Creative Art Lessons & Resources for Art Teachers
Today I’m going to be talking about something important, which is Art Teacher TLC. We can’t be there for the kids if we aren’t there for ourselves first. As we know, teaching consumes a lot of our focus power, energy, and emotions. Some years are harder than others, and some moments in the day are more stressful. This pandemic year has added another lovely layer to it.
It’s already FALL. Well, I’ll be honest, I have my pumpkins out already… but I grow them myself. I LOVE growing pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. It is a 6 month adventure as I start my Atlantic Giants indoors in the spring… then after months of TLC I get a giant pumpkin or 2! They’re so beautiful. Also, Halloween is my Christmas. If you’re someone who wants to start getting ready for Christmas in November… well, that is how I feel about Halloween. I LOVE IT. But I also love Autumn too so let’s get inspired by some lovely autumn artworks that you can do with your kids in your classroom or at home.
Art teachers, we know encouraging students to make art can sometimes happen easily and other times, it’s a challenge. You bring out, act out, or show your “hook” and BAM! They’re engaged and are wanting to do their best. Depending on the age or the student’s own personal experience with creating art, this is sometimes a challenge and you might even get a complete refusal. As a teacher, it is our job to encourage a student to create. After many years of experience teaching, and having taught art to students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, I have a few tricks up my sleeve in terms of getting ALL your students to create art, even if they really don’t want to. Let’s look at ideas for how to inspire the reluctant artists and art makers in your classroom.
Art Teachers, in your Art Classroom you’re always going to have students finish before the rest so let’s take a look at some ideas or routines that you can build into your classroom so that students know what to do when they’re done so they don’t have to ask you and so that you don’t have to instruct them on what to do EVERY time.
Today we’re going to discuss some ideas for teaching Distance Learning or Remote Learning style to your students in your Art Classroom. I’m going to provide a lot of ideas and you can decide what might work for you or take some ideas and tweak them for your own classroom. Every classroom and group of students is different so make it work for you. You got this art teacher!
Teaching during Distance Learning is going to be oh so challenging for teachers. There is not one model to follow. Some are teaching in class and might be going remote later, or will start remote then will switch to in class. Some teachers are teaching on a cart and remotely. There are full remote learning models and there are hybrid models. All of this adds to confusion and stress because we’re not all in the same boat together and instead it feels like were drifting on a raft in the middle of the ocean and the winds just picked up and the sharks have arrived. At times, it even feels like the raft is just breaking apart. Here are my tips for teaching art during Distance Learning or Remote Learning.
Art Teachers! Let’s talk about TLC. As well, find a GIVEAWAY in this post! We are SO STRESSED. This year is completely beyond manageable and overwhelming. This year is going to absorb a lot of our patience, energy, and even our welfare. It is going to be really important that we make sure that we take care of ourselves this year because when we’re stressed and overworked, we can create ill effects for both our mental and physical health. I always find that when I am stressed out that I get sick a lot easier. Scroll to the end of this post to find my Art Teacher TLC Bingo Contest! Let’s look at some ways to incorporate some Art Teacher TLC into our lives. #msartasticbingo #artteacher #artteachertlc
When it comes to Back to School, a little panic sets in because of the unknown. We are unsure if any changes will happen in the school (which this year, there most likely will be), unsure of our schedule, unsure if there will be supplies budget cuts (why do they do this!?), unsure if the staff has changed significantly, unsure who the kids are… These are all unknowns. These are, for the most part, out of your control. We cannot worry about things we can’t control. We are instead, going to place out focus on things we CAN control. If we focus our attention here and get things we can control organized and prepped, it will make our back to school, as well as the year, a lot more stress-free. Isn’t that the goal anyway?
Explore creating art focused on the Elements of Art in an At Home Learning setting, perfect for Homeschooling or Distance Learning. This blog post has art projects and lessons for experimenting with Line, Value, Mixing Colors, and Texture with unexpected art mediums you already have in your home (that you just didn’t realize you have).
In this interview you will get to know Stephanie Bailly. She is the creator of Picassa’s Palette and I highly recommend that you check out her website & resources!
