Happy Birthday Teaching Palette!

Posted on 25. Sep, 2009 by in All Posts, Cool+Creative

birthday paletteWe made it!  One year old and we have grown in so many ways. Here’s a little history on how our blog started:

Email from Hillary to Theresa (Labor day weekend 2008): “What do you think about starting a blog where we can post all our classroom management stuff ?”

Yea, we’ve come a long way since that email. Our primary goal was to favor quality over quantity (which also coincidentally matches our teaching styles).

So, we started with classroom management, music + art integration, and product reviews. It was a great focus (and we still try and discuss these topics often), yet we expanded even further. We invited YOU to join us. (Thank you to everyone who has been a guest author!!) We added lots of web 2.0 tools, advocated for the arts, and added things just cool and creative.

We have also expanded our readership (thank you everyone!). Our email subscriptions doubled over the summer. Therefore, since many of our new readers missed our infant stages (which we still think are useful), we decided to celebrate our 1st birthday with a few of our favorites from the archives:

Theresa’s personal favorites:
The Clean-Up Map – Inspired by Dora the Explorer (yes, kids CAN follow directions!?!)

Photography as Art and History – Just love the contrast in music and imagery over this 100 year span.

Hillary’s personal favorites:
The Magic Pocket Name – Love how this simple technique can be so effective in the art room!

American Revolution Portraitist – It’s exciting to make connections between American history, art and music.

Georgia O’Keeffe in Google Earth

Posted on 22. Sep, 2009 by in All Posts, Music+Art, Tech Stuff

Georgia_O'KeeffeAfter watching the Lifetime movie about Georgia O’Keeffe over the weekend, I was inspired to share with you two of my favorite O’Keeffe teaching tools.

I am a big fan of Google Earth and look for every opportunity to incorporate it into my teaching. So, I created a Georgia O’Keeffe Google Earth file to help illustrate how the locations where she lived impacted her work.  I also try and discuss the major changes in transportation technology that occurred during Georgia’s 98 year life (ultimately impacting her mobility between New York and New Mexico).

Interact with the O’Keeffe Google Earth file below and download here to save for use in your classroom studies.

The second resource I use is a song by Greg Percy called “Georgia”. To listen, click the audio MP3 button below.
Georgia

The first verse makes a direct connection to the geography that Georgia covered during her lifetime:
lyrics2


Do you use Google Earth, art songs, or other resources to teach art history?

Art Room Showcase 2009

Posted on 18. Sep, 2009 by in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Educators in Art, Organization and Preparation

When we launched The Teaching Palette back on September 29, 2008 (almost one year ago), one of our goals was to create a place where other art educators could share their ideas and successes.  With the start of the new school year, we came up with the “Show Us Your Art Room” feature.

Well, here it is… the creative spaces submitted by art educators around the globe and assembled into one Art Room Showcase (2009 edition). We hope art teachers will be inspired for their own spaces!

In addition to any comments you leave here, we’d like to encourage you to also leave comments in the flickr art room gallery.  Below is a nifty Flickr widget highlighting some of the art room entries.  Click any image for a close-up.

Thank you to the following art educators who shared images of their 2009 art spaces:

  1. Laura Carey (winner, as seen on our home page – the shopping cart)
  2. Myrna Ellison (winner, as seen on our home page – the castle)
  3. Matt Cauthron (winner, as seen on our home page – the digital studio)
  4. Lori Wilson
  5. Elizabeth Burns
  6. Frank Curkovic
  7. Brooke Nicholson
  8. Tara Conover
  9. Tricia Fuglestad
  10. Denise Pannell
  11. Jessica Houston
  12. Emily Valenza
  13. Tana Puppe
  14. Susan Bivona
  15. Katie Balla
  16. Keith Chapman
  17. Matt Cauthron
  18. Amy Kratochvil
  19. Kristen Grzemski
  20. Carol Frueh
  21. Katie Jarvis
  22. Myrna Ellison
  23. Christy Branham
  24. Katherine Malone-Smith
  25. Maria Smith
  26. Laura Carey
  27. Julie Vladika
  28. Theresa McGee
  29. Hillary Andrlik
  30. Brooke Nicholson

Do you have an art space to share? We can add it to our Flickr pool! Email photos to info@theteachingpalette.com

photo mosaic

Scholastic Instructor Top 20

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by in All Posts, In The News

scholastic instructor

Today we discovered that Scholastic Instructor named The Teaching Palette one of the Top 20 Teacher Blogs!  A huge thank you to all our readers who have inspired us to keep writing about issues that impact the art education field!

Other blogs listed among the Top 20:

Present your Classroom Rules

Posted on 04. Sep, 2009 by in All Posts, Clean-up and Transition, Clssrm Mgmt, Organization and Preparation

The first week of school typically involves going over classroom rules and procedures.  However, making these rules “stick” is a year-long challenge.  The SlideShare PowerPoint below, created by an art teacher from Michigan, outlines her art classroom expectations and management solutions.  This presentation could be useful to play periodically throughout the school year, during quiet work times, or even as students enter the room and get settled.  Download for your classroom or use as inspiration for your own expectation presentation appropriate for your students’ grade levels. Click the green play button at the bottom of the screen to watch the presentation and hear the audio track.

Artistically Awesome