One thing... NAEA 2013

I have never been to a National Art Education Association Conference. Now that I have, I can completely understand why people go back year after year, saving up their dollars to try and make it happen. It was a great experience with wonderful presenters, sessions, and workshops and time to speak and learn with teachers from across the country.

Although there is plenty to share from the conference, I am still trying to process through it all. So, instead of giving every last detail I am going to select an image and share the big idea from the presenter/workshop/session. I hope to have time to delve a little deeper into some of the themes I am going to share, but I think this is a good starting point:

Craig Roland, Ian Sands, Tricia Fuglestad, and Elizabeth Delacruz presented on being a part of a PLN (Professional Learning Network) through the use of online tools.Big Take-away: Being Connected allows you the chance to share and learn from anyone at anytime and grow professionally. 

One of the many stations in the Vendor Hall.Big Take-away: There were lots of chances to try out new and interesting materials - Apparently they make such a thing as watercolor  crayons! 

Teachers sharing about the Heart Houses/Haiti Houses projects.
Big Take-away: It is important to connect with teachers from around the country to see how they work with similar or different ideas, materials, and teaching situations.  

Ian Sands and Robert Sandagata's presentation on New Weird Ideas.
Big Take-away: Failure and risk-taking are a part of being creative and making art; do not be afraid to allow your students this opportunity in the pursuit of making something new.

Transfer Printmaking

Learning about monoprinting with Julia Healy.

Big Take-away: Interesting process to create portraits and investigate people's histories within a community.

Jesus Moroles speaks about his work as a sculptor.
Big Take-away: People don't know what they want; it is the job of the artist to show them.

Discussion with Wayne White, artist featured in the documentary "Beauty is Embarrassing".
Big Take-away: Art should flow between media - a sculpture is a drawing, a drawing is a painting, a painting is a puppet, a puppet is a performance - and it is all connected to experiences. 

Michael Reyes with his High School Art Teacher who entered his work that received a National Scholastic Award.
Big Take-away: Art teachers have the power to change people's lives and help them realize the power they have within. 

Brandon Foy spoke about how his National Gold medal from Scholastic changed his life and prepared him for his future as an artist and creative.
Big Take-away: Don't be afraid to work hard and put yourself out there; his viral YouTube video landed him a job with Microsoft in his early 20s.

New Leadership team for the NAEA
Big Take-away: There are a lot of exciting things to look forward with NAEA - including the next conference in San Diego, 2014!

If you have a favorite moment from the 2013 conference, please share below with a link to images/posts/resources. What did you think of the event? What were some of the things you learned and how will they help you back in your classroom?

Show and Tell

Show and Tell is a concept that we all know; usually it is done with lower elementary students and they get to bring in an item and share it with their peers by showing it off and talking about it. The Show and Tell concept is not only for kids, it also happens for educators through conferences. Do you have a lesson, concept, or technique that has always worked for you and you want to share it? Consider presenting at the MAEA Conference in Traverse City, October 25-28th or the NAEA 2013 conference in Texas!

Being able to share information with my peers has been a highlight for me both professionally and personally. It is nice to connect with other teachers and show what works for you in the classroom; it is even more fun to hear back from those who have attended your sessions on how they have been able to use the information in their own classrooms. When presenting, or putting together a presentation, it is important to think about your time allotment, who your audience is, and what you want your audience to get out of what you are presenting.


The aRTs Roundable, a podcast hosted by Carol Broos, dedicated an episode to the topic of presenting at Art conferences. One tip I found very helpful was having your resources online instead of making copies for handouts; even when making it online, be sure to have a backup in case the internet is down. If you make a Prezi (which is my go-to presentation tool right now), you can download it and then show easily either online or right from your desktop. Instead of wasting papers on copies, consider creating a business card with your website or contact information on it so that participants can go to there to review the presentation again or ask follow up questions later. The biggest take-away from this podcast on presenting was making sure to focus on the kids and how whatever you are presenting on will help teachers reach their kids in new and interesting ways.

Great conferences are made possible because educators like you are willing to share your time, showing and telling the tips and tricks that make your classroom work. If you have any sure-fire presentation tips to share or are planning to present at an upcoming conference, please comment below.

No post about presentations is complete without Don McMillan's video on how not to use PowerPoint: