Upcoming Art Education PD - January and February

As we begin the second half of our school year it is a great time to keep your eyes open for upcoming art education professional development. Here are some of the inspiring art education opportunities coming up around the state and online.

Educator Evening: Gallery Engagement Strategies

January 20, 2017

Detroit Institute of Arts

Explore the permanent collection with DIA gallery teachers who will demonstrate techniques designed to encourage engagement and build critical thinking skills for students. Educators attending this event will also get an exclusive preview of the DIA’s new Lumin augmented reality tour and discuss ideas for using this tool with students on field trips. The DIA is the first art museum in the world to integrate this 3-D mapping and smartphone AR technology into a mobile, public tour.

"See What I See" Writing & Art Educator Workshop 

February 4, 2017

Detroit Institute of Arts

In this 1-day workshop focused on 5th-12th grade art educators, participants will experience activities that bring writing into the art curriculum. Using the DIA’s collection as a classroom, we’ll use the morning to think about the artist’s journey, learn journaling and reflection strategies for personal and peer work, and draft an artist statement. In the afternoon, we will focus attention on writing about the work of other artists using the skills we’ve acquired. All sessions will be experiential and conclude with a conversation about incorporating the materials into your classroom teaching practice. At the end of the workshop, participants will leave with a set of activities that are intended to generate meaningful writing within the arts curriculum.

Creativity UnCorked: Design Your Own Tattoos

February 14, 2017

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grab a glass of wine and experience a lively and unforgettable night at the museum! Discover the tribal designs of Michigan tattoo artist Leo Zulueta, then create and print your own wearable temporary tattoos. Learn about modern and traditional tattooing methods and experiment with temporary tattoos and henna.

The Art of Education Conference 

February 18, 2017

Online

The Art of Education Conference provides great professional development online on a variety of topics. Here are some of the highlights you can look forward to at this winter's conference:

Some of the presenters include:

Mike Venezia - a talented author and illustrator who played an important role in the development of the 'Getting to Know' series. Mike will explain why he believes art - and art teachers - are so vital to our lives.

Kelly Phillips - Infusing STEAM Concepts into a TAB Classroom. Kelly will share some of her favorite ways to infuse the culture of STEAM into the art room! She'll share concrete examples of how she introduces STEAM concepts to her students in a TAB classroom, and demonstrate how these concepts can inform artmaking at every level.

Janine Campbell - Choosing to Change, and Changing to Choice. Moving away from the narrow view of what we are supposed to teach and what students are supposed to learn has transformed her teaching. Janine has challenged herself to instead give students the chance to find their own voice and connect to their work in meaningful ways. She'll share insights about what got her over the fear of change and what happened to her teaching when she said "yes" to choice.

Benefits to attending:

Some of the benefits of attending this conference include a goodie bag mailed to your door, you'll have access to the video presentations for a year after the conference airs online, you can attend in your pajamas, you can earn eight PD hours that count toward your SCECHs, TED Talk style presentations, etc...

Lifelong Learning

Artists Name: Stella Lee
School: Northview High School

I recently engaged in a relatively short discussion with @wmchamberlain (one of many teachers I follow on twitter) about lifelong learning. The discussion started with a question he posed asking what people were learning over the summer and I responded by describing that I have spent the summer teaching myself how to sew (with the immense help of both youtube and books ordered from Amazon). He shared that he was experimenting with art making. I pointed to a website that I thought might help in his journey and he gave me some encouragement, too.

Even though the "conversation" lasted a few lines back and forth, it has got me thinking about the concept of lifelong learning and how we engage students in this. It also got me thinking about how I engage in my own learning and what motivates me to want to learn new things.

I have always had an interest in how things are made. It is one of the reasons I wanted to be an artist and it is also why I wanted to be an art teacher - I also enjoy teaching others how to make things. I have had a sewing machine since 2006, but did not start using it until about a year ago. Why did I not learn to sew earlier? It might be because inheriting the machine was the result of my mother-in-law's passing, it might be because I didn't want to pay for a class when I had other bills and monetary concerns to think about, but it was probably because I wasn't ready to learn how to do it yet.

You can lead a horse to water, right? Anyway, whatever the reason is for me not wanting to learn how to sew then doesn't matter now because I am engaged and interested and as a result have not only created things that I am proud of but have been able to share those creations with others.

As I reflected on my own process of learning (and the fact that a lot of it involved failure, frustration, retrying things, research on the internet, and some help from experienced experts), it got me thinking about my classroom and how I can infuse this experience there. If I want my students to experience learning the way I did then I need to create an environment where experimentation, investigation, and following interests are important. If I want students to be engaged, then I need to be open to the fact that they are all in different points in their learning careers and even though I may lead them to water, it is up to them to figure out when they are ready to drink... I also have to give myself a break (and my students, too) when they are not and realize that just because something doesn't work out once doesn't mean they (or I) should never try it again. The most important thing I will bring to my classroom from this experience is my story. I will share with my students how I learned to sew and how I taught myself by doing research, failing, taking risks, and finally achieving my goal.

There is a great lifelong learning opportunity coming up August 5-10 through the MAEA Summer Professional Development Institute. Today is the early registration deadline and if you have been putting off learning something because you weren't ready yet, hopefully you will take this opportunity to learn in a community of experts that will guide and encourage you along the way.

If you have a learning story from this summer, or have taken a workshop in previous Summer PDI's please share your story below.

Welcome to the MAEA Blog

In an effort to stay connected and informed, the MAEA blog will serve as a source to members who are looking to collaborate, communicate, and create with other Visual Arts educators from around the State.

As the new MAEA Digital Editor, I am hoping to bring my love of technology integration to members of the MAEA via this blog. I am Janine Campbell and I have been teaching since 2004. I currently teach at Byron Center Public Schools and here is my classroom blog.

Blogging offers an instant communication tool that can connect students, parents, community members, and other teachers to each other through the few quick strokes the keyboard. Hopefully this blog will help serve as a tool to connect our MAEA community and allow teachers to find collaborating partners when so often we find ourselves as the loners in the end of the hall in our buildings (maybe I am just speaking for myself, but I have a strong feeling that is not the case).

Also feel free to connect via the MAEA group on Facebook! We are over 200 members strong and this is a great resource to connect with other members instantly as well as check out great art competitions, grants, contests, and giveaways!

We would also like to know about your blog/website! Please email the links to be featured on the blog.