TAEA Region 10 Texas Elementary Art Meet (TEAM)

This morning the TAEA Region 10 Texas Elementary Art Meet was judged in my classroom. Three jurors worked all morning and for quite a bit of the afternoon judging the artwork completed by students in grades K-5 from public schools in Region 10. There are over 80 school districts and several hundred elementary schools in Region 10. The jurors had their work cut out for them, that is for sure. The TEAM contests were piloted three years ago in the Houston, Texas area and this year grew to four regions in Texas holding the competition. This was the first year my Region, which encompasses the greater Dallas area and many smaller communities, piloted the contest.  As an art teacher I really enjoy giving my students opportunity to compete. Art contests give my gifted artists a chance to be rewarded for their skill, but also give all of my student artists opportunity to showcase what they have learned. And, besides, students love to win ribbons, medals, and certificates...and, of course, trophies, so there will be some excitement on Monday when I share the results. I am also particularly drawn to art educators who do these kinds of "extra" things. The art teachers who entered the contest go the extra mile, graciously doing "things" that are out of their normal job expectations and even on their own time.  They do these kinds of extra curricular functions because they place great value on challenging their students and growing their art education programs.  And, the wonderful art educators that came over from Region 11 to judge really took their job seriously.  We also had a great art ed student from Texas Women's University come judge. It was just simply a great contest. I look forward to the contest growing and growing.  I'm really proud of this pilot year.  The learning curve was high because of the mounds of paper work and online portals for records, both for my role as an entering teacher and also as the contest director.  It was a great way to end a great school year. Art education has a unique role in that it challenges our students holistic learning and asks them to use their whole brain, the left and right side.  TAEA is such a wonderful organization and this state art contest for elementary students is a great opportunity for art educators and students to share their great efforts.

Here's a link for TEAM (Texas Elementary Art Meet, hosted by TAEA): http://www.taea.org/TEAM/online-registration.cfm
Here's a link for TAEA (Texas Art Education Association): http://www.taea.org/TAEA/default.asp
Of course, TAEA is under the umbrella of the National Art Education Association.

These photos are of the jurors showing great concentration as they critiqued the artwork.  Thanks to Jessica and Becca who came over from Region 11 and who are art educators in Little Elm, and Bianca, who is an art ed major at Texas Women's University in Denton. 

Cast Away or Survivor? What's your style?

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about teaching. This past week was National Teacher Appreciation Week, a week that is set aside and designated for all of us to be thankful for and remember the dedication of our teachers.  As a student myself, I have had some of the most incredible teachers a student could have, all the way through my education...elementary school, middle and high school, college, grad school, in my work setting where I am a teacher, and through NAEA and TAEA.  It's easy for me to be thankful for these teachers because I know first-hand what a difference they have made in my life.  I am also from a family of teachers...aunts, cousins, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and two of my three children are teaching, both of my daughter-in-laws are teaching, and I'm a teacher. So there is a lot of appreciating educators going on in my family!

Good teachers know they cannot "go it alone." It takes a village. It takes a team. I'm lucky to have the most amazing team I have ever had at school right now. They are such a blessing to me and each one contributes so effectively to the overall education of the students. Personally, I like being a part of a team. Teaching can easily be one of those professions that can be a solo style performance, each teacher with their own classroom and class(es) of students.  Much like Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) in Cast Away, as a teacher I can be on my little island of discovery, being resourceful, inventive, and challenging myself and my students each and every day.  No one may witness the inventive learning going on in my classroom because I'm the only one on the island. But, wow, the learning can be great!

Or, I can be part of a team of educators, which I will liken to the Survivor Island, where collaboratively we are all working together to educate and engage students, encourage cognitive and creative thinking, showcase higher level thinking going on in the school environment, propel our society forward, and improve the global future.  And, as in Survivor, there may be moments of agreement and moments of friendly disagreement. I suppose occasionally there may be some strategizing and manipulating.  Maybe the word Survivor is a pretty good word to describe the day in and day out routine of being an educator!  You never quite know what will present itself on a day you had all planned out. One day when you thought you were going to finish organizing the school art show during your planning period, instead you have four eager students who want to work on advanced painting projects show up with smiles as big as Texas on their face....how can you say no to that?

I know Chuck kept himself busy on his island. He built shelter, fashioned clothing, fished, and made all kinds of ingenious tools, and of course he even made a friend, Wilson.  And, although I am only an occasional fan of the Survivor show on television right now, it is easy to see the value of the teamwork that goes on. Ok, let's admit one thing.....they are all trying to get everyone else off the island...but you get the point, right? The point is it takes teamwork, strategizing, and planning to continue the island efforts.  With the end of May fast approaching, the word survivor might just be a metaphor for a whole lot more! To teach is to touch the future! Hope all the teachers get their teacher tanks refueled this summer so they can get back on the island in August!

Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) was creative and ingenious on Cast Away. 

Survivor Island, CBS's hit show.

AND, THANKS TO MY WONDERFUL TEAM FOR A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR!

Origin of the Word Mosaic

The last few days I have found myself wondering just how the word mosaic came to be and evolved  to something that basically means small pieces of "things" placed together.  So, I decided to go on a journey to discover the meaning of the word. Apparently the word mosaic is French by way of Latin.  The old French word, mosaicq, meant mosaic work as we know it today. The Italians' version of the word was mosaico, which was derived from...

Celebrating 1000 Views in 26 days!

Today is a very exciting day! Blog viewers in ten countries have helped the eARThshaking Art Teacher Blog reach 1,000 views (1,005 to be precise) in just less than one month! The Blog was started on April 5th to document my fellowship with Fund for Teachers and my first post was April 9th! Thank you so much for joining this journey.  I'm looking forward to more globally inspired blog posts and a whole lot more eARThshaking!  "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -Laozi, Chinese Philosopher (604BC-531BC)

Elementary Collaborative Mosaics of Community Members

I love collaborative projects in the art room. Of course, I love the students individual projects too, but seeing them work together to produce a large piece of art is so nice to do once or twice a school year! This year my students made these beautiful torn paper mosaics for a local non-profit organization's annual silent auction.  The organization assists families in need in our community and so it was really meaningful to be a part of the event, in particular, because...

World of Color Mosaic Table

Each year my 3rd graders do the Worldwide Color Wheel Project. We did this stunning collaborative mosaic table using the color wheel as inspiration.  You can see the waves of color, in color wheel order, splashing across the table.  In the middle of the tabletop there is a globe and also the words, World Full of Color.  We also painted the ...

Confessions of an Art Ed Blog Groupie

I must confess! I LOVE ALL THE ART EDUCATION BLOGS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET! I've been reading them for years and have just kept thinking I'm going to do that someday! These art educators, many of whom I know and have met at NAEA and my state conference, inspire me on a daily basis. You see, art teachers are probably the most giving, sharing people I know. They grasped very quickly the CREATIVITY of blogging.  In a field that mostly writes its own curriculum, blogging quickly became the go-to source for art teachers to find inspiring projects that promote higher-level thinking in the art room and, quite frankly, just add to the colorful-splashy-messy-slurpy-glossy-powdery-think-goopy mess we art teachers find ourselves in each and every day!  While the theme of my blog is globally inspired art and globally inspired education (that's different than culture and folk art), I will continue to be...

Mosaic Curriculum Idea #1

Tonight I've been playing around with some mosaic curriculum ideas.  As I begin to write mosaic curriculum for the Fellowship my mind is churning with ideas.  I know I want to write some traditional project ideas and some digital ideas...and I want to create some project ideas that are tradigital, which is a combination of traditional and digital art.  I stumbled across a wonderful app called Mazaika that is used to make digital photo mosaics. I can tell WE are going to become good friends.  This app lets you use your own pics, hundreds or thousands of them, to create a mosaic of just ONE of your chosen photographs that you use for a base or a source.  Ok! I just love this app!!!  Tonight in just a few minutes...

Mosaics at the Hagia Sophia

     Such a beautiful building with such a lively history.  The Hagia Sophia, pronounced ah-YEE-ah-so-FEE-ah, is much more than an architectural beauty.  It was constructed from 537-1453 and served as a Greek Orthodox Church.  There was an exception during its time as a Orthodox Church when from 1204-1261 it served as a Roman Catholic Church. Then, from 1453-1931 it served as a mosque. On February 1, 1935 it was secularized and opened as a museum.

     During the Byzantine period (330-1453) the Hagia Sophia was ornately decorated with mosaics.  The mosaics depicted saints and emperors and empresses, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus. The mosaics have a story to tell, both those that are visible and those that have disappeared. Many of the earliest mosaics were destroyed or...