Why Art Teachers Need to Write & How to Do It!
Posted on 27. Jun, 2011 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Tech Stuff, Techniques
Image: Letters Book, Altered Book, Jean Fitzgerald, 2009
As art educators, we know that images are powerful tools to communicate ideas. However, our world also relies heavily on written communication to share information. This makes it necessary to have good writing skills. Good writing is key to effectively advocating for your art program, communicating art concepts, and sharing ideas with colleagues. New media, from blogging to tweeting to collaborating on ArtEd2.0, has made it easier for us to do just that.
Despite having a blog and the Tech4Arted column in SchoolArts Magazine, I simply don’t like to write. Words just don’t flow smoothly from my head to my fingertips.
What I do love to do is communicate and share ideas. I just finished my first year writing the Tech4Arted column (check out my articles below) and I have been getting great ideas from SchoolArts for years so it has been exciting to contribute to a large audience.
I know many of you who are reading this may think: “If I could just show you what I want to say with a picture instead of words, it would be so much easier!” You have a great idea on art education, but you may hesitate to share if you dread the thought of writing. Here’s the writing process I have developed over the last couple years that works well for blogging, writing for SchoolArts, and writing e-newsletter communication to parents. Maybe it will inspire you.
1. Choose your topic. What art lessons have been successful? How have you improved on someone else’s idea? Don’t reinvent the wheel. All great ideas are inspired by something else, right?
2. Start typing. Don’t worry about how incoherent you sound. Just get the ideas out of your head and written down.
3. Read it afterwards and fix the things that do not make sense.
4. Go do something else for a few minutes, a few days, or a week. This is the magic time when you will think of a new idea or perfect phrase. Then run — don’t walk — back to your writing to make your edits.
5. Read what you wrote and ask yourself: Did I communicate my ideas? Revise your writing. Repeat steps 3-5 until you communicate your ideas effectively.
6. Choose a friend or colleague to read your rough draft. I always do. Make revisions and let them read it again.
In case you missed my first year of the Tech4Arted column for SchoolArts, I have linked to the articles below. I share my writing with you with hope that you will take the leap and share your ideas with us as well!
Creating a Compassionate Curriculum
Take an Art Tour in Google Maps
Wallwisher: Collaborate and Interact
Twenty-First Century Storytelling
Out of Place
Re-Making Time
Create Your Own Customized Art Quiz
Technology Transformation [Infographic]
Wired to the Natural World
Ready to share? SchoolArts is always looking for lesson ideas and art expression in your school and community. Or write a guest post on The Teaching Palette. Check out some of our fantastic guest post submissions here.
Special Note: A great resource for grammar is the Associate Press Guide to Punctuation.
Communicate with Parents in One Simple Step
Posted on 29. Nov, 2010 by Guest Author in All Posts
The following is a guest post written by Jessica Balsley who teaches art near Des Moines, Iowa. Find her blogging at The Art of Education and follow her on Twitter.
Parent communication is a very important job for art educators. It is our job to educate, inform and communicate with parents about our discipline. Too often, parent communication can be difficult when you are a specialist. The classroom teacher inevitably has more contact with parents. Why do we feel so disconnected with the families of our students? Maybe it’s because we see so many students in one week. Maybe because we don’t see our students every day or perhaps because the parents are not making the effort as much to be involved in the arts education of their students by reaching out to their art teachers. However you look at it, the amount of parent contact and communication can easily be zero to none if neither party is making the extra effort.
Why is it so important to foster parent / teacher relationships?
- It’s the parents who will advocate for you, support your program and the arts.
- Parents will help to make those home connections with the arts that support the teaching and learning going on in the art room.
- Over time, parents will begin to see all of the important learning that is going on in the lives of their students and they will start to enrich that learning at home.
- They will begin to see that an education without the arts would be very dull.
- They will begin to enjoy and remember why they enjoy the arts and help instill this in their kids.
So, how, you might ask, do we accomplish all of these wonderful great things when the reality of most of ours situations looks something like teaching at two or more schools with 500 or more students and contact time that seems to creep lower and lower each year?
The Itty Bitty Papers! One of the most important ways I communicate with parents is very simple, but yet very effective. I call them the “Itty Bitty Papers.” Put very simply, I glue a little piece of paper with a message to the back of the artwork that explains the concept or standard we are studying. It might also contain how the project was assessed or what specific standards were graded during this grading period. It could also talk about the artist we studied or how the concept connects to other disciplines. Anything to prevent parents for looking at the artwork and saying “This is pretty” and quickly dismissing it. I want them to realize – Something really happened while your student was making this! They learned something! They went through and artistic process! If I can open up this window for families even a little bit more, I feel I am doing my job.
Another great thing about putting messages on the back of artwork is it helps the students to remember what they learned. My elementary art teacher did something similar, and knowing I wanted to be an art teacher, I kept all of my elementary artwork. I still have most of these pieces and could remember what I learned and why it was important in my artistic development. Someday all of the little kiddos you teach will pull out a tub of artwork to display at their high school graduation. With your help, they just may have a nice little memory about elementary art because of your message.
To prepare the messages, I simply type out the message I want to convey and copy and paste over and over onto one sheet. Then, I slice them up on the paper cutter and put them in a little basket. Each basket goes on a grade level shelf ready to go on the back of artwork once the project is completed.
Maybe you have seen this idea, thought of this idea or are already doing something like this. They key here is consistency and to have them on as many projects as you can! I use glue sticks to attach the messages because it does not make the art wrinkle up like runny glue does.
If starting this task seems daunting to you, don’t worry. Start small. There are many different ways to accomplish putting message on the back of artwork.
- Have students glue the messages on the back of their own artwork when they finish the project in art class. This is the method I use the most, and my students are very well versed in doing this, although it does take some time.
- Have a volunteer glue messages on the back (works great for the younger grades)
- Make this a station for any students when the finish early-They can sit down with a pile or artwork and glue away.
- Have students glue them to the back of artwork on the day you pass back all of the artwork before you take it home (I call this portfolio day) It keeps hands busy and gets the entire job done in one shot.
In one simple step, that takes a matter of minutes, you can more effectively communicate with parents and make those important connections home! They next goal for me is to create mini-rubrics, self-assessments and reflections to go along with these messages. These glued to the back, I think, would provide an even richer experience for my art students!
I would love to hear more about ways you all communicate more effectively with parents in the art room!
Artsonia: More Than Just An Online Art Gallery
Posted on 04. Nov, 2009 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Positive Reinforcement, Tech Stuff
If you’re an art educator, chances are that you have heard of or even have been using Artsonia as a place to “digitally hang” student artwork. When I started using Artsonia six years ago, I knew it would be good for my students; what I didn’t know at the time was how it would become an amazing art advocacy tool.
Artsonia has become better than any student art show I could host; it reaches more family and friends, regardless of geographic distance or busy schedule, communicates art concepts in project descriptions, reinforces student technology use, and generates funds for your program. It does all that . . . without all the staples and tape.
The benefits breakdown:
Ok, sounds good but. . .
. . . well here are some of the nuts and bolts to help you get you started.
Can’t see video above? Click here.
Permission slips. Depending on your school policy, you may be required to get permission slips for participating artists. Make your own or download and customize one of these templates: Casual or Formal (Microsoft Word format). Be sure to include a space for parent email addresses on your permission slip. Increasing participation from family and friends is the key to success in Artsonia. It is worth the extra time to enter emails – parents get an email each time artwork is published or comments are posted, continually keeping them in touch with the learning going on in your classroom.
Volunteers. I started using volunteers to help me last year (I don’t know why I waited so long). I keep a bin to hold artwork ready to photograph along with a binder holding class lists, and a camera (with extra batteries). When artwork is ready, I send out an email to my volunteer list. The first volunteer to “Reply All” agrees to photograph and digitally crop the artwork. The only step left is uploading – something I still prefer to do myself, but certainly doable for a volunteer. In the fall I do a training session and provide this Photography Tip Sheet and Guidelines for volunteers to reference.
Start slow and set a goal. My first year participating in Artsonia I promised to put up one piece of art for each student. I ended up adding more, but I felt like I didn’t raise any expectations too high for the students or myself.
Do you use Artsonia? Please add your school page and any tips in the comments area below.
The Importance of Art in Education
Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, In The News, Neat Video
Yesterday the National Assessment of Educational Progress released the 2008 Arts Report Card. This survey and assessment compared 8th grade students in 2008 with those in 1997. Click here to view a sample question in the study then test yourself.
Here are a few of the findings in Visual Arts:
- “Students eligible for National School Lunch Program have lower average responding score in visual arts than those who were not eligible. There is a 29-point score gap between the groups.”
- “Eighth-graders in private schools have higher average creating task score in visual arts than students in public schools.”
Additional insight into the study can be found in a New York Times article.
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, perhaps summed it up best:
“This Arts Report Card should challenge all of us to make K-12 arts programs more available to America’s children and youth. Such programs not only engage students’ creativity and academic commitment today, but they uniquely equip them for future success and fulfillment. We can and should do better for America’s students.”
This study reminded me of my unofficial job as an advocate for the arts. The TeacherTube video below makes a great case for supporting the arts in every community.
Arts advocacy articles you may find useful:
Age of the Right Brain
Visual Interaction with Art Boosts Academic Achievement
Why Arts Education is Crucial, and Who’s Doing It Best
Arts Appear to Play a Role in Brain Development
Three Rs Are Essential, but Don’t Forget the A – the Arts
Technology Makes Art Education a Bigger Draw
Update 6/17/09: NAEA, Maximizing The Nation’s Arts Report Card - Great review of 2008 Arts Report Card with key findings and links to news press articles.
National Culture Secretary
Posted on 19. Jan, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik in All Posts, Cool+Creative, In The News
A ground swell of excitement for the inauguration of a young hip new president brings a push for the appointment of a cabinet level secretary of the arts. Renowned music producer Quincy Jones has personally advocated for a national culture secretary for the past ten years. Last year an online petition was even started by New York musicians Jamie Austria and Peter Weitzner to grow support for Jones’ idea.
Today’s article - Quincy Jones urges national culture secretary to Cabinet - published by The Washington Times sites how the arts not only allows children to express themselves, but also creates new jobs and strong growth.
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