How to Connect with your Students
I had a class of high school students, mostly upperclassmen, they were rowdy, discounted, and working on my nerves. I needed to find a way to connect and quickly. I asked them to write 6-word stories responding to how they felt about school. One boy wrote, “energetic teenage boy, glued to chair,” there were many […]
How to create a Repeat Pattern Design
Over the summer I taught a repeat fabric design class to elementary and middle school students, they loved it! Whenever a class is a hit in person, I work to create an online version, but for some reason, this task felt a bit daunting this time around. Then I signed myself up for Flipping the […]
Where to host your videos for your flipped classroom
When I started teaching online 3 years ago, while there was a lot I wasn’t sure about, I did know that I needed to take advantage of the power of video, something that I’m still exploring and working to improve upon. If you’re going to use video in your classroom, or give the flipped classroom […]
Have you Tried this Connect the Dots Sketchbook Exercise?
Sketchbooks are a wonderful tool to teach students to use, but they can also feel intimidating to students as they stare at ALL of the blank pages. The exercise below is based on the idea of connecting the dots, but with a slight twist. It helps students to begin understanding how they might design […]
How to get kids Writing..
So you’ve been told that you need to incorporate more writing into your lessons, and you’re thinking, I don’t have time for that. Maybe you do, and maybe, just maybe you can make it so that your students enjoy it as well. The exercise below is like whisper down the lane but with pictures and […]
Helping students develop a concentration
If you teach AP art, you know that you need to help your students develop a concentration statement, for some students this comes easily while others struggle. The concept of a concentration statement also doesn’t need to be limited to AP classes. It can be a great tool for helping your students to develop a […]
2D Design Lesson Round Up
Below is a collection of lessons and inspiration for High School 2D Design. Sketchbook Inspiration Using 6 Word stories to help students develop ideas Illuminated Manuscript Project Making Marks, creating tools, and cutting Lesson on Design Principles Help students understand appropriation in art
Below you’ll find a list of my favorite tools and websites for integrating Art History and making cultural connections in your classroom. Teacher Tools: Short and Informative Videos about Art Teacher Tools: The Art Story is another goodie for the art history lover, but it’s a great site to let students explore, or to intro other […]
Looking for some sketchbook inspiration?
In the last post, we looked a lot of different types of sketchbooks and talked about the pros and cons of many them. I asked you to think about what kind of medium you might use and how that will affect the weight of paper that you need. To think about the size of your […]
How to select the perfect sketchbook
A tool that every artist/ creative person should never leave the house without, is a sketchbook, however, going to the art store for the first time to pick out your perfect sketchbook can be a bit overwhelming, as there are so many choices, and you may not be sure how to decide which is […]