Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Book Club! Wild Card by Hope and Wade King

Well, I accidentally took a wee blogging break and I'm super sorry! I had a really exciting opportunity pop up and I seriously had to just stop, drop and get the heck outta Dodge. I can't fill you in on any more details other than that...but I will be able to spill the beans soon. And when I can, trust me, y'all will be the very first to know. 

While I was on my adventure, I threw the idea of a book club out to my friends on Instagram. I picked up The Wild Card at the bookstore to read on my travels and I was really excited about it right from the start. I thought y'all might like to join me on Wednesdays during our Facebook and Instagram  LIVE chats at 8pm CST. This Book Club isn't exclusive to art teachers tho, I've opened the floor to all educators. The more, the merrier! I firmly believe we can all share, learn and grow so much with each other.

We'll start this coming Wednesday with a soft intro and a chat about the first chapter. Even if you don't get a chance to get the book or do the reading, I do hope you'll join the fun! 

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Thursday, June 8, 2017

An Art Teacherin' Book Club!

Most of y'all know that I host a Facebook LIVE chat (nearly) every Wednesday night at 8pm CST. I host it on my "official" Facebook page, not my personal one as I assume my non-art teacherin' friends would not be interested in hearing me chat about #artlife. If you've never joined one of our chats, it's a lot of fun. We art teacherin' types commiserate, celebrate and create. No kidding! The month of April, we felted, all through May we worked with clay and now...we're going to have an Art Teacherin' Book Club!
In last night's chat, which you can find archived here along with previous ones,  I shared my favorite art teacherin' books. Many folks who joined the chat shared their favorite books as well. There were so many that I've decided to dedicate them for a future blog post so stay tuned!

The book we settled on (okay, the book I strongly suggested and didn't give anyone a choice on the matter) is this one:
I absolutely love the idea of growth mindsets and the little reading that I've done has lead me to believe that this book will be a great one for us to explore. I love that it's divided up by months of the school year. Within each month, the authors Annie Brock and Heather Hundley share lessons, books and even film clips that emphasis the growth mindset being featured. As a group, I thought we art teachers could brainstorm ways to make this possible in our art rooms. Together, we can inspire our students to grow into the creative, compassionate and kind artists we know they have the capability to become. 
So, how to join the fun? First, get you a copy of the book! I won't be active on Facebook LIVE until July (taking a vacation with the mama AND hosting Art Scouts!). Stay tuned right here. As we get closer to July, I'll share just what we'll be chatting about each Wednesday night.

Until then, throw a good trashy novel into your online shopping cart when you order our book club book. After all, it's summer and you've earned it!
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Friday, July 11, 2014

Comin' Attcha Live: Opening the AOE Swag Box and an Artsy Book Order!

Hey, y'all! I was so excited to see these two boxes on my doorstep this afternoon (one from The Art of Education and the other my Artsy Book Club order, I made a wee film of myself opening them up! First up, the swag box from the Art of Education's online summer 2014 conference. If you aren't signed up for the conference yet, there's still time. I did make a BIG mistake in this clip when I said the conference is on Wednesday. It's actually Thursday, July 17th. I'll be there (with some art teacherin' rock stars) presenting at noonish. I hope to chat with you live at the conference! Now, let's talk swag, shall we?

Y'all, this box was amazing! You'll have to watch the clip to see what's inside...however if you can't stand the sound of my annoying voice (I promise within the first 30 seconds you will be so.over.it.) I did snap a pic of the loot. It's so good, you guys! Check it: 
 While I was oohing and ahhing over the contents, someone was makin' herself at home in the box.
"WHAT?! If it fits, I sits. DUH."
(that face. I don't even know.)
Anyone else gotten their books yet? I'm excited to start creating and pirating with y'all!

And, there you have it! I do hope you enjoy these completely unedited and obnoxious clips. I'd love to do more...but I'd also love to keep the handful of readers that I have. Thanks for dropping by, y'all.

I'll see you at the AOE Conference on Thursday. In the meantime, let's read some good books and watch kittens crawl in boxes, emkay? Chat with ya soon!
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Sunday, January 19, 2014

What the Art Teacher Wore #86 and Our Artsy Book of Choice!

Still-Life Dress Monday: So I totally know what you're thinking: Geesh, Stephens, that dress is a lil short doncha think? Yeah, looking at this photo, I totally agree. That's the prob with being a little on the tall side, clothing is often a little on the small side. Regardless, when you teach little kids, I swear to you, they don't notice this kinda stuff (mine don't anyway). What they did love was the photograph of the lady and the examples of still-life paintings which inspired several convos. dress: scored cheaply on Modcloth; tights: Target; boots: Frye, picked up at a second hand shop; necklace: DIY embroidery, details here
Hey, ya'll! I hope you guys are having a super amazing weekend...AND looking forward to a lovely Monday off in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. If you DON'T have the day off, my apologies. I'll stay in my pajamas and craft a little bit longer in your honor. 

This past week was my first 5-day'er since the holidays and I can't believe I made it! I tried out some of your vocabulary suggestions this week (an updated post with your amazing suggestions to come), continued stencil marbling with my third and fourth graders, and wore my Starry Night light up dress for kindergarten town. Then yesterday, hubs and I went on a 12 mile hike on which I decided to wear my new hiking boots which weigh, I swear, five pounds each. I felt like I was walking with overweight koala bears clinging to my ankles. Which sounds cute. Trust me, it wasn't. All that jibber-jabber to say, I'm beat and I think Ima need Monday just to recover.
Or, MAYBE, I'll spend Monday purchasing our Artsy Book Club book of choice: One Drawing a Day by Veronica Lawlor (available on amazon here)! Thank you to all of you that voted -- it was a seriously close race between this book and two others. Perhaps if this book club idea takes off, we'll read those other books as well. 

Now, I've done a little homework and I found that the author, along with several other illustrators, has a blog that might give you an idea of what we'll be creating. I've been trying to dream up ways for us to share our drawings with each other and chat back and forth about our experience. AND how we art teachers can share this experience with our students (Drawing Club, anyone...?).

For that reason, I've created an Artsy Book Club Facebook page! Please feel free to join the page whether your reading the book and sharing your drawings or not. I hope that this will be an inspiring and fun experience for all of us.

For everyone to have enough time to purchase their book and begin thinking about when in the world they'll find time to create a drawing a day, let's begin reading this book Monday, February 3rd. Of course, you can begin at any ole time...I just wanted to give those of you that love deadlines and such, a deadline and such. Oh, I'm so excited! I'm looking forward to getting started!
Starry Night Tuesday: Once every six days, I have three kindergarten classes back-to-back for 45 minutes at a time. I drink a tall cup of patience, have a couple of amazing assistants on hand and try my very best not to grow any more gray hairs by the end of the two plus hours. On this day, I had 'em in the palm of my paint-splattered hand when I sit the switch on my dress. Granted, that moment didn't last too long...but enough to get their attention and have 'em interested in all things Starry Night and van Gogh-y. dress: DIY Starry Night here; tights and top: Target; boots: Marshall's
Sweet or Savory? Marilyn Murphy, 2010. Since we'll be drawing, I wanted to share with ya'll one of my favorite artists whose medium of choice is pencil, Marilyn Murphy. Ms. Murphy is a local artist who is also a professor of art at Vanderbilt University. I have been in love with her work since discovering it a coupla years ago. It's so retro, Twilight Zone-y and simply amazing.
Hot Java, 2007. One thing I really love about her surrealist work are the stories that you can create just by looking at her drawings. She creates a mystery in her drawings and leaves you to solve it. And what fun it is to unravel the strange elements.

Security Tag Wednesday: So I have wanted this Anthro dress since the beginning of time. BUT it was always, like, one million dollars. When I found it at a resale shop for $20, I flipped out! Until I got all the way home (from Cali) only to find they'd forgotten to remove the security tag. WHUH? So hubs and I spent some time watching youtube videos (some by folks who OBVIOUSLY did  A LOT of shoplifting, le sigh) and using a lighter, a knife and some tweezers had the thing off the dress in a matter of minutes. Future DIY post...? sweater: thrifted; dress: Buffalo Exchange; boots and belt: Anthro
Profiterole, 2008. Ms. Murphy has created many of these lasso'ing-things-from-the-sky pieces and I absolutely love them. I'm really drawn to the color sky blue so that could be a reason these pieces are some of my faves.
Hair Cuttin' Thursday: Ya'll, I NEVER get my hair cut. Only because I'm lazy. But it's gotten so long and gnarly on the ends, I just had to do it. Now you know your hair is too long when they make you stand up for your hair cut. Seriously? She took off 3" and did a fab job...but you cannot even tell the difference. dress and shoes: thrifted; blouse and necklace: gift; tights: Target
The Getaway, 2005.
Friday!: Marbling papers with 4 classes of 3rd and 4th graders will seriously wear you out! But they loved it so much. I had one boy tell me that this was his "new favorite day of the year" and several others come up to me and say, "thank you for teaching us this." Totally worth the mess. sweater: Old Navy; dress: vintage, thrifted; boots and belt: Anthro; tights: Target
Haunted by Tradition, 2010.











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