In this article, the author provides some tips for presenting at local, state and national art education conferences. He hopes that these personal reflections and guidelines will be helpful in planning and executing a memorable presentation.

There is a wonderful community of art educators connecting a once-isolated profession through blogging. Art educators around the world are sharing ideas and communicating with their peers through this amazing resource. In this article, the author describes the bottle cap mural at Tulip Grove Elementary School which was inspired by this exchange of…

As an art teacher, the author has shied away from designing instructional units around the big idea of "ecology." Personally passionate about the topic, she feared that she would not be able to guide students effectively away from finished products that looked more like "save the earth" posters than layered, metaphorical, and sophisticated works…

Last spring, students from several North Carolina middle schools were invited to participate in the annual Celebrate the Arts festival in Columbus Country. Larry Hewett, a local art teacher, had been selected to instruct the middle-school students. Larry's River Rock Circles project was made as the starting point for the Celebrate the Arts…

This article features Ken Vieth, an artist, a best-selling author, an international workshop presenter, and a master teacher with 33 years of experience working with students at the secondary level. Vieth first came to the notice of Davis Publications years ago through his many articles in this journal. He has written more than 60 articles for…

This article describes an exhibit entitled "Critter Folk" for the Betty Foy Sanders department of art at Georgia Southern University. The theme of the exhibit is folk art "critters"--crocodiles, chickens, cows, snakes, elephants, cats--from the Smith Callaway Banks Southern Folk Art Collection. The organizers invited two…

One of the author's main goals as an art teacher is to make sure that her students understand at least one technique that any artist might use to make a work of art look more interesting. While she teaches various techniques, she often faces the challenge of how to get her students to explore their own imaginations and feel confident in their…

Successful teaching involves continuous learning, stimulation, motivation, and networking with other art educators. To help art teachers improve themselves, SchoolArts magazine recently organized the Folk Art Traditions and Beyond Seminar at Ghost Ranch in Santa Fe. In this article, the author describes the highlights of the Folk Art Traditions…

In this article, the author shares how she was able to discover some big ideas about art education. She relates how she found great ideas to improve her teaching from the book "Rethinking Curriculum in Art." She also shares how she designed a "Big Idea" unit in her class.

In this article, the author describes her experiences as an overseas art teacher. She relates how teaching art and living overseas has provided her with new opportunities to work with a diverse student and faculty population. She also relates how living abroad has made her learn about foreign countries and their inhabitants in an in-depth and…

Did you know that a hummingbird weighs less than a penny? Or that an elephant swims twenty miles a day? These are just two of the many facts that Snapple prints on the lids of their drink bottles. When Snapple first introduced the Snapple Real Facts the author was excited to see that something so trivial was also educational. She asked herself if…

When teaching still-life drawing to her eighth-grade students, the author decided they needed a challenge on their final assignment. She thought that making it personal would be more appealing to students than drawing a typical still-life arrangement. She decided to have students create a small collage-style arrangement as a subject for a…

Throughout the author's career as an art educator in public schools and at the university level, a perplexing question has recurred: "Why teach art?" This query never fails to surprise her, for in her estimation the arts are at the very core of all art educators need to know and what they should be teaching. As art teachers--regardless of where or…

In this article, the author describes how she was inspired to develop a new approach for art educators and professional development. The art activity she developed places both the student and teacher on the same playing field. The project entails integration of a teacher's and a student's work. The art activity allows two individuals to work…

One American artist that students enjoy is Keith Haring. They love the symbolic figures, movement, energy, vitality, spirit, and excitement that characterizes his art. Haring was driven by a strong desire to communicate and developed his own language with his bold lines, objects, figures, colors and patterns. In this article, the author presents…