Bonjour! I arrived home a few days ago and was struggling with what to include in this post. There was so much that I experienced and saw, great teachers that I met, and there was even time for just sitting and enjoying a cool breeze as it passed by my way. As I reflected on my three days in Paris, I realized that I was able to truly enjoy those moments because I allowed myself to be in there without any distraction. I left my computer at home, my cell does not work over seas, and when I did call home it was via pay phone at 6 a.m. Paris time. Each morning I managed to get up at 4 a.m. and was ready by 5; I used the time before our group met to walk to the nearest pay phone and call home to recap events. Luckily my husband didn't mind the midnight call and it was really great to be up and about before anyone else, walking the streets while listening the the birds chirp awake the day.

I am a huge advocate for using technology. I blend my classroom online and I am an avid user of social media. But just like anything else, there should be a balance. I am very thankful for having that and taking a break from the computer last week and I think I need to do this in the classroom as well.

No one should only teach using one method because not all students learn in one way. I hope to keep that in mind when my students enter my classroom in the fall. I will take my experience of being unplugged and use that same spirit when we go outside to be inspired or start a new project and take time to just experience the act of making art. Art is about being in the moment; so is living a full life. If I spend all of my time online and plugged in, then I am probably missing out on a chance to be out there in the world doing something. If I am always checking my cell or twitter or facebook, then I am probably missing the chance to really be in a moment with the person or people I am around. It might sound like common sense, but sometimes a trip to Paris isn't a bad way to be reminded that it is true.

When I was a senior in high school, I had the opportunity to travel to Paris as a result of dance camp. At the Universal Dance Association camp at Michigan State University, I tried out for and made the All-Star team which allowed me to travel to Paris over Christmas break and dance in a New Years Day Parade with other All-Stars from around the U.S.

It was an amazing trip. I was the only one from my school who went, and one of three from Michigan. It was my first time traveling to Europe, and I was doing it without knowing anyone else who was going to be there.

I was also going on this trip that many consider an Art student's dream destination, without knowing really what I was seeing. I knew about the Eiffel Tower and Mona Lisa, but I was so uninformed about so many things before I went. One of my biggest regrets was not taking the trip to Versailles because we opted to shop instead (total idiot girl thing to do, I know).

Well, I am lucky because I get to do it all over again. Once again, I am going to Paris without knowing anyone else first. I am going to see the Mona Lisa again, the Eiffel Tower, and I get to have a redo at the palace of Versailles. I get to see paintings and sculptures and go to places that I have studied and read about and this time I will get the full impact of what I am seeing as I see it (instead of after my first college Art History course when I realize I saw paintings/sculptures being discussed in slides, but had no idea what they were when I was seeing them in real life). 

I am also going to go back to the way things were when I went back in 1999. I decided to take this trip unplugged - no computer - just my sketchbook and camera, like the first time around. I will post when I get back into town and share my sketches and pics. Until then, Au revoir.

Well, it is not midnight, and I am definitely not in Paris; but since I am going to Paris this week, it got me thinking about the film and how easy it is to identify with the main character. If you haven't seen the movie, you should, because it is great - classic Woody Allen dialogue with quirky characters and beautiful backdrops - it was easily one of my favorites from the other nominated films it was up against.

The main storyline of movie, if you have not seen it, is that at midnight this miraculous thing happens where the main character is able to travel back in time - to the 1920s - and get to spend moments with his writing idols and artists. The thought of being able to have a conversation with Hemingway or Fitzgerald, hear a song performed by Cole Porter, or see a painting created by Picasso is something that I think appeals to a lot of creative types. It would be amazing to walk into a cafe and run into Dali and or Man Ray and have a surrealist discussion about space and time.

I think the thought "if only I was born in (write time here) or could live in (write place here)" crosses the minds of a lot of people. I have those moments when I study art history and think about how exciting it would have been to be in certain places at certain times and really experience what it was like to be on the forefront of something special.

The thing is, though, if you spend all of your time wishing for that, you miss out on what you have going on right in front of you. As I interact with other teachers on places like twitter, I feel like I am a part of something special. I feel lucky and excited to be in a part of this time period, working with exciting media and getting to meet interesting people who inspire me and what I do in my classroom (even though the "meetings" are usually in under 140 characters and not face to face).

I am excited for my trip this week - I know the experience gained with help me teach my content (as well as gear up for the 2013 trip I am planning - there is still time to sign up if you want to come). I am also really excited to share this experience with my twitter PLN (like Jean King who recently returned from Spain and shared her ventures on twitter, making me feel like I was right there with her).

What is your "Midnight in Paris" moment? What inspires you? Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas below.

 One of the hardest things about my job is assessing student work. Everything else I consider to be fun - I love teaching my students new art skills, materials, artists, and connections between art and other subjects/life.  Nothing beats the moment a student says "This is the best thing I have ever made," or when they receive recognition at a local or national competition - it is seriously why I come back every year to try and outdo the previous, and it is why grading student work can be such a difficult task.

For the past couple of years I have done something different with assessment in my classroom. Instead of giving students a rubric before I get started on a project, I ask them what they think they should be graded and we create the rubric together. I was nervous the first couple of times I did this, and there was even resistance from students (I had one tell me in a exit interview that they like it better if I just tell them so they didn't have to think about it), but I really cannot see myself going back.

One reason is that this allows for both formative and summative assessment to take place. The formative component occurs when students are describing the qualities they think they should be graded on in their work. It allows for me to see if the main concepts from the lesson were learned by students. If we are studying abstract art and students are about to make an abstraction of something, but then tell me they think they should be graded on their ability to draw in a realistic manner it lets me know that I did not get across the meaning of abstraction and need to reteach the concept. The summative assessment comes from the project itself and whether or not they were able to follow to the rubric that we created as a class.

Another reason I will continue to use this method in my class is because it gives students the opportunity to have a say in how they are being graded. Anytime students are given an opportunity to have a hand in their own learning is a good thing. It is always interesting to see what students say they should be graded on when we do this, and although you might think each class would come up with completely different things, they don't.

Instead, students from different classes use similar language. Two criteria (also known as focus correction areas adapted from Collins Writing) seem to be consistent - RBE (reasonable best effort) and Craftsmanship. The other criteria are more specific to the project at hand. For example, if we are doing color wheel mandalas, students usually say that the other criteria should be creativity, the symmetry of the design, and the use of color. I try to keep the criteria to four or five things that can be specifically measured when we create the rubrics as a class. When we write down their criteria, we then go into what each should look like in their work. This helps students focus on the main ideas of what they need to execute and it also helps me focus on what to assess. It takes the guessing and ambiguity out of grading for both of us and makes it a little more pleasant.

Do you have a trick to assessment that seems to be working for you? Please share your thoughts below and let me know what you think of this idea and if you have done something similar in your own classroom.

I took this picture almost a year and a half ago when I started my classroom blog. I love buying new art supplies (especially pastels) and breaking them into smaller pieces before making anything with them. I often encourage my students to break them, too - which they find shocking. I also like pouring watercolor paint on my paper before drawing and doing other things that mark up the page so it is not so perfect before I begin. There is something about a clean white sheet of paper, or perfectly shaped pastel that can be pretty intimidating...

Although I do not suggest breaking other materials in the classroom, sometimes things happen like shattered rulers, busted brushes, and half-chewed erasers. As an art teacher, I find all kinds of moments that include broken bits and pieces I have to fit together again. Sometimes it is materials, other times it might be a improperly handled  project, and a lot of times it is my budget. Regardless of what gets broken, it is about what is done when the breaking happens. Dwell over it, or learn from it? My hope is that this blogging experience will help me learn from those moments and break through to new experiences that will help me be a better teacher.