I just returned from a wonderfully energizing
conference experience with thousands of art educators from around the country meeting for 4 days in Fort Worth, Texas. I loved the time I had with my Personal Learning Network (PLN) face to face. These are the people I learn from all year-round online through our social networks. All SIX of my presentations were with people I connect with online, three of which I had never met in person before! We decided ahead of time to buy
this shirt from
Inkpixie using our
Twitter Handle and wear them as we gathered on Saturday for coffee. We posed together for this picture. (Our hands look funny because we are trying to
imitate this picture that
Stacy Lord made when she was being silly on a snow day.)
Six Presentations:
Technology Tools in Elementary ArtTheresa McGee, an elementary art teacher in Hinsdale, IL, and I traveled together to Texas. We rushed over to the conference as soon as we arrived 15 minutes before our first presentation where we took turns with two other art teachers including
Jessica Balsley demonstrating how we use technology. I quickly demonstrated
this iPad art lesson called, It's Not Christina's World Anymore, based on the painting, Christina's World. See the finished student art
here.
Connected Art Educators: PLNsDr. Craig Roland, Prof. of Art Ed at Uof Fl,
Dr. Elizabeth Delacruz (my former professor from U of I),
Ian Sands, H.S. art teacher from Apex, NC, and I each took turns sharing how our online personal learning network has made a difference for our professional growth and has benefitted our students. I talked about three stories:
Careers in Art,
Doink Alien Animations, and
IPEVO. It's too much to explain here, but trust me, they're great stories!
Western Region/Southeastern Region Elementary Art Teacher ShowcaseThis presentation was part of winning the Western Region Elementary Art Teacher of the Year Award. I tried to sum up everything we do in 20 minutes.
I used this video to preface the presentation and followed with a focus on how we use technology in our art room. I explain it better in
this online presentation. The other presenter was Jennifer Johnson Keith of Louisiana who shared about her wonderful program in 20 minutes as well. It is hard to condense a career full of stories into 20 mins.
Artsonia-Online Digital Art GalleryThis is the 5th year I've been able to present on using
Artsonia as a tool to create a digital portfolio with my students. Our presentation has grown and evolved over the years as the company has improved and changed to make their service better and better for art teachers and their students. The
CEO and President of the company joined
Susan,
Theresa, and I to help answer questions from the attendees and hear their concerns and questions about the process of getting started.
Learn more here.
iPads in Art (Part Two)This session was a continuation of the session that
Suzanne Tiedemann and I (
Theresa Gillespie was with us in spirit) did last year to a standing room only group. We thought that since the room was so small we should offer it again so those who really wanted to learn about creating art on iPads can get a chance. Luckily they gave us a larger room where all 150 or so attendees could each find a seat. This year
Theresa Gillespie joined me (
Suzanne was with us in spirit) as we presented about the top three projects we successfully accomplished with our students. You can learn more from
my page,
Theresa's page, and this page made jointly by
Suzanne and me.
Lights, Camera, Learning!
with Fugleflicks and CampbellartsoupI was so excited to share about making movies to teach art concepts with
Janine Campbell. We had been learning from each other for years online and finally met as we shared our different approaches to student created art related movie making. Learn more about
Janine's program here. View our
Fugleflicks index here.
Receiving my Award
On March 7th I received the
Western Region Elementary Art Teacher of the Year 2013 Award from the National Art Education Association. My nominator was
Samantha Melvin of Texas who was the National Elementary Art Teacher of the Year in 2012. It is such an honor to be recognized at this level for doing the job that I love. Thank you PLN for making me a better teacher!
Read this story about the THREE Illinois Art Educators recognized at the National Art Education Conference.
MY take on this trip
When I saw this photo taken by Jennifer at the showcase presentation that we shared, I had a WOW moment as I looked at a relaxed and confident person happily talking to a large crowd of people at a national conference. You may not know my journey, but here is a hint: I was so painfully shy growing up and into my adult years that I had to come home from college after two weeks because I was too afraid to go into the cafeteria for my meals.
Thank you to all the people over the years who gently held my hand and helped me grow.
Matt wears his creature on the chair. 
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