A big and tall bird told me...

   A big and tall bird the other day told me I needed to get back to blogging. Thanks Mr. E, it was the kick in the tail I needed. 

   I've been reluctant to blog lately because of many things, but that is no excuse. Because there technically is so few resources out there for art educators, it's up to bloggers and pinners to spread the paint so to say. My friend Whitney Duncan (a fellow art eddie) told me just yesterday at our PD that it's unfortunate how few resources there are for middle and high school art teachers. Don't get me wrong, there are GREAT ones out there. Take Art of Apex High School  and Artful Artsy Amy for example, and don't get me started with pinterest. There still are not enough. 

  

   THough I am still saddened to be leaving my elementary followers, I hope you do still continue to follow my blog. Much of my management has not changed. It's just been modified. A lot has been happening this first semester so expect to see more posts over the holiday breaks. 

   I'd like to start off with an awesome moment from yesterday. I awoke so excited for our county's art teacher professional development. Why, you may ask? Because leading our PD was non-other then Ted Edinger. YES! Art With Mr. E and is awesome friendister Janet Malone! 

   We began by going over our state's new portfolio evaluation for fine arts teachers. I won't go into the details here, but you are more then welcome to read about them yourself… HERE. What I will say about it is that TN has woken up and realized that teachers from different subject areas need to be evaluated differently and we are so excited to be starting this process. 

  

   Then after many great examples and questions about the portfolio came the fun stuff!! We got to make a project with shrinky dink (aka Grafix Shrink Films). All you need is half a sheet or 1/4 sheet of the stuff, draw on it with permanent markers, color with wet chalk, punch a hole in it, cook in toaster oven, and Ta-Da!!! You have an ornament, pendant, earrings, whatever!! It is awesome and sadly the first time I'd ever used the stuff. 

   We then went to have a lovely lunch at the local favorite Mt. Pleasant Grille. If you ever come to the small town of Mt. Pleasant, TN you must go there. It was so packed that our whole 12 person party had to split up amongst booths. Not even a short power outage slowed this place down though. Their homemade ice cream is simply amazing as well. Wish you could have been there to hear the crazy animal tales we all shared...

Thanks @whitleah for letting me use your pic. 

   We ended the day with more amazing examples for the evaluation portfolio and a final project. Ugly Dolls which you can find on Mr. E's website. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of my ugly doll. 1. Because I was enjoying the process too much to take a picture and 2. Because when I sat my bag down in the floor when I got home, the little guy tumbled out, and my two puppies thought it was for them… It was quick and painless I dare say… 

   I want to finish up by saying a HUGE thank you to Mr. E and Janet for one of the best PD's we have had in a long time. I came away with a better since that I was on the right track for my evaluation. We really do hope you are able to come back again. Oh, and I promise to keep blogging. ;)