The Art Teacher's Files
If you are under about 35, you might not even know what we're talking about. Long before doc cams and ceiling mounted projectors, before the internet gave us access to an unlimited number of art images, art teachers scrounged images from anywhere we could. I clipped art images from old textbooks, magazines, calendars, & post cards. We created files and when the day finally came that we had enough Picasso clippings, we could glue them all on a piece of poster board! We have years & years of SchoolArts magazines (see the 2nd shelf) and the posters that came in them. If your school had the budget, you might get to order some bigger prints, but they were expensive. All of this shaped the way we planned lessons. If you could only have prints of about 10 artworks, what would you pick? We all had a Mona, a Starry Night, an O'Keeffe, maybe a Sunflowers, Head of Man, and Persistance of Memory. We had to get a lot of mileage out of the prints we had.
And, we haven't even talked about the files & notebooks full of hard copies of lesson plans & ideas yet!
If you are under about 35, you might not even know what we're talking about. Long before doc cams and ceiling mounted projectors, before the internet gave us access to an unlimited number of art images, art teachers scrounged images from anywhere we could. I clipped art images from old textbooks, magazines, calendars, & post cards. We created files and when the day finally came that we had enough Picasso clippings, we could glue them all on a piece of poster board! We have years & years of SchoolArts magazines (see the 2nd shelf) and the posters that came in them. If your school had the budget, you might get to order some bigger prints, but they were expensive. All of this shaped the way we planned lessons. If you could only have prints of about 10 artworks, what would you pick? We all had a Mona, a Starry Night, an O'Keeffe, maybe a Sunflowers, Head of Man, and Persistance of Memory. We had to get a lot of mileage out of the prints we had.
And, we haven't even talked about the files & notebooks full of hard copies of lesson plans & ideas yet!
But the reality is... I don't teach this way anymore.
I'm no longer limited by my collection of posters, prints & files. Over the last several years I've hardly opened these drawers. I still use my large prints for some activities, but I don't let those prints determine what I teach.
In minutes I can pull together several digital images of a specific artist, style, or concept, and present them big & bright on the screen! This has probably been the biggest game-changer of my teaching career. Sooo.....
It's time to PURGE the files.
Really. This summer. I'm doing it.
Okay ... who's with me?
I'm no longer limited by my collection of posters, prints & files. Over the last several years I've hardly opened these drawers. I still use my large prints for some activities, but I don't let those prints determine what I teach.
In minutes I can pull together several digital images of a specific artist, style, or concept, and present them big & bright on the screen! This has probably been the biggest game-changer of my teaching career. Sooo.....
It's time to PURGE the files.
Really. This summer. I'm doing it.
Okay ... who's with me?