I can hardly believe that this school year will be over in 20 days!
This year has been full of adventure for me and my students.
I realize looking back, that there was a lot that I have not written about!
Here’s a little update on all the amazing work my students have been doing!
Two of my students won prizes in the Anti-Drug Poster Contest held by the Baltimore County States Attorney’s Office. Sophia won First place in the middle school division and is featured in the 2017-2018 Anti-Drug poster calendar, and Kathy won recognition and is featured on a poster made up of honorable mention art posters.
Two of my students won prizes in the 5th Annual Hampton Mansion Student/Teacher Art Exhibit hosted by the Historic Hampton Inc.! We have the pleasure of being the namesake middle school of the Hampton National Historic Site, as the Ridgely Family owned most of the land surrounding our area. Our mascot is the stag because the family’s crest from England had a stag in it.
My 8th grade gifted and talented art students were asked to paint our school’s steel drums to make them more aesthetically pleasing! They did an awesome job!
We had a great Arts in Action night this year!! There were lots of changes to how we used to do things, but it turned out fantastic! We had a juried art exhibit in the art hallway, a community Flower of Life mural, paper weaving positive intentions, and decorative tile making.
So many amazing things happen here in our ART world!!
My 8th grade students enjoyed watching the plays, and hearing from the students afterwards about everything that went into completing their project. The quality of the story line, character profiles and costumes made this an amazing event to attend. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful experience with Ridgely Middle School.
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!
Introducing the first ever Artist Educator Workshop at Hampton Historic National Site. I am so fortunate to be able to work with such an amazing group of individuals, from fellow board members to artist educators.
Historic Hampton Inc. has had a vision for bringing together art, education, and the Hampton Historic National Site. Recently this vision has begun to bloom. The first workshop for artist educators was held on December 5th, 2015.
10 teachers from all over Maryland attended to hear more about how they can incorporate the wonderful historic site into their curriculum. The workshop began with light breakfast provided by Danielas in Hamden, and a short talk from Park Ranger Vince Vance. Then I presented the adaptable lesson plan that was created to use in tandem with a field trip to Hampton and the virtual photo gallery.
This lesson is based off of the narrative that is a requirement for the Baltimore County Public School Art program. It can be altered to work with any grade k-12, and has arts-integration options as well.
After discussing the lesson plan, we took a tour of the grounds and the mansion…which was amazing because they let us in the front door (which is very rare!)
When we returned to the orangery, our first ever artist in residence Paul Moscatt presented a little gallery talk of his artwork and shared what he did as an artist and an educator. Paul was born in Brooklyn, New York and went to Yale University Art School from 1959-63. He also attended The Cooper Union Art School, NYC from 1956 to 59. As an educator, Paul worked at Maryland Institute, College of Art (1967 to 2000), currently a Professor Emeritus.
The teachers had such an amazing time, and learned so much! We are currently in the process of scheduling a Painting Day with Paul for those who attended, as well as a second Artist Educator Workshop in the beginning of 2016.
If interested please contact me by commenting below with your email address and I will send you more information!
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