MNPS ART INSERVICE 2011

This is Janet(Ms. Malone) & I at inservice today!  We always help out in the morning with registration....and like to "dress up" to bring a smile to people's faces.

Art teachers really have a hard time just setting there listening!  Though..to be fair...there was a lot of setting there listening.  BRING ON THE CLAY!!!!!!!!!!

We created clay fish & used slip to paint them.  Take a moment to look through the pictures...there are some awesome fish!!!!! 

This is my fish!

This was at The Frist Center for the Visual Arts.  We were listening to a presentation on the Egyptian exhibit that will be arriving soon.  It was interesting, but we were all wanting to get to the gallery to see the Warhol exhibit(AND WAS IT EVER AMAZING!!!!!!). 

County Fair Art Show

One of the joys of living outside of Nashville is you can  have the small town feel but be oh-so-close to the big city!!!  Nothing makes me think of my small town roots like the county fair!  However, we have the county fair of county fairs!(rated one of the top in the USA)  Last year I submitted one of my paintings in the art exhibition and won second place!  They only allow you to submit one per category.  So I submitted WINTER(I made in my last semester of grad school) which is watercolor & HARVEST TIME(I made over two days before having to submit it!) which is mostly colored pencil. When I dropped them off I got a glimpse of the other pieces...some great stuff!  Ya might not think you get quality at a county fair...but I'm excited to see it all up!!!  I'll let you know if I win!!  Hopefully the goats & pigs don't break in and eat our art!!! ha ha 

300!

At the start of last school year I was hoping I could hit 100 followers by Christmas.  A year later(school starting Monday for teachers)...I now have 300 followers on blogspot!  THAT IS JUST NUTTY!  Thank you everyone who follows Art With Mr. E!  I pray that as a new school year begins you will find fresh ideas, new takes on old ideas, steadfast projects worth revisiting, inspiration, encouragement, honesty, humor, and a whole lot of fun! Here's hoping the 2011-2012 school year is one of the best ever!

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I've never been in this for followers!?!?!?!  I do this because I feel connecting to other art teachers is a worth while pursuit!!  A win win situation!!!!  Having people that actually care about what I say is amazing to me...and icing on the cake! :) 

Second Day of Two Day Inservice

You want to see how different art teachers are...take a look at the projects they did today during our second day of inservice!!!  We had 50+ art teachers...with the group split in half.  Both days the groups did studio projects, did reverse unit planning(off of the studio project...placing it in the new curriculum), as well as worked on another unit for another grade level off of the new curriculum.  I believe most teacher enjoyed the 2 days & what we had planned.  However, it was what was not on our schedule that made the time so wonderful & rich!  You get that many art teachers together(which happens too little)...and the ideas that start flying around are enough to make your head spin! 

We are going to start meeting once a 9 weeks in a general session, try to have professional development days at least once a 9 weeks, and encouraging using some of our 5 professional days given us by the district to visit other art teachers!!  So hopefully...connecting will continue throughout the year!!!  

First Day of Two Day Inservice

Toilet Paper Roll Owls(inspired by a pinned Pinterest project!)

 Follow-Up Project- teachers had to draw their owl(larger than their hand) and create an interesting environment for him/her.  They also needed at least 5 patterns in the picture.

TEACHERS, IF YOU DO NOT SEE YOUR PROJECT...THE PICTURE DID NOT TURN OUT! SORRY!

Today was day one of our two day inservice/swap days.  Janet, Daryl, Tim, and I are leading the event that takes 50+ MNPS elementary art teachers(of our 90+) through the new TN State Standards for Visual Arts, as well as the new MNPS Visual Arts Curriculum for Elementary.  These topics can be "heavy" and not a whole lot of fun.  HOWEVER...WE BRING THE FUN!!! :) ha ha  We made sure to keep in interactive, studio experiences, application of information through group unit planning, and just a whole lot of art teacher talk(something that we just don't get enough of face to face!!).  The teachers(most of them) seem to enjoy themselves, and I'm totally looking forward to tomorrow!