Jim Dine & Brene Brown (Summer Art Lesson Post and Summer Reading)

I have committed to reading 30 books this year.  And, I do love a good goal. So, I am posting a little fun art lesson from last school year and a super good book that I highly recommend. 

Have you heard of Brene Brown? If not, check out her website:

https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/

A friend suggested that I do a deep dive in reading the book Dare To Lead. So I did! Well, I listened to it as I drove to Memphis. Have you read it? It is so so so good, but jammed packed with lots of information. I found myself wanting to pull over and write things down. 

2 things are for sure in my career...

1 I love to do art with kids

2 I love to GROW in my job

As an artist, I know I need to feed my mind, body and soul with good stuff! I think I am on the right track here.

Check out our other blog post on Jim Dine:

https://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2010/02/pastels-poster-and-popart.html

https://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2015/08/back-to-school-got-me-thinkin-about.html

https://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2018/04/painting-confetti-on-jim-dine-hearts.html

https://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2019/01/dine-hearts-and-bears-oh-my.html

https://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2014/12/jim-dine-chalk-pastes.html

https://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2019/02/pollock-meet-dine-oh-how-divine.html

Yeah, kids just love the freedom to paint. You can tell by these hearts.

When was the last time you just painted for the sake of painting?

Me, last week. And, get this - the title of my painting is 

"Own Your Crazy" - fitting these days for me =)

Ok, I also made another goal as a recent empty nester. I plan to create 30 original pieces of art this year. Stay tuned for that post! It should be a good one. Thanks Brene for the information on leadership. You are amazing and I know this book will help to grow our Visual Arts Department...Appreciate it! 

Painted Paper and Cutting Skills-Executive Functioning Skills

For this summer, I have made a promise to myself about being intentional with my teaching efforts, philosophy and my own professional development. You see I started teaching right out of college in 1991. Each year I see more and more students lacking in executive functional skills. This lesson was taught to see how many of my 8th graders would have issues with their cutting skills. I can say that I do see a significant difference in students' behavior in my class from 1991 to 2019. The use of scissors seems to be a skill that is lacking. Crazy, right? Read on for more information.

Great links for teachers and parents:

https://amycarney.com/walk-away-from-doing-these-8-things-for-your-teen-this-school-year/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/04/we-need-stop-pushing-our-kids-parents

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/executive-functioning-issues-strategies-you-can-try-at-home

https://childmind.org/article/helping-kids-who-struggle-with-executive-functions/

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/adhd-awareness-month-top-10-tips-from-executive-function-coaches

The buzz word for our 2019-2020 school year is Executive Function.

What is an Executive Function Skill?

https://www.smartbutscatteredkids.com/about/terms/

I just finished the required Professional Development for our school's Book Club.

https://www.smartbutscatteredkids.com/books/

More information can be found on this website:

https://www.smartbutscatteredkids.com/

Bottom line - I had mixed feelings about this book as a parent and a teacher. Check it out and see what you think about it.

The art lesson taught here was really about making the painted paper pieces with the left-over paint at the end of the quarter. I decided to later have the art students cut out shapes to create feathers for their birds. Really simple, but a great amount of data was collected for me and how I wanted to use my time this summer to best effectively tackle my classroom and student needs for the following fall.

Stay tuned. I also set a goal of reading 30 books this year and I am at 14 as of now! If you know me, you know I stay in the road these days driving to Memphis to see daughter and driving to Georgia to check on my parents. So, I do lots of audio books - but I am loving it!

How are you growing this summer? Are you being intentional on your professional growth and development?