I was recently explaining to someone that asking and encouraging my students to take ownership of their school space was very important to me. I strongly believe that if a students feels that they are a part of the whole school community they are much more likely to succeed. This seems like an obvious observation,... Continue Reading →
About two months ago, I was at my local CVS buying myself my millionth new color of nail polish and I suddenly realized what I wanted my next after school club to be. Since we are an accelerated school I have a constantly changing roster. Our students move through our school very quickly. So, even... Continue Reading →
After a whole unit of surrealism with loads of research, written assignments and painting I wanted to end out summer session on a positive and fun note with a care-free activity. (No not movie day! That is generally a teacher a cop-out unless you are teaching the history of film) Once presentations were done I... Continue Reading →
Since I have started working at my High School in North Philadelphia I have fallen in love with my whiteboard. I like to buy lots of colorful expo markers and make my board not just a place for information, but a fun place for information! There is also a projector mounted above my board so... Continue Reading →
After all the campers hard work it is time for the bells and whistles. The pom-poms, and feathers. The customization that will add the final touches to their papier-mâché piece. I explain that there are 5 boxes of decorations for them to choose from. They can pick ribbons from the ribbon box, or marbles and... Continue Reading →
The second part of our three part book making project is creating the beautiful silk screen prints that fill the inside of our books. Using the classic snow-flake-cutting technique my campers fold and then cut to create symmetrical stencils which we then use to create these colorful creations: This is very permanent ink so it... Continue Reading →
This is the final result of two of the amazing things we do at the Decorative Fine Arts camp at Glen Echo. We use the silk-screen prints that we've made along with out class mates to create a book of prints. Then we use the Marbleized Paper to cover two pieces of cardboard as our... Continue Reading →
We went to Egypt this week in my Art Around the World class at P.S. 154. The class began with a rowdy group of children, a missing parent volunteer and one boy kicking another one. Sometimes you just have days like this. While I did have a parent volunteer last week I should have suspected... Continue Reading →
We read a traditional folk tale about a small elf and a lonely boy getting his wish to have a friend. It was one of the short stories in the Golden Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies, by Jane Werner. It was a very old copy that I had found while digging around in my... Continue Reading →
