Good morning readers!  We are all getting very excited about the upcoming Alabama Art Education conference week after next in Orange Beach (October 18-20)!

There will be SO many good workshops to attend and so many wonderful people to meet! 

See you all there!!!

Casey and Lindsay

Back to School Gathering

Some of us met at Silvertron in Forest Park a few weeks ago.  We had a lovely dinner and shared some of our ideas and goals for the new school year.  We also talked about possible ideas for workshops and meetings this year!  If you have any specific idea for topics to be covered at meetings or specific workshops you would like to attend, please let us know!

New School Year Get Together!

Hello everyone, it is almost that time again!  I hope everyone had a wonderful, restful summer.  We wanted to let you know our first meeting of the year.  It will be this coming Tuesday, August 14th at Silvertron at 6:00 pm.  Silvertron is located in Forest Park on Clairmont Avenue.  Come hungry! :) 

This will be an informal meeting, so if you can't make it, just let us know and we will give you all the info we discuss.  If you are new to BAEA, we are the Birmingham/Central Alabama chapter of the Alabama Art Education Association.  If you are a member of NAEA/AAEA, we encourage you to join our chapter!  Yearly dues are only $10, after you have paid your NAEA fees.  All workshops are free to you for the entire school year!  If you choose not to be a member, you can still come to workshops for a $25 charge.  

We have several new things planned for this year.  We would love to see you and talk to you about our goals! 

See you soon,

Casey Williamson and Lindsay Mouyal

Workshop Tonight

LAST BAEA MEETING OF THE YEAR REMINDER!!!

Tonight is our last BAEA meeting of the school year.  It will be today (Thursday May 3rd) at the Birmingham Museum of Art.  We will start at 4:30, because this is a hands on workshop.  We will be meeting this month in Studio 2.  May's  lesson can be adjusted for any grade level AND it involves recyling!  It is sponsored by Nasco Art Supply. The title of the workshop is "Art History in a BOTTLE?!"  It is a really great lesson, which incorporates reading and writing as well as painting!  There is no charge for members.  Non-members may pay at the meeting. 

The lesson is adapted from NASCO, to see their lesson plan and images click here!

Thanks again for your continued support and all the encouraging feedback we have received this year!  We cannot wait to get started next year, because we have so much planned already!  Have a wonderful summer everyone!

We hope to get together for a little bit of fellowship and discussing our plans and goals for the new school year sometime in late July!

Sloss Furnaces "Preserving the Heritage"

Sloss Furnaces is having a silent auction fundraiser event Sunday, June 26th from 5-8 pm. They are seeking donations to raise money to put towards structural and masonry repairs to the historical landmark.

Please consider donating some original artwork to this cause! Items due June 17th, 2011.

Donation and sponsorship information can be found at www.slossfurnaces.com or by contacting Karen Utz at karen.utz@ci.birmingham.al.us or 205.324.1911

Plus: Each donor will recieve 4 free tickets to the auction and a portion of the proceeds will be given to the Red Cross for the April 27th, 2011 tornado recovery!

Check out their donation flyer here!

Art Assessment Techniques

At our April meeting, we discussed the importance of assessment in the world or art education. This has always been true, but especially in hard times like we face today, assessment can be your best friend in helping you advocate the importance of the arts in schools. A lot of people who have not had the opportunity to visit your classroom and see what you do, have no clue what goes on in your learning space. Using art assessments can help you validate the importance of your art program to your administrators, form solid evidence for you to use in parent interactions, and provide you with the appropriate information you need to decide what is working in your lessons and what is not.

We had some really great ideas shared at the BAEA meeting. Jill and Olsen both talked about how integral sketchbook assignments are in their classroom. Depending on the level that you teach, you could do anything from a guided daily or weekly prompt to a more open-ended sketchbook assigment where the students are in charge of what goes into it. Stacia shared with us that her children have a sketchbook that they are really proud of and their art teacher (Miss Mary Jane) has her students illustrate quotes in their sketchbooks.

Another great way to encourage higher quality work is by posting a "Craftsmanship Visual Rubric" in your classroom (like the one Lindsay uses in her classroom shown below). This is a wonderful way to hold your students accountable for your expectatations of them. This one is tailored to the grading system Lindsay uses in her elementary classroom, but you can alter it to fit your needs. I think it really helps students to have a constant visual reminder hanging up in the classroom.

Another good one is this worksheet that students can fill out called "My Art Portfolio." You can use it as a cover sheet for student portfolios and/or have students fill them out at the end of the semester/year as you pass back art for them to take home. Click here for a printable version of the form!

Another assessment I like to use with my students is the "Word Bubble Critique." Since I teach elementary students, the criticism that can come with a critique can be a bit daunting for students and teacher alike! So, I got some dry-erase word bubbles (like these from crayola) and during our critique I give each student two word bubbles and a dry erase marker. They swap art with a partner and are instructed to write a "glow" on one bubble and a "grow" on another. A "glow" would be something that the artist was very succesful with in their artwork...the"grow" would come in the form of a question or suggestion. For example, "have you thought about using more lines and detail?" or "Maybe you should try using more of a variety of shapes to make the composition more interesting." My students love this activity and it is a great chance for them to use the proper art vocabulary in evaluating art! If you don't want to buy the word bubbles, you could even cut some out of posterboard and laminate them...

Casey, Stacia, and Lindsay also had some great assessment ideas that included everything from interactive worksheets for visitors of your art show to fill out to rubrics, exit slips, student self-checklists, and more! I put some of them into a word document so that you can print them out and use them in your classroom too! Click here to get to the google document. Some of the pictures/formatting wouldn't translate to google documments so if you would like me to email you the file I would be happy too...just let me know!

Also, here are a few links to online resources that include articles, pinterest boards, assessments, and more:

• http://rubistar.4teachers.org (Rubrics generator **free)


• http://princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/toolbox/assessment.html (has many links to articles about various assessment tools)


• www.prometheanplanet.com (use search feature to find many flipcharts for your promethean smart board...for example search "graphic organizers)


• http://artjunction.org/blog/?p=2865 (The Art Teacher's Guide to the Internet blog...)


• http://www.aep-arts.org/files/evaluation/EnvArtsAssess.pdf (great article on art assessments...good ideas on cross-content connections)


• http://www.theartofed.com/2012/01/12/introducing-aoe-ebooks-free-download/ (free downloadable eBook The Complete Guide to Simple Art Assessments)


• http://www.kinderart.com/artspeak/artart3.shtml (How to look art art...Feldman's Model)


• http://pinterest.com/artlindsay/art-education (my Pinterest Art Education board)


• http://pinterest.com/search/boards/?q=art+assessment (Pinterest boards themed on art assessments)
  
  

AAEA Fall Conference CALL TO PRESENT!

If you are interested in presenting a workshop at the Fall Conference, please submit a session proposal form. It is very short at only 2 pages. The conference will be at Orange Beach this year from October 18-21!

**THE SESSION PROPOSAl FORM IS DUE BY APRIL 18TH!

You can send it to Laura Alvord (address on form) or email her at lalvord@shelbyed.k12.al.us

HERE is the link to the form!