And the winners are...

 This week students voted on which flag they wanted to represent their class. It was very challenging for students to pick a winner because ALL the flags were OUTSTANDING! The winning flags are now proudly displayed as the course icon in Schoology. Here are the final flags for each class:

Red Class - made by Blake, Ellis, and Josh

Orange Class - made by Michelle, Callan, Jessica

Blue Class - made by Cadia, Mason G, Izzy

Purple Class - made by Martin, Silas, Gus

Are you able to tell what values each class hold most important? These four flags were chosen due to their creativity and excellent display of our class values & interests. All of the flags are featured on the virtual art show (click the tab at the top of the blog).

I received a ton of positive feedback from students after this project. I am so happy to be able to provide my students with a way to collaborate with classmates, even at a distance! I am going to craft up some more great projects that incorporate collaboration because they did a fantastic job of it and it is so nice to be able to communicate with friends!

Virtual Class Flags

 I always begin creative arts with a class flag project. Typically students come up with a design as a class, and then everyone creates a drawing that represents something important that the whole class values. Since we aren't meeting in person this semester, students are working to create a digital class flag, and so far I am beyond impressed with their collaboration skills!

We started the week off with a pear deck and discussion on culture - first reflecting on cultures we belong to and then looking at similarities between us that help create our class culture. I put students in teams of 3 and 4 and this is where the fun began: the challenge is to create a flag that represents our class culture using a Google slide and communicating only through chat boxes. I was so proud to see how well the members of each group were able to communicate their thoughts so clearly and share responsibilities in searching for items to include in their flag. Here are a few screenshots of the process:

Next week students are going to complete their flags and fill out a short artist statement explaining how the flag represents our class as a whole. The final step is to vote for the flag students like best and the winning flag will be proudly displayed as our Schoology image! I cannot wait to see how these flags turn out next week. Stay tuned!

Happy First Week of School!

 Hello and welcome back! I am so excited to be back teaching students, even if it is from a distance. I've chosen to teach virtually from my classroom because I missed my space so much!

I've enjoyed getting to meet my new students! I have one more class I will meet with on Thursday, and I am really looking forward to it. If you are reading this, then you must have clicked the link on my syllabus! This is the blog that I have been using since my first year of teaching (I can hardly believe that this is already year six), so you can scroll through and see stories and pictures about the assortment of projects my former students have worked on. This is my third year as the creative arts teacher at OMS and before teaching here, I was the 5th-8th grade art teacher at Frederick Classical Charter School. The projects designed for art students at the charter school were based on world history, so it was easy to adapt many of my lessons for my creative arts students here!

In creative arts, students explore world culture and look at the many different ways they express themselves through art. Students will also have the opportunity to talk about cultures they identify with and share elements of art with their classmates! Virtual classes may seem impersonal in a way, but this is a hands-on class that students can succeed in from any environment.

I also teach one section of year-long Invention & Innovation. If there are any I&I students out there who are craving a little bit of artistic creativity, I can always share some art mini lessons with you to work on in your free time - I know that it is so hard to choose just one elective when you have several interests, so I'm happy to share my resources!

Invention & Innovation is the other 7th grade exploratory opposite of creative arts. Next semester, my students in CA will take I&I with Mr. Kinloch. I&I is a class that allows students to explore  the history of inventions and innovations and apply the design process to create a new product, process, or system. Students are able to put their creative spin on any project and are always encouraged to show off their imaginative ideas!

Please explore the tabs at the top of my blog. The Virtual Art Show is a fan favorite because I keep record of all of the slideshows from my previous classes. The Spring 2020 Virtual Art Show will give students an idea of some of the artwork they may produce during our semester together. 

If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to message me on Schoology or through email! I look forward to an awesome year!