I like to look at this every once in a while...

10 LESSONS THE ARTS TEACH

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it
is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solutionand that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving
purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects.The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material.All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said.When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young
what adults believe is important.

-Elliot Eisner 

NAEA

Forget Sailboats- I GOT A JOB!

okay, so I already painted two sailboat pieces, but didn't take pictures (will do next time I return to VA Beach).

MORE IMPORTANTLY- I GOT A J-O-B. not just any job, but an art teaching job! SURPRISE! Just when I was about to be happy with a para position, an intermediate (8th and 9th grade) position opened.

Things I am MOST excited about this new position:

1. It is OLDER students. I loved my elementary kids, but this is the level I want.
2. I get to see the students for more than 45 minutes a week. Try 1hr20 ( I think) every day for 90 days!
3. I have another art teacher right next to me!!
4. The school district is really awesome ( happens to be the school system my husband and 1/2 of my in-laws went through)
5. The art department has 2 kilns and 6 pottery wheels!
6. #5 means I get to expand my own knowledge of 3D- bring on the pottery blogs!
7. Because of #2 I get to use ideas I have always wanted, but never had time for, and maybe learn names faster than December ( I say maybe b/c I am terrible with names)
8. I get to do more advanced projects because the students are older
9. The school district is extremely personable- I really didn't think that you could get more personable than Piedmont, OK- but Carroll County- you did it!
10. I CAN'T wait for the first day of school. August 9th.

With this said, I may be doing a revamp to my blog, make it more student/parent friendly. I started blogging thinking i was a way to share artwork with the parents- so they knew what was going on in my class, but it turned more into sharing ideas with other art teacher ( which I do NOT want to get rid of). Any suggestions?? Comments?? Pottery ideas??

Painting Sailboats

I have had a few sailboat  painting requests from family and friends. I have all of my paints in storage ( MISTAKE), but I am looking at paintings to get inspired. As always, google is my friend. This painting from Laurie's blog is super fun~ and inspiring.

Another idea I had was to do a Mark Rothko type painting, and add a minimilaistic smaller sailboat on the horizon. I should probably sketch this one out before I dive into painting.

and when ever I think of boats and painting- I think of The Raft of Medusa by Gericault. My paintings will not be so depressing, but the story behind Gericault's painting is really quite incredulous, and this is one of my FAVORITES from ar history- might help that I have seen it in the louvre- and it is MUCH bigger than I thougt. WHOLE. WALL. SIZED.

Larceny

June 14, 2010
10:30pm: Arrive home from Galax, Virginia

10:30-10:45pm: Mom unloads my car into her car, locks her car, but forgets about mine accidently

11:15pm: bedtime

11:23pm: a phone call is made to "O 0nbr" from my blackberry(unbeknownst to me)

11:24pm: a phone call is made to "Ass" from my blackberry ( again- no clue)

June 15, 2010
some time before 12:09pm: man named Brian finds my phone while walking around witchduck  pond  (neighborhoods away from where I live)

12:09-12:20pm: Brian calls a few people from my contact list in my phone until he reaches my brother

12:21pm: bro calls, says some guy found my phone on Virginia Beach, last I remember using my phone was in my car before we got home. No way I left it at a rest stop. But I am still confused.

12:25pm: I call my phone number to reach Brian, he answers and tells me where to go to pick it up.

12:36pm: On the way, I realize my purse is missing from my car, but I was pretty sure nothing valuable was in it.
12:45pm: pick up phone, the cover is on upside-down, but looks to be in good shape, Brian was very nice to return the phone.

about 4pm: Tee and I walk Sadie and Hannah. Two house down I see a pen in someone's lawn and think that it might be mine. Tee looks down and see's my memory card to my phone, that I hadn't put in my new phone yet. A few more paces down is a water drain, said purse and contents are dumped in sewer.

next 10 minutes: Tee and I fish my belongings out of the drain to realize my camera is missing:-( but everything else was accounted for including checks we had already cancelled.

After searching the house high and low for my brand new video camera- we realize that was probably in my purse as well:-(

The good news is, I have my brand new phone, my movado watch wasn't stolen, our gps wasn't stolen, Tee's nice sunglasses weren't stolen, and my car wasn't damaged. Also, I have a back up camera that is pretty nice, just not as cool as the one that was stolen.

The bad news is, being a victim sucks. I have had a sick feeling in my stomach all day. Learn a lesson from me- and lock your cars and don't leave valuables out in plain sight. ( I actually ALWAYS cover up my purse, especially recently because I have just had a weird feeling.)

Thought: The theives had to have taken the stuff with in 45 minutes of us arriving back to VA Beach, I wonder if they were watching us???  I NEVER leave my car unlocked- how is it that the one night it is, and my purse is out there it is stolen?? Could they be checking every night?


Why do there have to be jerks out there?

Art Focus: Circle Print

I stole this idea from another blog, only it was a while ago so I don't remember who...sorry:-( Anyway, I really loved the results even though we ended up running out of school year before we finished. What we did was dipped styrofome cups in black tempera and then stamped them onto an 18x24 sheet of paper, then painted each section with whatever colors they wanted. Some students chose a color scheme, some mixed all different colors together, and some went totally paint crazy:-)

Art Focus: Japanese Cherry Blossoms

For my art focus class after school, one of our last works were these beauties made from blowing india ink and dotting tempera paint with q-tips!

Honor Art Show

The fifth graders at Piedmont Elementary worked on projects all year long to be placed in the art exhibit at the end of the year. I had an extremely talented group and we had a lot of fun making some art!

here's my lovely group of students all dressed up for the reception

a few of the displays of art

We made Houses for Haiti- and sold them to parents at the reception. We raised about $200 for the American Red Cross!

Here are the students that were in the show, originally I was going to put all of their art work together, but a last minute collapse of the displays created a different show than planned!

Here is a close up of the names, each letter was a collage of colors and then modpodged and glittered on black paper. They were really beautiful up close and live!

Love from the Beach

playing fetch

look at Nana and those shorts!

sadie doesn't know if uncle Ryan likes her or not

The Zip (or zipper or her real name: hannah)

right before Sadie popped a squat on the seaweed

I zausted mom

Okay uncle Len I am going to bark at you until you stop running.

Happy Birthday to Papa from Lady Sadie and Me!

Since we couldn't make papa's big 80th birthday bash we me made some videos for him:-)

Message to papa from Tee

Happy 80th Birthday to PaPa!

Nana's!

Sadie, Tee and I have moved from Oklahoma to Virginia Beach and Sadie is fitting right in!

Doggy in the window...can you see her? Everytime Tee and I go out without her she looks out the window with a face that says "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, AND WHY AM I NOT WITH YOU???"

My cousin ,Rachel-7(above), Lauren-4 (below) and Sadie. Sadie is not sure what to think of kids...actually she does know what to think and that is...GET ME AWAY!

While Sadie hides from kids, she is quite the opposite with Nana. She loooooves Nana, and Nana loooooves her. In fact, when I try to get Sadie to sit in my lap Nana says "Leave her alone!"And I think Sadie would rather nap with Nana than hang out with me. hehe.

Google of the Day

So excited to google things with Ms. Kahlo watching me today!