Did you know Thursday marked The Art of Education’s eleventh online conference? It’s true! Over 2,200 registered attendees viewed and participated from around the country—and around the world—from the comfort of their own homes!
The Presentations
The day was jam-packed with dozens of incredibly relevant topics and one exceptional presenter, contemporary artist, Jen Stark. All in all, there were 20+ dynamic presentations curated to match the needs of art teachers and to provide the freshest and newest ideas happening right now in art education.
In addition, every presenter made sure all teachers walked away with something relevant to their practice, whether they taught Pre-K, high school, or anything in between!
The Freebies!
The SWAG box for this conference was nothing short of amazing! Teachers couldn’t wait to share the pictures of the goodies delivered right to their doors. The box included samples from OOLY, Gelli Arts®, Art to Remember, Tombow, Chartpak, Blick, and more!
Art Teacher win in my mail today!!!!Fun new art supplies to play with in my little art studio as I eagerly anticipate the #artednow 2018 summer conference! #artednowswag pic.twitter.com/lv4zYDZ0IS
— JTL Art Classes (@jtlart) July 18, 2018
In addition, other companies provided hundreds of dollars in online discounts and freebies. And that was just the start! AOE Founder, Jessica Balsley, and Art Ed Radio host, Tim Bogatz, hosted the event (with cameos from AOE writers, Lindsey Moss and Abby Schukei, and gave away thousands of dollars in materials and giveaways throughout the day.
The Hourly Breakdown
We want to give you a complete look at all the conference details, so here it is—the hour-by-hour breakdown! Check out the outstanding presenters, the best information, and some inspiring tweets and photos from our attendees!
Hour 1: Building Your Community
The first hour of the conference was all about strategies to build a community, both inside and outside your classroom walls. Debi West began the day with a long list of opportunities for service learning with your students.
She was followed by Nic Hahn, who asked the big question, “What is Family?” and demonstrated an amazing lesson she does with her students. After that was the team of Matt Young and Craig Huffman, whose presentation had teachers both laughing and thinking about new ways to start the year. Finally, Tess Hwang shared an incredible way to bring street art into your classroom.
Hour 2: Teaching Strategies that Work
When the second hour rolled around, presenters shared some of their best practices and teaching strategies. Differentiation, ceramics ideas, and assessment were all on the table!
Ben Schumaker, director of The Memory Project, closed the hour with an emotional and inspirational presentation about the power of art.
Hour 3: New Ideas for the New School Year
After a quick break, Wynita Harmon opened up the third hour by sharing how to develop a quality lesson in “Using Gelli Plates to Provide Creativity and Choice in Printmaking”.
https://twitter.com/V_L_Pfeiffer/status/1025075403516518400
The hour continued with great talks from Alexandra Overby about using Artsonia for digital portfolios, and Lindsey Moss on creating escape rooms to help your students engage with art history. Finally, Lena Rodriguez ended the hour with a spectacular presentation on encaustic painting.
https://twitter.com/ARTcrayons/status/1025080117188591616
Hour 4: The Importance of Creativity
The fourth hour began with an amazing keynote presentation from contemporary artist, Jen Stark. She talked about her artmaking process, the artists she looks up to, and why she appreciates art teachers so much. It was inspiring and motivational.
Following Jen Stark, Don Masse shared his favorite apps that help students collaborate and play. Next up was Ruth Post with “The Power of Pretend,” and Haley Parker closed the hour by showing all the things that could be done with OOLY watercolors.
https://twitter.com/MrsG_Art/status/1025105282031124486
Hour 5: Tutorials and Techniques
Art Ed Now’s final hour was all about tutorials and techniques that can work for your students. The hour started off with Ray Yang discussing the history and teaching power of comics. Amber Kane followed with another hands-on artmaking activity, taking fibers from craft to creative endeavor.
Rachel Albert put together a complete guide to stop-motion animation, and John Post closed the conference by showing you how you can work with your kids to dig up clay to use in your classroom!
John Posts…the clay Macgyver of the art world we all need. #ArtedNow pic.twitter.com/YR4vdDqraS
— Betz Creative Chaos (@BCreative_Chaos) August 2, 2018
All of these presentations had takeaways teachers will use the rest of this school year and beyond!
Join us this winter!
It was a great day of learning for teachers, and we look forward to doing it all again next February! We hope you’ll join us because participants definitely found the conference worth their while.
I am overwhelmed by how much amazing information was shared today. This is going to be an amazing year in art class @StAmbroseChev! #ArtedNow
— Kathryn (@MrsAMusicArt) August 2, 2018
Now it’s time to put these ideas to work! Use what you saw at the conference to inspire your teaching and inspire your students.
Start the school year off right and bring fresh energy into your classroom with all of these new ideas.
Hope to see you next time!
Did you attend the conference? What was your favorite presentation?
Who would you like to see present at the next conference?
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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