In March, I was lucky enough to attend the National Art Educators conference in Seattle, Washington. There were thousands of art teachers ready to learn new things and inspire one another. I was definitely inspired by my trip. Teachers from all over the country taught sessions about classroom management, technology, STEAM, and new techniques for different art mediums. These are some of the highlights from my trip.
Design Thinking Creates Flow: how to use the engineering design process to get kids thinking outside of the box. Our assignment was to create the tallest free standing tower out of just a few materials. My group didn't win the challenge, but we had great team work and it was a fun experience! | Collaborative Art making showed us several lessons and project ideas that got kids working together towards a final collaborative project. I am looking forward to creating our very own garden sculptures next year! |
There was a really interesting session that discussed the science behind how the brain works creatively and how play can motivate learning. I learned some great strategies to jump start learning for both sides of the brain! | A few art teachers collaborated lower and upper grades to create some amazing felt-tech installation pieces. This session included a really cool felt making hands on demonstration. I have already purchased some extra pool noodles and am getting ready to try my very own felting experiments in preparation for next year! |
My absolute favorite session showed some great simple ways to assess students without losing valuable class time for quiz and test days. These teachers took file folders, magnets, cookie sheets and simple print outs to create assessments for their entire art program. It covered all the elements and principles of art. I will definitely be making some of my own for our art program this summer!
Outside of all of the great sessions, we were even able to fit in some fun sightseeing. We visited Public Market and the Chihuly Glass Gardens. I didn't get to see anyone throw a fish but I was able to see some glass blowing demonstrations!