Tag: Digital Conversion

Categories
Art Class Existence Most Popular

Halfway through…

The second quarter has come to an end, that means we are halfway through the school year already. It’s hard to believe!

Second quarter was full of fun! Students created so many amazing things, using their skills and imagination.

8th grade gt students completed their mantle of the expert art presentations which were amazing.

 

They also created many amazing sketchbook assignments, practicing their drawing skills. Student chose at least 3 personal objects to draw from observation, realistically using shading to create form. Then they were able to create a background for their work.

 

8th, 7th, and 6th grade art students worked on Letting their Imaginations fly, for the PTA Reflections contest. Looking forward to finding out if any of them won awards for their work!

 

 

After flying around for a while, students landed to focus on shading and observational drawing in order to assist them in their upcoming still life drawing.

 

The art department hung a student show at the Towson Deli, like we do every December. It is so wonderful being out in our community, sharing the amazing things our students are doing.

 

Students also created Anti-Drug Posters for the State’s Attorney’s office contest. The task was to create posters to share the affects of drug and alcohol abuse. We will found in February if anyone received an award!

 

Outside of the Art studio, a lot happened at RMS! Teachers and students got together for an amazing canned food drive before thanksgiving, raising over 5,000lbs of food for those in need in our local community! In doing so two teachers got pied in the face as a result of a contest to see which homeroom could bring in the most food!

 

There was American Education Week, where students Raised their hands for SUCCESS! Each student created a hand that represented 3 goals they wanted to be successful at this year. Students and parents both created hands that were displayed in the halls.

 

And last but definitely not last, students at Ridgely teamed up to bring christmas to younger less fortunate students in our school system. Every year the SGA holds a Holiday Benefit party for about 25 kids from one elementary school in Baltimore County. It’s a beautiful thing seeing our students give so much of their love and time to these children. Seeing their faces light up when they arrive and are greeted by 100+ middle school students who are all there for them. There were stations for the students to rotate through… craft making, face painting, snacks and story time (with me!), Santa visit, and dance time. After each station, students then went back to their groups and opened their gifts!

 

So far the year has been amazing, I am really looking forward to the second half of the year!

Categories
Art Class Existence Most Popular Southern York Wine and Painting Party

Reflect and Create again

2015 was a year of progress, it felt as though I sprinted to the end! Everything moved forward and fast.

I like to write down all of the amazing things I’ve done in an ending year as  a reminder to be grateful for what I have and to be excited for what’s to come in the new year.

As I sit here and make a list in my head, I realize I did a lot in 2015.

Such beautiful art!

I taught amazing adults how to let their creative self out and go with the flow. Meeting so many new people and making some really close friends.

The networking I did at events opened up doors and gave me new inspiration. My creativity really exploded into making new pieces of art and selling a lot of it.

I’ve learned that I really enjoy making grow with me chalkboards, and personalized art. Looking to make more art in 2016 and really market my work as well as my abilities as an artist and an instructor.

I see many opportunities to share what I know with people everywhere and amplify the creative energy in the world! In April I will be teaching a continuing education dreamcatcher class at Catonsville Community College, and have been asked to do a dreamcatcher workshop at a friends yoga studio. In July I will be teaching two classes during summer camp at the community college as well.

Brass Performance Hall

There were a few unexpected professional development travels. In March I went to the National Art Education Association Convention, and learned all about new art supplies and networked with new friends from twitter. The 2016 NAEA convention will be held in Chicago on Saint Patrick’s day weekend…and I will be there! I have already registered for the artisan gallery where art educators set up and sell their personal work! I visited Fort Worth Texas in June for the Balfour Advisor Workshop and Malibu California in July to attend the Balfour Ignite Journalism Workshop. I am also looking to take some students to Malibu this year for the workshop!

This year I had the privilege to become a new board member for Historic Hampton Inc.. So far this experience has been one of the best, working with amazing people to represent art and education at a national historic site! We’ve teamed up with our first artist in residence, wrote an arts integrated lesson plan to use with the site as well as held our first artist educator workshop! There is so much to look forward to in 2016…another artist educator workshop before spring, and a painting day with our artist in residence.

 

2015 started with a great softball season as my first year coaching my middle school’s girls softball team and in August I began my 7th year teaching at Ridgely Middle School, with a new principal and a whole new way of doing things. Learner centered environments are the way to go, and digital technology really does enhance learning. I am really enjoying the kids having devices available. The Seesaw app is really turning out to be a great way to keep portfolios! I can not wait to do more projects with my students and see how they use the C.E.E.Q.E.R. model to find solutions to the curriculum! Soon I will have completed my department chair training and I will be applying for the pool of candidates. Perhaps there is something new waiting for me at the end of 2016.

I also started blogging more. I made it a point to at least write once a month; I will be making it a goal in 2016 to write once a week. Using instagram to share our students awesomeness, along with what’s happening in the school, was a huge success. I also started tweeting more, and building my #PLN (professional learning network.) #k12artchat has been my favorite thing to do on Thursday nights, and has even inspired me to create a chat of my own (keep an eye out for more details coming.)

I spent a lot of time with my two amazing children this year, watching them grow and learn. They have really been a light and joy. We made a lot of crafts and went on many new adventures. I am so excited to see what we do in 2016!

I feel like I might be leaving things out, but man was that a lot!

 

Categories
Art Class

Be a CEEQER … Resources

A few resources for teaching and learning with the C.E.E.Q.E.R. model

MAEA CEEQER resources

ARTFUL THINKING routine

CEEQER presentation on PowToon

Categories
Art Class Existence

I can and I WILL…

Wow, September just FLEW by!! I was absent the first two weeks of school because of a family emergency, my other half is feeling a lot better today. Not being at work those days was a big challenge for me, not only with taking care of Theo, but missing school. Its tough when you’re gone for one day let alone eight! There is an energy to being a teacher and starting school, and when I finally returned to work I had to mentally prepare myself to have that same energy so my students wouldn’t miss out on all the amazing things I had planned just because the plan didn’t go the way I thought it would.

I am totally enjoying my students. We are having a wonderful time exploring and experimenting. The energy in the classroom studio buzzes with excitement and creative thinking. So far the worst part of my day is when school is over and I have to wait for the next day. Seeing the progress they are making on their projects and with their artistic expression brings me such joy!

Show your work off!
Ms. Valentines Art Studio
We even put work on the ceiling.
Learner centered Environment
Writing our Social Contract, a behavior agreement we created.

Students are currently completing their name tags which will be inserted into plastic sleeves that will be adhered to their lockers! Every student in the building will have a plastic sleeve attached to their lockers to share their art, good grades or just a positive message.

The GT 8th grade art class just completed their first sketchbook homework assignment; use every material in their exploration packets to create a piece of art. Students needed to also come up with one new technique for using a material.

Students also have more blended learning, the 6th grade class has started our lighthouse digital conversion this year. Each student has a device with them every day.  This has been wonderful in the art studio. Students are able to look up reference images that they might need to help them with their projects, or even just listen to music while they work.

Our school system is starting a new objective statement for what the students will do in class. They are call the “I can” statements. I believe the I can statements are a great start, but without the will to do what you know you can do…nothing would ever get done! “I will” means I can and I am going to. I want to and I can!  That is what being a C.E.E.Q.E.R. is all about, knowing we can and then putting the effort into doing. Creating, Exploring, Experimenting, Questioning, Expressing and Reflecting.

Categories
Art Class

3 lists for day 3…

Three days until I go back to school…

I’ve been working on figuring out how I’m going to present my new student centered learning ideas to my students when they come back on the 24th.  Aside from planning that out, I will have a language arts class and homeroom in my room this year… Luckily one of the coolest teachers I teach with is my new room buddy! We are going to have so much fun setting things up and collaborating on different ways to integrate art and writing into lessons! I’m so excited!!

So today I will write 3 list…..

3 things I want to do in my classroom before the students come back:

  1. Take the cabinet doors off of my cabinets. This will minimize some “wall” space for posters but I think it will be best for the organization and utilization of art supplies!
  2. Organize and label all of the art materials into bins for easy access
  3. Plan areas in the room where students can accomplish different tasks.
    For example: a green screen area for a video blogging!

3 things I want to create before my students come back:

  1. Videos demonstrating different art materials and techniques
  2. Sew curtains for my windows….I really think that curtains instead of blinds, will add to the ambiance of the room and I have a great idea for decorating the curtains. The students will decorate them with paint pens to display the Elements and Principles of art, and other art vocabulary we will learn throughout the year!
  3. Stools, easels and shelves

3 things to plan for the first month of school:

  1. The first week classes : Expectations of a student centered learning environment
  2. Experimentation sessions
  3. Curriculum awareness sessions

Oh I am super excited!

Categories
Art Class Existence

Day 6 went quick…

Yesterday was a full day of professional development for our digital conversion. It was great seeing my coworkers and learning some new ideas to implement in my classroom!

We learned about different types of co-teaching, which I LOVE! I think co-teaching is something every teacher should experience at least once in their careers. It gives the students the ability to see and learn from different points of view. We also learned about the SAMR model! Its really easy to understand when you use a coffee analogy!

Day 6 List is the 6 things I learned yesterday that I will take with me into this coming school year:

  1. Guided Grouping
  2. Personalized Learning
  3. Customized Learning
  4. ODL Resource Wiki
  5. Kahoot
  6. Socrative

The coolest thing I heard yesterday was about the teacher who does the activity called guided grouping.  I love this idea, and I will be implementing it into my class. I will be adding the idea of having a group D which is for extension activities for the students who have completed their work and grasp the concepts completely.

<3

Categories
Art Class

the end of the 7th day, and the beginning for 7 schools…

It is now the evening of the 7th day before work, and I am getting myself prepared for a full day of professional development tomorrow. My school is currently a lighthouse school for a new digital initiative in Baltimore County. It is called S.T.A.T., Students & Teachers Accessing Tomorrow:

“A fundamental shift in teaching and learning to meet Baltimore County Public Schools’ (BCPS) Theory of Action: To equip every student with the critical 21st century skills needed to be globally competitive, BCPS must ensure that every school has an equitable, effective digital learning environment. All students will have access to a digital learning device and personalized, blended, interactive curriculum.”

There are 7 middle schools in the county who have been chosen to join 10 elementary schools in implementing an instructional digital conversion.  Starting in the 2015-2016 school year, 6th graders will each have their own HP Revolve, which will aid in the use of integrating technology to create more diverse learning environments.  Our classrooms and curriculum will also need digital conversions, which we have been preparing since the beginning of last year.  Tomorrow will be our second professional development this summer in order to help in this transition.

Personally I am super excited about this opportunity, and so my list for today will be…
The 7 things that instructional digital conversion has me excited about…

  1. Advocating for and receiving Adobe Creative Cloud in order to have advanced software available for my students to create art, and for my yearbook club to edit photos. (fingers crossed)
  2. Students using their devices to create eportfolios of their work in my class.
  3. Students using their devices to connect their art portfolios cross-curricularly for total arts integration.
  4. Social Media aspects of communication and collaboration with people all over the world!
  5. Having resources at their fingertips (literally). Students used to have to go to the computer lab to find images and ideas for their art…now they can look up what they want and need on their device then turn around and instantly apply it directly to their art.
  6. A new classroom environment!
  7. Learning new things about technology from my students

I really am fortunate to be on this journey with my school… and I am excited to see all that we can do from here on out.

Inspiring creativity, curiosity and caring citizenship…GO STAGS!

<3