Passionate Posting!

Hi Blog world!

I must apologize for my brief hiatus from Olive Art!

I have recently become enamored with Instagram and Twitter as means of sharing my classroom and rich professional development.

I am amazed with the ease of posting photo after photo, of student artworks and art room happenings, throughout my day, with out needing to open my Macbook or even write a lot about it. I don't have to worry about page layout or even full sentences. It is awesome that parents and student can follow me and my students can share their work with everyone. I love to see them point out their work on Instagram and ask me about it in class.

Follow us on Instagram!!!! @GWDES_Arts 

and me on Twitter @MComp_OliveART

Also you aren't using Twitter for professional development I highly suggest you try it out. I am loving following other art educators such as....

                        @play2cre8
                        @ArtClassWithLMJ

                        @MonaLisaLivesHere
                        @artfulartsyamy
                        @Artgeek8
                        @campbellartsoup
                        @Tiedemania
                        @artziedaizy
                        @debjay
                        @kbellavida
                        @dewestudio
                        @smelvin
                        @lesliegates
                        @artysmarty12
                        @SuperSonicArtEd
                        @fuglefun
                        @ArtClasswithMsS
                        @NobleMaiden15
                        @TonyaMcQuaid



                   



 (just to name a few awesome ART Educators utilizing Twitter!)

... and participating in (or just stalking) Twitter Chats! This is where my inner nerd comes out and my love of teaching is put into text and photo.

I am continually inspired by the ideas of others, the articles shared, and the energy and excitement they have for teaching.

I am in love with this Passionate Posting!

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens: Monumental Mosaics

Today I had the kind of Professional Development day Art Teachers dream about!!!

This photo was taken using the FREE Photosynth App (LOVE IT!)

We went to Philly

Saw great Art

Ate a really good Ruben

Met an eccentric Artist

Toured his working space

His home

And more working space

And…

Everything applied to me and what I teach!

We went to Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens to meet artist Isaiah Zagar 

and explore his monumental mosaics.

http://www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/

I can’t believe I have never been there before! If you live close (or not) it is a trip well worth taking!

We set out on a mission to learn as much as possible about Isaiah, his process, and relationship with his community, so we might be able to design out own community art projects or spaces.

We got all that and more!

 We had the opportunity to tour Isaiah’s home and current warehouse project along with the 

artist himself and his dog Mr. Blue.

 I know my gears are already turning. I want to mosaic so badly!

I can’t wait to see what types of wonderful collaborative and community based 

art projects this trip inspires.

The Fabulous Art Ed staff of EPSD

Thank you Isaiah for a truly wonderful day!

The windows may have been my favorite part

STEM to STEAM: Framing the Future.

Thank you! to everyone who came out to PAEA and sat in on our session

 STEM to STEAM: Framing the Future.

For many of us Integrating areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math into our art curriculum comes naturally and we don’t even recognize the big picture. And when we allow students to learn about ALL of these things, AT ONCE, along with ART… whoa!!!!

Though STEAM students engage in inquiry based learning and art making. They solve problems that relate to the real world, and they develop skills in creativity, innovation, and collaboration.

21st Century learning skills, Anyone???

Planning can be as easy as looking at what you already do
and quickly jotting down connections.

Below are the two planning sheets that I shared during the session.

After quickly brainstorming themes and STEAM connections on either post it's 

or the STEAM mapping sheet, I move to a more organized process 

where I type ideas, websites, and research into the table below.

Remember...

 YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN EXPERT! 

YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS!

Art is everywhere, and without it our homes and spaces would be very dull.

 I will be presenting on the same topic at Kutztown’s 2012 Art Education Conference: 

FRAMING THE FUTURE.

http://www.kutztown.edu/academics/visual_arts/arted/2012-conference.html

I will be sharing my Kaleidoscope lesson in more detail and in a more hands on way and 

hopefully more STEAM lessons in progress. 

STEM to STEAM: Fusing Disciplines

Anyone going the PAEA Conference this weekend???

I will be there!

On Saturday morning at 10:00am Dr. Carrie Nordlund and I will be presenting on STEM to STEAM.

We will talk about what it is, how Art Educators are using it in their classroom, how it can help advocate for the arts, & share some fun STEAM lessons.

Here is a snapshot of a workshop I presented along with another Art Teacher before the start of school. 

In art class students learn about kaleidoscopes and how they work, we engineer our own, and then make a kaleidoscopic movie.