ideas.

Interpret...
Why did the artist create this artwork? What does it mean?
What is the main idea?
Express what you think about the art work and its meaning.
What evidence (in or outside of artwork) supports your interpretation?
Interpretation= establishing the broader context for this type of art.

Now...
What do you THINK? Is the art work successful? Why or Why not? What criteria helps to judge the work's success? What is the evidence in the work to support your judgement? What would you have done differently if you were creating the artwork?
Judgment= Judging a piece of work means giving it rank in relation to other works and of course considering a very important aspect of the visual arts; its originality.

Yesterday evening I had a wonderful opportunity to meet and hear John Rose speak about his career as a cartoonist. John Rose wanted to be a cartoonist at a young age. He started drawing on his parents' living room walls and continued throughout his school years. He even published his first cartoon book at a young age and had his first book signing in his school. The Virginia-born Rose graduated from James Madison University in 1986 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in art and art history. After graduation he drew freelance sports cartoons for newspapers then on to editorial cartoons in Virginia. His cartoons have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the Virginia Press Association.  J
Mr. Rose's path changed a bit after attending a Cartoonist convention.n“Cartoonists have an annual convention in May,” Rose said. “This particular year it was in North Carolina. I was talking to a fellow cartoonist and he told me he was working as an assistant on the ‘Blondie’ comic strip. I didn’t know cartoonists used assistants. On the drive home from North Carolina I told my wife, ‘Maybe I could try that.’
“The year was 1998 and I came home and the first comic strip I thought of right away was the Snuffy Smith comic strip. I had grown up reading it. It was my grandfather’s favorite strip and I felt like I could draw the characters. I did a Sunday comic strip along with some character drawings.” Rose says he sent out his samples and hoped for the best.
“I sent some things to Fred Lasswell, who was the cartoonist of the feature for about 60 years,” he said. “As a cartoonist you send out a lot of things whether it’s by mail or e-mail. A lot of times you get rejected or you don’t hear back at all. It’s just the nature of the business. I didn’t really know if I’d hear back from Fred.
“About two weeks after I mailed it out, I was at home eating lunch and the phone rang. I answered it and on the other end of the line the guy says, ‘John, this is Fred Lasswell. I got the sample of things you sent me and I really like the way you draw big noses.’ That’s exactly what he said.” Lasswell ended up hiring Rose to be his inking assistant.
“He lived in Florida and I lived in Virginia,” Rose said. “The syndicate was in New York City. Fred was an older man, up in his 80s, but he was really into technology so we could do everything by phone, fax or e-mail. “He would sketch out and write the comic before he would fax it to me. I would ink and do all the final artwork. I would scan it back into the computer and e-mail to him for approval to be sent to the syndicate in New York City. It was neat how technology let me work with him without having to relocate.”
Rose said he and Lasswell worked together for about three and a half years before Lasswell’s death in 2001. Rose went on to audition to become the cartoonist for “Snuffy Smith” and got the job.

Mr Rose spent some time sharing his talent and tips on how to draw the main characters in the Snuffy Smith comic strip. I enjoyed seeing him break down the different parts and describe the associations of shape he created.Barney Google and Snuffy Smith is one of the longest-running comic strips in history. Created by Billy DeBeck in 1919, it first appeared in the sports section of the Chicago Herald and Examiner as Take Barney Google, F'rinstance. It starred the cigar-smoking, sports-loving, poker-playing, girl-chasing ne'er-do-well Barney Google. By October of that year, the strip was distributed by King Features to newspapers all across the country.
In 1934, Barney Google met Snuffy Smith, a hillbilly who soon eclipsed him in popularity. Not long after this meeting, the strip became known as Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.  In 1942, the comic strip was inherited by DeBeck’s long-time assistant, Fred Lasswell, who continued to draw the strip until his death in March 2001. Lasswell, a master of the sight gag, really developed the hillbilly characters of Hootin’ Holler.  John Rose, who inked the strip for Lasswell, has been carrying on the bodacious tradition of being the strip’s cartoonist since 2001.
This tremendously popular feature boasts clients in 21 countries and 11 languages. It has added several phrases to the American vernacular, including “sweet mama,” “horsefeathers,” “heebie-jeebies” and “hotsie-totsie.” It has been the inspiration for a hit song, “Barney Google (With Your Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)” and is one of a few historical comic strips to be honored on a special set of U.S. postage stamps.
The talk was hosted by our local ADK Chapter and we are thrilled that Rose has donated the three signed drawings for us to auction later for our education scholarship fund. I will be sure to share information on the auction of the images when more details have been decided.

Skyline 7th graders participating in the Dream Rocket Project this spring. Combining science, history and art the students painted 2ft square images to submit to two separate exhibitions. Two of our paintings were displayed in San Diego, CA during the National Art Education Convention. Our paintings were joined by artwork from students across the United States.
Currently our two other paintings are on display at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Nebraska.
Former astronaut Clayton Anderson from Ashland, NE signed our Dream Rocket Project poster last week and will be mailing each participating school a autographed certificate of participation.
Read the news release from the Strategic Air & Space Museum:http://www.sasmuseum.com/2014/04/01/the-dream-rocket-project/

Official Harrisonburg City School Press Release

The theme for the NAEA14 Convention was SPARK!  The conference did indeed serve as a spark to fuel the inspiration that fill my classroom in the next year. Thank you to the Super #ArtsEd PLN & Artists that filled my mind with Resources and Knowledge sending me home IGNITED!


Super #ArtsEd teachers gather from around the country for the convention. Through the seminars, presentations, and discussions the these teachers inspire me to constantly learn, improve, and bring new learning opportunities into my classroom. It is a wonderful experience to be able to hear, see, and learn about the innovative lessons being shared around our country. New trends in art education are constantly in development, for example art teachers are embracing new technologies, the STEM to STEAM movement, new Assessment Strategies, and the Choice Based Classroom model. I appreciate all the educators who took time to prepare and share their classroom strategies and lessons!


PLN is my online personal learning network of #artsed teachers. It is inspiring to finally get to meet so many of them in person, some for the first time. Together online we share our knowledge, questions, concerns, celebrations, needs, and create friendships. On a daily basis I can support other art teachers by voting for their students in a contest (Janine Campbell's students in Michigan are currently needing our votes!), offer suggestions of technology that might help get a task done, or be supportive. The true reward is the comfort in having an amazing group of  educators, that I call friends to reach out to with questions or ideas. They inspire me to continually strive to be a better educator. 

Artists are usually a wonderful source of excitement and enlightenment during the national convention. NAEA has presented great artists to speak in previous conventions and this year was not a disappointment. During NAEA14 we had the opportunity to listen and gain insight into how artists are inspired in their own art work. I enjoyed the opportunity to hear Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Deborah Butterfield speak, they are both inspiring artists and women!

Resources from convention range from websites, handouts, vendor booths and take-away items. The NAEA app is a great resource with downloadable handouts from workshops. Even if you were not able to attend the convention you can download the app and find shared documents. The vendor booths also offer a chance to try out new products and see sample lesson ideas. I enjoy getting to take home a sample to see how I can use it in my own classroom. I had so many resources I had to make a trip to the post office to ship things home! 

"Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes." ~ Peter Drucker
The convention gives us the opportunity to improve our understanding of the ever changing art world, challenge our preexisting ideas or ways of teaching and encourages us to grow as an educator. We expect our students to listen, be attentive and take knowledge away from our classes, we must do the same for our profession.  Challenge yourself to grow as an educator this spring. While the new green sprouts from the earth we must find those little changes we can start to make in our classroom to rejuvenate the learning environment. 

To see all the great tweets from folks sharing their inspiring moments from conference I have created a tagboard of all things #NAEA14:#NAEA14 TAGBOARD
You are sure to find a few jewels of great information!

See & hear some of my reflections from the convention in my Flipagram:

World Read Aloud Day was celebrated on March 5th, 2014. Due to testing and snow days here at Skyline we moved our celebration to March 12, 2014. Worldwide at least 793 million people remain illiterate. Two-thirds of them are women. LitWorld is changing that.

Every year on the first Wednesday of March, World Read Aloud Day calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories. Along with Ms. Parks our librarian we decided to connect the observance with Youth Art Month to share the power of words and art.

Skyline Artists: Currently several students have had their masterpieces on display in art shows in our region, California and Nebraska.

•      12 pieces at JMU College of Education     
•       20 pieces at Regional Library YAM Show
  
•       2 Group paintings by 7th Grade           NAEA  SanDiego, CA
•       2 Group paintings by 7th Grade                 Strategic Air & Space Museum, NE

Congratulations to those students for their hard work and creative pieces that will represent our school! 
We are the first school to display DIGITAL iPad Paintings in an Art Show locally!

Our Seventh grade art students submitted four 2’ square painted pieces for display this month. The 2 pieces will travel to San Diego, CA to be on display at the National Art Education Convention, 2 pieces will travel to Nebraska to be on display at an Air & Space Museum, and all 4 will be part of the Dream Rocket Art Installation in Alabama next year, coming together with students around the globe to create a quilt that will cover the Saturn V Rocket! (The rocket is taller than the statue of liberty!)

Congratulations to Carrieanna Blanchette for her Youth Art Month Flag Design being chosen as the Middle Division winner for the state! VAEA honored her with a certificate of her accomplishment and a large digital print of her design.

Good Luck to all our students who submitted designs for the Doodle4Google contest this year. The graphic designs were heart felt and produced with great craftsmanship. Look for the national winner in May!