On Saturday, March 9th, many art educators that are known on Twitter dressed up as "Art Teacher Superheroes." We were asked many times what the idea was behind our crazy costumes. Back in the fall, many of us tweeting art teachers came up with the idea that art teachers are superheroes in our own right. We have the amazing ability to adapt, create, and inspire our students. One educator came across the company Ink Pixi, which had a superhero logo you can edit to your liking, so we all bought t-shirts with our Twitter names. Other have bought shirts and put "Mrs. O," or the name of their high school. We encourage others to be superheroes, so if you are interested in purchasing a shirt of your own, please click HERE!!!!
One art teacher created a logo image before the conference, so here's our picture in order, like the legos!
And yes...we dressed up like this ALL DAY! Our other purpose was to share the benefits of being part of a PLN, which stands for "Personal Learning Network." The video attached explains the positives of using social networking to collaborate with a network across the country, or even the world.
The session titled "Navigating Art-On-a-Cart: Strategies and Best Practices" had shared the results of research collected by my dear friend, Heidi Lung, who is a current doctoral candidate. I plan on having a separate post to share the facts collected, and some pretty amusing photos as well. I encourage you to please visit her website Art On a Cart Research for more information on her studies...especially since that's what most of what this blog is about!
Blogging Basics for Art Educators was one of the most informative sessions I had attended, especially since I care so much about this blog! The presentation was hosted by the creator of Art of Education (AOE), Jessica Balsley. Jessica had shared some tips for those wishing to start a blog, those who have one, and how to make a blog successful. To view her full presentation, please click HERE.
As one of the NAEA Student Chapter Past Presidents, I support pre-service art teachers by speaking on panels to answer questions students may have about applying for jobs and what to do to keep up with professional support.
In our panel, we had the current past-president of the Students Chapter, along with the national advisor, one of the writers of the National Visual Arts Standards, a Past President for NAEA, (me), and a higher education advisor from Kutztown University. With the wealth of knowledge we had together, we were able to answer the students questions, such as what administrators look for in an interview, how to prepare, and what vocabulary to know when entering the district. If anyone reading has any questions concerning this panel, future teaching interviews, or why I even shared this, please comment and I will answer all your questions!
Donna Staten is probably the most well known Pinterest art teachers, and we were lucky to have her present on using "Pinterest in the Classroom." Donna went over all the basics of how to set up Pinterest, and how to manage boards for use in the classroom. I will be designing a post concerning using Pinterest in your art curriculum as a traveling art teacher in the very near future thanks to the inspiration of Donna! If you would like to follow her boards, please CLICK HERE. I also personally thanked Donna for pinning my blog posts because I have had a higher number of page views since she has over 15,000 followers!
The NAEA convention gave me many ideas to use in my classroom, curriculum, blog writing, and overall development of my profession. I always walk away with new ideas...as well as an overpacked suitcase of new materials and lesson plan books! I am happy to know such amazing people in the art education profession, and they inspire me to continue being an advocate for the arts in education.
Were you at the convention? What did you like the most? What did you feel needed to be improved? I want to hear it from you!!!
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