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:

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Technology Tools in Elementary Art
Theresa 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.

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Connected Art Educators: PLNs
Dr. 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!

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Western Region/Southeastern Region Elementary Art Teacher Showcase
This 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.

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Artsonia-Online Digital Art Gallery
This 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.

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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.

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Lights, Camera, Learning! 
with Fugleflicks and Campbellartsoup

I 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

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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!

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Read the Chicago Tribune article written about my award at this link.


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Read this story about the THREE Illinois Art Educators recognized at the National Art Education Conference.

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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.

 
 
If I didn't have the best students, working in a an awesome school, within a district that values our art program, I wouldn't have this news to share...
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I am receiving a regional National Art Education Award. The map to the left shows the western region in dark blue. There are winners in all divisions (Elementary, Middle, Secondary, etc) in each region. I won for Elementary Art within the Western Region.  

Thank you Students, Dryden Staff, District 25, and my Personal Learning Network for giving me the tools, support, training, inspiration, motivation and freedom to make this an award-winning art program! ~Mrs. Fuglestad

 
 
I was given the honor of writing posts for the National Art Education Blog during the month of September. They call this role, The Monthly Mentor. I just submitted my last post and collected them all here for you to peek at if you have a minute. My Fugleblog isn't very wordy, so if you want to read my thoughts on Who Owns the Learning, Putting STEAM into STEM, Creating on iPads, and CREATE: the highest level of thinking use the links below.
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Who Owns the Learning?
What does this mean for me as an elementary art teacher? Sure, I want my students to be invested in the learning, to get enthusiastic about art, and take pride in their work. But, even if I see evidence of this already, I’m sure there is plenty more I can do to help my students Own Their Learning
See some strategies I want to implement this year. 

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Putting STEAM in STEM
You may have heard about a push in this nation for schools to strengthen their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math programs to make US students score higher in these subjects on international standardized tests. But true innovation began with creative thinkers and artists.

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Creating on iPads
At the beginning of last school year I was told that my school building had begged, borrowed, and bargained for enough iPads for a grade-level set (about 100) and that they would rotate through the school for one month per grade level.
I had to figure out a plan. 
Read about it here.

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CREATE: The Highest Level of Thinking
The art room is a place where students are challenged to use their highest level of thinking skills to creatively problem-solve and effectively communicate ideas. Watch a video explaining my thoughts on creativity and a creative video advocating for art.

 
 
Over 7000 art educators from across the country and around the world converged for a tremendously inspiring professional development conference in the heart of NYC. Take a look at my experience thanks to my art teacher friends from my online personal learning network who enrich and support me, to Artsonia who screened 4 of my students' artwork on a 30ft LED screen via the Big Screen Plaza, to NAEA who provided excellent speakers, discounts on museums, collaboration parties, etc and the generous support of my school district which made this trip possible. I am very fortunate. The poster image on the movie below shows me at the Starbucks Tweet Up posing with my former Art Ed Professor but current Art Education Rock Star, Dr. Elizabeth Delacruz, University of Illinois.
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I presented four times each with dynamic and inspiring art teachers from across the country. See my conference schedule with links to presentation resources on previous post here.
 

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