Conference Season: What to do if you can't make it

Artist Name: Amanda R

Every Fall I look forward to attending the MAEA conference. I know I will walk away feeling energized and full of ideas gleaned from sessions that are both relevant and will have great impact on my students in my classroom. Unfortunately, I am not able to attend this year's conference. If you are like me and staying home this weekend, here are three ways to plug into what is happening in Art Education even if you cannot always make it to the conference.

1. Check out Online Conferences. With the use of Webcams, Screencasts, and Videos, there are several websites that are offering conference experiences for Visual Arts teachers who may not have the funds or flexibility to travel to their State or National Conferences. Websites like The Art of Education (which is offering a Winter Conference featuring a variety of sessions) and The Education Closet (which offers monthly Master Classes that are hosted by Arts teachers on various topics in Arts Education) are making it easier for teachers to catch up on Professional Development without having to leave their homes. A free conference that has resources from a variety of content areas that I have also presented for is the K12 Online Conference. Dating back to 2008, you can search through their videos and catch up on a variety of hot topics in education with several sessions created by Visual Arts teachers from all grade levels. Although this does not replace the time spent face to face with other Arts Educators from across the State, it does offer an alternative for those (like me) who are missing out this year. 
2. Turn to Social Media. Even if I am not there, I can follow along with my colleagues and friends through their news feeds and capture bits and pieces to be inspired by through the magic of Twitter and Facebook. Although it might seem like you are being a secret stalker, take to your feeds during conference weekends and examine the pictures of demos, projects, and quotes that your friends are sharing. If something piques your interest, then favorite/like it and make note to ask more questions of your friend once they return from the conference. I have already gotten a lot of great ideas from friends in Indiana and New Jersey, whose Art Education Conferences were held earlier this month. Even though I was not there, I was able to share in some of the highlights through interacting with my attendee friends in our Social Media connections.
3. Plan for Next Year. It may be too late to attend this year's conference, but it is a great time to start planning for next year. In 2014 the conference is going to be in Lansing. Don't wait until the last minute to decide to go; instead, use the year to start saving and planning and getting ready to learn and share next Fall. 

If you are going to the conference, please share your resources below so that others can learn along with you, too! What makes for a great conference and what are some of your favorite MAEA moments of year's past?

2011 MAEA Conference Recap and Reflection

It has been a few days since the 2011 MAEA Conference has ended and I, like many others, still have loads of papers, products, and ideas to sort out as a result.

It was an exciting time to meet teachers, artists, and share ideas to help better serve the students of Michigan. As a result of this multiple day endeavor, I was able to meet new people and learn all kinds of tips and techniques that will help enhance the way I deliver instruction to my students.

One topic that has come up in our facebook group as a result of the conference is the cost. In times where many districts are downsizing budgets, it can be very difficult to find funding to allow for experiences like this to occur. The reason I was able to attend this year was through the MEEMIC professional development grant. I was thrilled to use that grant to attend this conference and also present on various grant opportunities available to help bring additional experiences to our students.

Some of the noteworthy workshops include the following: 

• Presentation by Professor Guey-Meei Yang about the work being done at Eastern Michigan University with their Art History and Art Education Departments collaborating effort resulting in a Wiki we can all contribute to and use
• Book-sigining and workshop led by James Warhola about his children's book "Uncle Andy's Cats"
• Performance by book Artist Susan Share
• Presentation by Kristyn DeMint about how to use Skype to interview artists in the classroom like she did with James Rizzi
• Collaborative lesson plan share by CSI (College of Secondary Instructors) whose ideas can be seen on our Flickr page.You can also join and upload your pics to the group.
• Technology integration ideas presented by Molly Marshall
• 10 contemporary artists you should know, presented by  Roy Reynolds
• Receptions showcasing the Art Education programs at Western Michigan University and Kendall College of Art and Design
• Great keynote presentations about Innovation by Mike Schmidt (showing the connection between strong Arts education and innovation in the private sector) and Creativity by Marvin Bartel
• Great Hands-on learning experiences from the vendors at the conference and artists at the Park Trades Center
• Conversations with Visual Art Teachers from across the state to discuss important topics like assessment, featured in the blog post by Claudia Burns

If you were unable to attend this year's conference, I hope you can make it to the 2012 conference in Traverse City, October 25-28th. If the issue is cost, you can try to advocate for yourself by sharing the resources in this post with your district administrators as the example of the types of learning experiences and reason for them to help provide this professional development opportunity. You can also find grants to help pay for the experience or you can also keep updated on current topics and resources by following this blog or the facebook group. If you have a resource that you presented or saw and would like to share the link or concept, please comment below.

Swimming Upstream

We're back from the Conference! So many ideas and images are swirling around in my head. The sounds and sights and wonderful experiences of the weekend energize and sustain us through the winter. I can't wait to try out the new bookmaking techniques I learned and experiment with some watercolors and life drawing with my alternative-ed high school students.

But what I'm really eager to try out are some of the new assessment strategies I've been reading about. Really?

I know, it's not media, it's kinda left-brained, it doesn't seem very "arty." But we can use quality assessment to improve instruction and empower students. And, learning how to assess students very well might save your job.

The number of stories I heard this weekend about teacher evaluation, assessment, about "My district is expecting this..." was surprising. But the work has begun and it looks like Walled Lake and Ann Arbor are leading the way. In their workshops Walled Lake and Ann Arbor teachers (and one administrator) described the innovative curriculum that they have been developing over the last few years.

What are you doing in your district? Have your administrators challenged you to validate your art program? How do you use assessment? This is a challenging area for some of us; let's help one another out. Let's swim upstream together.