Fund for Teachers Webinar!

This afternoon after a good day at work I came home to participate in a Webinar for Fund for Teachers and the wonderful grant I have received to go to Istanbul. It was kind of a "goose bump" moment for me....connecting digitally with teachers from all over the United States.  Perrin Worrell of Fund For Teachers walked us through all the various financial reporting we need to do, media directions, various reports we have to file, social media sites and expectations, various communication, sharing our story, and so on.  Can I just say I am so excited? And so thankful for Fund For Teachers, such a wonderful organization that sends teachers on professional learning experiences all over the world each summer. I have a little bit of work to do...and I am really looking forward to it. Istanbul! Thanks Fund for Teachers! www.fundforteachers.org

Hokusai!

Some days we enjoy creativity in the art room in a more relaxed fashion. We just finished our huge unit on Art Inspired by China and Japan and soon I'll post many pictures and other information about that...but I had one class that didn't have time to finish one of their projects because other school activities had taken them from class. So, today we finished the project. But rather than paint it as I had originally planned, these 1st graders just simply colored it with good old fashioned crayons.  They worked so hard. I really couldn't believe how "into" the crayon project they got. They had previously drawn the wave with a guided drawing lesson and today we simply colored them...as I am placing an emphasis on wrapping up end of the school year types of things...you know...those very few random projects that just didn't get finished for one reason or another.  So, enjoy these beautiful crayon renderings of Hokusai's famous wave. You can see the wave in one of the photos on the white board behind the students and see the students working...and you can also see one of my favorites from the day. What a relaxing day of art making in the art room!

Midnight Skype Slumber Party

As I prepare to go to Istanbul this summer as a Fund for Teachers Fellow my mind is racing to think of ways to incorporate my own students into this experience.  One idea I've thought of is a midnight Skype session! The idea is that at 8:00am and 8:15am in the MORNING in Istanbul, from the 3rd floor rooftop restaurant of my hotel which has wifi, I would call 2 families each morning for a short Skype session.  It will be midnight or 12:15am when I call them.  I'm thinking of having a "drawing" for the six families that would commit to having the Skype slumber party in their home and invite several of their child's friends to spend the night.  In this way, I'll have maybe 5 or 6 or more of my students gathered in one place.  The parents will also have to commit to knowing how to use Skype and holding the date firm, save emergencies.  I think this would be a terrific way for me to include my students in the overall experience of going to Istanbul.  From the rooftop of the hotel I can show them the Sea of Marmara and the Hagia Sophia, as well as hopefully just pan my iPad around and show them the historical area of Istanbul.  Perhaps I can even get some of the hotel staff to say hello to my students! What a "cool" way to bring Istanbul alive to my students.  Then, next fall, these students could tell their art classes about the experience.  Of course, wifi isn't always dependable when you are in other countries so we'd have to keep our fingers crossed that technology would work for us. Pretty sure I'll be doing this. Now to think of something else to do! By the way, you can view the Skype badge which links to the Skype in the Classroom lesson I'll be creating for the trip on this blog. Just click on the badge and it will take you to the lesson. The lesson isn't developed yet, but at least you'll know where to find it.  When art transcends the four walls of the art room, students are learning so much more about the world around them and we, as art educators, are using art for its maximum potential to engage our students in a meaningful learning space.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel 

read only one page."  

-Augustine of Hippo

Strait Talking

The last few days I have been trying to discover why the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul is also called the Bosphorus.  So far I haven't found out the answer, but I think it must have something to do with the Greek (European) pronunciation of the word and the Asian pronunciation of the word. I'll keep searching until I find the answer, but in the meantime I've enjoyed reading and learning about the strait. What an amazing history it has. Most likely the Sea of Marmara was a fresh water lake at some point in history and something such as a storm or earthquake or giant flood broke through the land on the Black Sea side and washed through to the Sea of Marmara. It's the 2nd busiest strait in the world with something like 150 vessels a day passing through it. It has 7 blind twists and turns which can make steering its waters treacherous and occasionally accidental. There are two bridges that cross it. It was interesting to me that divers have seen remnants of an ancient city under the water along its shores. That is amazing! The word Bosphorus is said to be a combination of the word cow and the word crossing. While to this farm girl the name might have developed because some old farmer's cows crossed the water at it's narrowest parts, history and legend have gotten involved and suggested that Zeus had an affair with Io. When his wife, Hera, found out she turned Io into a cow and threw her across the water. I'm kind of leaning towards some smart cows, who always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, swimming across at a couple of points along the shoreline.  This link is pretty interesting and gives a pretty good description of the strait:

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/Bosphorus/

My hotel will be almost exactly where the black dot on the large map is,  on the Bosphorus Strait,
which is where the red arrow is pointing. 

The Road Not Taken, Way Leads to Way, and Seven Continents

Thinking tonight about how way leads onto way. Robert Frost had that right. The roads we travel on lead to other roads.  It's a journey called life. I have always been the most careful person you would ever meet....I won't ride roller coasters, I don't go to Halloween spook houses or scary movies, and am really not much of a risk taker. I'm just a pretty normal mom, wife, daughter, sister, and female.  But, for some reason, in recent years I have found myself traveling down the roads less traveled...working with children in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador at Quechua Villages, teaching school at an orphanage in Ecuador, walking down a red dirt road in Uganda and teaching art-music-drama at an orphanage there, touring schools in Cuba and delivering nearly 1,000 pieces of art from my students, and teaching an art workshop at a school in  Switzerland. The memories I have made are still so close to my thoughts.....children in all of these countries who are so loving, nearly going off a cliff in a huge bus, walking for hours and hours and hours down a red dirt road in the most remote and rural area imaginable with two young twenty-year-olds in Africa with no car or phone, the generosity of women everywhere.....cooking their finest for me...guinea pic in Ecuador...plantains every way possible in Uganda with a big tall glass of warm cow's milk....sharing their lives....their generosity....their love.  It's a big world out there full of people who really truly care about other people. I'm not much of a risk taker...but I care. I think that is more important.  So...way leads to way....one journey leads to another.....I think there are a few more to go on before someone forces me to sit in a rocking chair! One of my goals is to teach school, even short term, on each of the seven continents. So far that has happened on four of them:  North America, Africa, South America, Europe.  Asia, Antarctica, and Australia are left. I'm hoping to work out an opportunity to teach at a school in Istanbul this summer....on the Asian side! Not sure if that will happen but have a few good leads...so we shall see! Have to keep eARThshaking and making friends on this planet. You see....I believe it is what you give in life that matters the most, not what you get. But, the simple truth is that a teacher always gets more than they give. It's just that simple. Children just simply love. Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world was like that?

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better clam

Because it was grassy and wanted wear, 

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sign

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, 

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. 

-Robert Frost

Thanks! Over 600 views since April 8th!

Thanks for checking out eARThshaking Art Teacher! More than 600 viewers have gone on a journey with this Blog since it started on April 8th! The flag counter at the bottom of the Blog is just the coolest tool, but it doesn't reflect all the countries that have viewed the Blog! Just started it a few days ago! And, I guess it doesn't register the Facebook views so it's not very accurate, but I love seeing a new flag pop up every day for another country! Hopefully more will be collected! Thought celebrating the more than 600 viewer mark was worthy since the Blog isn't even a month old yet! Thanks to the viewers! The journey is just beginning!

Santa Fe Folk Art Extravaganza

A few years ago I saw an article in School Arts Magazine for the Folk Art Extravaganza Seminar held by Stevie Mack of Crizmac and Nancy Walkup, editor of School Arts Magazine. My kids were either grown and gone from home or gone all summer to various camps so I decided to give the trip a try. Might have been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

First of all, Nancy and Stevie are gifted art educators. No wonder they have been the Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas Teachers of the Year. We stayed at a lovely hotel in Santa Fe, the workshop was held in a conference room at the hotel, and while we worked and learned we sat with art teachers and art enthusiasts from all over the country. And, one of the best aspects of the workshop is various artisans from the Folk Art Market come to speak to the group, and also some artists of the American Southwest. We learned, we networked, we created, and we left with MANY projects to take back and do with our own students or simply to decorate our own homes. Nancy and Stevie make it so personal because they are truly "people persons." They are, in my opinion, art education rock stars. Crossing paths with them has enriched my art pedagogy in exponential ways.

And, of course, there is the Folk Art Market. Can I just say whoaaaahohohohohooooooooo!!!! Artisans from all over the world come to the market, bringing the folk art of their communities and countries. Many are from cooperatives and work to improve the quality of life in their village. Many are highly skilled artisans (actually they all are) who have had their family craft passed down from generation to generation to generation for hundreds of years.  Many are the art rock stars in their countries and, now, around the world. The large outdoor market is held in beautiful Santa Fe with piñon trees, chile ristras, and adobes everywhere.  The night before the market opens there is an extravagant parade of nations. This is something you just won't see very often anywhere in the whole world. The groups representing all the MANY countries exhibiting at the market march the parade route in traditional costume representative of their countries and assimilate in a grand opening celebration in front of the stage. The color and beauty in that parade is unlike anything I've ever seen assembled in one place. Probably the thing I like the BEST about it is people of all races, religions, and groups are together, joined by art, celebrating life and folk art. The music is incredible and continues for days at the market. The food is delicious. Not your typical nachos and hot dogs. And, then, of course, there is the Museum of International Folk Art and many other museums..... and Santa Fe ambience everywhere to enjoy.  It's a COLOR EXPLOSION!

I cannot recommend this trip ENOUGH! I hope I get to go every summer. It will be nice to see old friends and make new ones! There is still time to sign up...but not much!

Link for the Crizmac and School Arts Magazine Folk Art Extravaganza Seminar:
http://www.schoolartsroom.com/2014/03/join-us-for-folk-art-extravaganza-in.html

Link for the Folk Art Market:
http://www.folkartmarket.org

Link for the International Museum of Folk Art:
http://www.internationalfolkart.org

This is the seminar group the first year I went. Yes, I'm in this picture. Middle row, fourth from the right. What great friends I made. We are standing in front of the Museum of International Folk Art and in front of us are several hundred booths of folk art, handicrafts, and artistry for sale by the artisans from all over the world. It's a color explosion! The photos below are from the Market and courtesy of Nancy Walkup. 

                       

                      

The Importance of Art Education

I have been working on a presentation on the value of art education.  Having been an artist or creative person literally my entire life, I know, first hand how much art education has helped me.  I have always excelled in all things creative.  But, interestingly, as a kid I also excelled in math (loved it), science (ah, it was ok), writing and grammar (got it and loved it), and social studies (fascinated by it). The ONE THING that I have seen throughout my life was that the logical, sequential ordering I learned in art and creative processes also worked in mathematical equations.  I learned the properties and then worked the math problems step by step, just like I sewed the many pieces of a tailored wool coat together or assembled a collage or wove macrame or threw a pot on a wheel. Step by step by step.  And, adding inventive and experimental thinking increased the outcome. Art teaches life.

 I was just talking to someone today, visiting in the hallway, while we were waiting for some standardized testing to start back up after lunch, and I said that one would think that 90% of what I do is teach art and 10% is teach life.  I said some may think it is 50/50.  But really, I teach about 70% life and 30% art. Probably the most exciting thing for me as an art teacher is I KNOW my students are gaining skills, thought processing, logic, sequencing skills, innovative thinking, inventive thinking, experimental thinking, and real experience that will help prepare them for the rest of their life...and the future of our world.  Brilliant minds exist in the art room. I see them every day. This video is one of the best I've seen on the importance of art education.  I think it will further present the case for a quality art education program for our young people. Enjoy!

                        

Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever done! This will be my third year to go! If you are an art teacher not only will you love it, but it will seriously affect your pedagogy! There are still a few spots left! Sign up now!

http://www.schoolartsroom.com/2014/03/join-us-for-folk-art-extravaganza-in.html?m=1

African Collaborative Safari

I really loved the Art Inspired by Africa Unit that I planned for my students.  I had gone to Africa on a short term mission trip and taught school at the Nakateete Childcare Center in Uganda. After we were finished at the school  we went to Kenya and went on a safari. The safari trip was one of those breathtaking memories you never forget!  While my students completed many projects, and I'll share them on this Blog in several posts, one of my favorite parts of the unit were the collaborative safari animals we did! Lions, giraffes, elephants, and rhinos, oh my! They were huge and filled the school lobby. Everyone loved them and it really gave you the feeling you were driving around the Masa Mara or the Serengeti in a Land Rover! They were made using giant sheets of kraft paper. All throughout the day differing ages of students painted, colored, and glittered. Tables were pushed back everywhere in the art room, making enough room on the floor to bring our safari animals to life.  Large mammals were everywhere! Each day we finished a few animals.  Finally the day came to have the giant safari of animals march through the school lobby, adhered to the walls with 3M double sticky tape.  Students just loved it! (So did I!) I also placed informational posters all around the artwork so that when students walked through the school they learned about the ecosystem of the Masa Mara! One of my favorite collaborative projects of all time! 

162 Views Today!

Thanks global friends! 162 of you viewed this Blog today! Happy to share this global experience with you! Be sure to see the flag map towards the bottom of the Blog to see viewer's home countries!

Ceramic Tile Mosaic in Switzerland by Alice Gori, Italy

With the Istanbul trip coming up soon, I have been thinking a good bit about mosaics and ceramics. Last summer I had a great opportunity to teach an art workshop at The American School in Switzerland at Lugano.  The summer prior to that I had taken a couple of grad school courses in Italy, oil painting and art history.  We had a special guest artist, Alice Gori (pronounced Aleeshay), during the oil painting course.  Alice is a gifted ceramist who is often called upon by the Italian government to repair beautiful centuries old Italian ceramics pieces in historical building and collections.  She made this mosaic of ceramic tiles which is on one of the walls at TASIS.

    

               

These photos are from the summer before (2012) of Alice working with us in our Boston University art studio at Borgo San Lorenzo. Her ceramic work is brilliant! I was particularly CRAZY about the gorgeous headboard she made, inserting her ceramics flowers into a natural crack in the wood. Stunning! While she makes many, many pieces that she sells in as tourist souvenirs, these photos represent the artistic talent she has and uses for custom orders, to sell in her studio and elsewhere, and really show the unique quality of her work. Just brilliant!

The photos, above and below, are of Alice's studio. Really enjoyed going to see this! And her family hosted us to some wonderful bruschetta and wine out on their patio. 

Cut Paper People of the World& A Literacy Connection

A few years ago a I attended a professional development workshop led by a brilliant art educator. The focus was what could be made on the inside of a folded cut paper, three-sided box. Animal habitats for a science integration is one great use of these paper boxes or "backdrops."  During the workshop, however, I was intrigued by the outside of the cut paper backdrop or stand.  I actually made a peacock with the cut paper stand serving as the base of support for the large cut paper bird.  That evolved into the paper stand or backdrop being used for other things. It is a great base for a study involving the traditional dress of the world's countries.  In one of the photos below you see cut paper women from Japan wearing traditional kimonos.  What a great literacy connection can be made with this art project and Suki's Kimono, written by Chieri Uegaki and Stephane Jorisch! You also see traditional cut paper men in traditional costume from Mexico that would be a great literacy integration with The Pot that Juan Built, written by Nancy Andrews-Goebel and illustrated by David Diaz, a delightful book about the making of clay pottery in Mexico. These would also be good for a unique study in self portraits, also with a literacy integration.

                 

                                           

                

Art Inspired by Asia: Japanese Collaborative Mural

Each year my students do a collaborative mural to coincide with our cultural unit. This year might be my favorite one yet. We made a giant red pagoda or shrine to go along with our Art Inspired by Asia Unit in which we studied Japan and China.  It was cut out of three 4'x8' pieces of insulation foam. My hot knife is my favorite $250 tool. I baby and take care of it and rarely share it. Anytime we use insulation foam (an old theatre teacher's trick from my theatre teaching days) we base coat it first with white acrylic paint, which forms a nice base for all further painting.  After that dries, we draw the basic outline and details and then enjoy painting.  Paint moves really nicely on this foam. I really enjoy using it.  The pagoda was made in three sections, which were assembled right on the wall. The background was a painted paper sky and grass. Then we painted large rolled Kraft paper with shades of brown to make the tree trunks.  Finally, many of my younger students colored round pink and white circles with pink, white, and red oil pastels to make the cherry blossoms.  After a lot of positioning and taping which was done by students, the Sakura orchard (cherry blossom) came to life on the wall. (By the way, 3M double sticky white foam tape is the best for attaching heavy murals to the wall.) Students gasped with delight when it was finished. Waiting and watching for the hall mural to be finished has become quite a big moment for my students. There is a huge pride factor in their collaborative effort. I think that one of the things I enjoy the most about collaborative wall murals is that many of the younger students just simply cannot "picture" what it is going to look like as the various pieces are being made on the art room tables.  As the pieces are being assembled on the hallway wall many still do not see how the final mural is going to look, but slowly they each have their "ah ha" moments when the final picture takes shape in their thought processing. Students enjoyed a bit more fun by holding up the kimonos made with the same foam for a photo-booth type of opportunity. Those are the magical moments for me! Enjoy our Cherry Blossom Mural with Pagoda! We sure have!

The photos below show the wall mural.  There is a "wishing tree" strung in front of it and extended from two large real tree branches set in plaster of paris.  Students wrote their messages on the wishing tree cards. This is also a tradition in Asian countries.

An awesome new tool!

I'm excited about the new Widgets on this Blog!  You will now see a map of the world that shows the many places that educators, students, and others are viewing the Worldwide Color Wheel Project from! It's called ClustrMaps.  We have already had educators from Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Turkey, England, The United Kingdom, Chile, Mexico, Australia, and many other states in the U.S. request project information.  Their locations won't show up on the map unless they come back to the blog, however, as time passes and the project grows it will be very interesting for all the participants and others interested in the project to see our global reach.  Additionally, another Widget called Flag Counter has also been installed. Again, it will show a flag of the countries where our viewers are from, we'll see counts of those interested in the Project, and it will be fun for students and others to have an easy location to view the flags of the many countries of the world.  When art education and all education transcends the four walls of the classroom learning is exponential! 21st century learning!

Philosophy of Art Education

     

     There was a day when elementary art was simply about making cute holiday decorations for the hallway bulletin boards.  There also was a day when most elementary art programs, if they existed in schools, were to offer grade level teachers a time slot for their conference and planning periods.  There was a day when middle school art may have been considered a “blow off” class.  There was a day when high school art was viewed as the only important art program within a school district, or there was no art program at all.  Art education has made many important strides over the years.  Most artists, art educators, and also general education teachers now realize the importance art education can have in the holistic development of the student.  When students are limited to right-side brain thinking or left-side brain thinking, the whole brain is not used or completely active. While the importance our society at large places on art education will continue to ebb and flow, as it has since classical times, art education is home to the development of logical, sequential thinking by students.

     One way students can use the whole brain, further developing their logical, sequential thinking, is by participating in engaging projects. Project based learning is becoming very important in the school setting. Art educators, however, have always experienced the very real, tangible, cognitive,  and visual results of project based learning.  Art educators see the connections, inferences, and transfer of learning acquired via art with other curricula and with life. Art education may now have a place, more than ever before, in the overall education of a child, young adult or adult due to the mainstreaming of technology not only in our schools, but in the art classroom.

      Micro-level thinking must give way to macro-level thinking in art education. Technology is changing students’ world, our world, more rapidly than ever before in . . .

Time for an Istanbul education!

John II Comnenus, Byzantine emperor, and his wife, Irene, with Madonna and child. Mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, ca. 1118.

With the trip to Istanbul only about eight weeks away, it's time to begin getting educated about this ancient city! I'll be walking its streets soon, writing curriculum based on the adventure, and so it's time for a little research! As of today, most of what I know about Istanbul is from a substantial Art History course I took at Kansas State University in the early 80's.  I still have the 5 inch thick textbook from the course and vividly remember the lectures and looking at the grand slides the professor showed us as she infused her passion for art history into us.  Learning about Constantine, and the Roman and Byzantine empire, the Roman architecture, the Greek Orthodox and the Ottoman influence, and the gorgeous Byzantine mosaics has stayed with me for a long time. Also, some geographic lessons about Turkey have come from Bible studies of the region.  But, at this point in time, that is really my very limited, basic, existing knowledge about Istanbul. So, the pre-journey begins.

I know that Istanbul is where the east and west meet, where Asia and Europe meet. Istanbul is also known for . . .

Sonia King, Marvelous Mosaic Artist

As a part of my Fund For Teachers Fellow Project, I will be attending a mosaic workshop conducted by Sonia King in Istanbul, Turkey.  It's actually very interesting how I came across Sonia's work.  My own students were doing a mosaic project for the Worldwide Color Wheel Project and I was doing some online research related to the project.  This is a global art project I have created to partner art and technology.  The project is about one year old and has been piloted three times and is now literally going global.  The research I was doing was for one of the pilots. Some of my 3rd grade classes were going to make a collaborative table with a mosaic top.  When the project was completed we would be Skyping with a school in Mexico and sharing our projects with each other. Anyway, I am an avid Pinterest pinner for my art program. I was searching . . .

Worldwide Color Wheel Project

Globally inspired art is a natural passion for me as an educator. I enjoy learning about other cultures, people groups, and countries.  I enjoy teaching my students all of the traditional art education units, but each spring we take journey with a large globally inspired art unit. One year we studied art inspired by Africa, one year we studied art inspired by Central and South America, another year we explored art from Italy, and China and Japan.  We've made Art Hearts (6"x6" water color hearts) for students in Cuba, and now Pakistan and Turkey.  We've examined macro-level thinking in other ways from a global perspective. Through visual art students become more deeply engaged in the conceptual and cognitive process of critical inquiry, they learn ethical leadership and to be inclusive and representative of the growing diversity in society, they experience a more cross-disciplinary and holistic view of practice including art education, and higher order thinking skills are emphasized.

When a dynamic, tradigital component is added, technology becomes more than an information technology, but a tool for learning and communicating.  Art teachers have taught folk art units and cultural units forever.  Globally inspired art is different. It incorporates globalization, which is an international integration of people, transportation, and communication. It allows students to cross borders and boundaries of all kinds, real and metaphorical.

The Worldwide Color Wheel Project is a  . . .