In The Art Room

This was my very first look at my classroom at Guy E. Rowe School. It was very exciting to be able to see the place where I will be spending countless hours in, a place that will be transformed into a second home for me and hopefully my students, and FINALLY a place I can call a classroom of my own!

P.S. Sorry about the abrupt cut off at the end - my camera decided that I was all done filming, but it was right before I got back to where I began anyway. 

Today was a very exciting day, I was able to see one of my classrooms for the first time. I met with the Melanie, the principal of Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris to receive my keys to my classroom and the school. I took this opportunity to grab a few photos of the room set up. Since I only am in the school one day a week my room is also used by the gifted and talented program, the guidance counselor, and possibly the music teacher. I'm thinking it will take a little while to get this room in order with the limited amount of time I have there, but still very excited nonetheless. 

The Industrial Design Society of America is an innovative group of creative problem solvers that are passionate about changing our world through creative thinking. I was inspired when I joined a group of art educators from across New England at the IDSA National Conference in Boston today. The workshop was led by Doris Wells-Papanek, M.Ed. who is a leader in the design learning field. Working closely with the IDSA Wells has spent the past few years advocating for a focus on design learning in our public school system. 

This year Wells developed a challenge for k-12 teachers called the IDSA Design Learning Challenge 2013. I will defiantly be participating this year so stay tuned for updates!

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from today. It is by Dr. Rex Jung, a frontrunner in the science of how the brain works when it is learning and creating. 

"Cultivating the next generation of creative innovators is critical to our culture, economy, and survival as human species."