Part 3: 6 Steps to Stop Procrastinating

Part 3: 6 Steps to Stop Procrastinating

 ” To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing. ” Picasso We all do it…. we check our phone, email, facebook, over and over again, instead of getting the next thing crossed off of our to do list. 6 ways to help you and your students stop procrastinating. Deadlines: if there […]

Procrastination part 2: There’s No Creativity Without Slack Time

Procrastination part 2: There’s No Creativity Without Slack Time

( audio recording at the bottom) ” There’s no creativity without some slack time. “ I’d purchased a groupon for 30 days of yoga classes, I’d never done yoga before, but I exercised, and figured this might be a fun change. With determination to take full advantage of my 30 days pass, I decided that […]

Part 1: Deadlines Do they Matter?

Part 1: Deadlines Do they Matter?

Confession: I’ve recently become a procrastinator I’d agreed to lead a teacher in-service training on creativity, at the moment it seemed like no big deal, creativity is my jam. I marked the date on my calendar, did some backwards planning, and knew exactly what I needed to do and when I needed to do it […]

Teacher Tools Episode 3: How to use the Art Assignment

Teacher Tools Episode 3: How to use the Art Assignment

  I was standing in the back of my classroom sobbing into the phone, my mom was on the other end, and students were about to walk through my door, I needed to get my act together. It was one of those crazy days, that turned into a crazy week, and then a crazy month. […]

How to Help students understand the Drawing Issues.

How to Help students understand the Drawing Issues.

    Usually when when students hear the words, ” drawing issues,” they look confused and unsure, then they realize that the drawing issues are made up of terms that they’ve heard for years, but often still aren’t sure how to use them in their artwork. Below if the video that I use as an […]

What is Appropriation in art?

What is Appropriation in art?

It can be hard to help students to understand appropriation in art. Often in the classroom we tell our students that they can’t copy work or characters that have already been created, and then we turn around and teach them about Andy Warhol and Pop Art… mixed messages much? The college board is clear that […]

Helping Students to Plan

Helping Students to Plan

” The production of ideas, too, runs on an assembly line; that in this production the mind follows an operative technique which can be learned and controlled; and that its effective use is just as much a matter of practice in the technique as in the effective use of any tool.” James Webb Young. As […]

How to Teach Art History without Lecturing

How to Teach Art History without Lecturing

Students don’t learn from teacher’s that stand in front of the classroom and lecture, however, all too often that’s how we teach art history. I”m always working to develop new ways to have my students interacting with the works of art, thinking about them, responding to them, asking questions, and making connections. While watching ” […]

How to Set Measurable Goals for Yourself and Your Students

How to Set Measurable Goals for Yourself and Your Students

  It’s the time of the year when you need to write out goals for yourself and for your students, this often seems a bit tricky when it comes to art, because these goals also have to be tracked and assessed, aka tied to data. You probably stay away from giving tests in your art […]

How Artist Megan Auman Finds Inspiration and Keeps Creating

How Artist Megan Auman Finds Inspiration and Keeps Creating

Megan mentions that she’s not super productive in the afternoon, so instead of freaking out ( which she sort of did at first), show now goes for a walk, or takes a nap. The main idea is that it’s important to understand you’re own creative process. While I fully understand, that it’s not always simple […]