MAYCO Professional Development

We had another WONDERFUL day of professional development.  Thanks to Pauline Wyndham from MAYCO for sharing her expertise, tips and tricks with all our visual art faculty.  We are all thinking of ways to utilize the laser printer transfer technique with our kids --- can we say empty bowl project?

Tomorrow we have Kiln Safety Training with me and Mural-making with our own Cynthia Rodriguez of Sommer ES.  Hope to see you there!

Sketchbook Construction Workshop

Despite a few bumps, we had an AWESOME Sketchbook Construction Workshop today!  Led by Mel Basham from Shephard ISD, visual art faculty from all levels, (Elementary, Middle and High School) created three sample books that can be used within the studio class in a myriad of ways.  Thanks to all those who attended and brought materials to share  --- everyone made EXCELLENT books.  Now get out there and figure out how you are going to do sketchbook construction within you own school for enhanced learning in visual art!  See you all tomorrow for MAYCO.

Empty Bowl Project 2011

Wow! The Empty Bowl Project was a great success. Over $10,000 was collected for the Round Rock Service Center. All of the bowls were unique and the comments made by the community were amazing. The Enchilada Soup donated from Chili's was great. It is amazing what can be accomplished by people coming together. Plus a great big thanks to Kelly Schaffer for getting this new annual event up and running.

Winter Break Where Did You Go?

This morning when I pulled up to school there were 5 students walking around the building waiting to get inside... until I spoiled their fun and told them they had one more day off! Crazy kids.

I hope that everyone had a great winter break! I had a relaxing first week, but it went by too quick. The second week of break I spent a LOT of time up at school painting two murals in the office. I have never painted anything on that large of a space, so I had no idea that they would take so long. I also couldn't get the projector to line up right or get to the right size, so I ended up doing it all free hand. I'm surprised that they turned out okay! I have one more to complete this upcoming weekend. (below is a quick animoto video of some pictures during the painting process)

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

The fall semester fleeeeeeeew by and I have been warned that the spring semester will go by even quicker. Holy moly! I've got plans here and there, but I am still really stressed out. We have a lot going on at Hernandez from a couple different grants to ABC to PDAS, plus art club, UIL art, fine arts extravaganzas, art displays, and a new art teacher (she's so cool)! As well as keeping up with all of my sweet, yet wild students and rolling out new procedures as HMS grows. I am sure that most first year teachers are equally stressed too; I just cannot stop thinking that I could be doing better or doing more. I'm going to try to clear my mind with my New Year's resolutions: to take a little more time for just me (I started yoga) and to not stay at school late every single night - I'm going to try really hard!

I rented the documentary The First Year to watch before school started back up as a reminder of why I love to do this. It made me miss my students so much! I can't wait to see them tomorrow (and make sure they missed me too). I highly suggest renting this movie even if you've been teaching for years and years.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow! :)
- Sarah

Texas Music Administrator of the Year

Please join the Round Rock ISD Fine Arts faculty and leadership in congratulating Jim Van Zandt who was named Texas Music Administrator of the Year.  The announcement was made Friday, November 19th at the Texas Music Administrators Conference in Austin.  Jim will be recognized officially during the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in February 2011in San Antonio.   This prestigious award recognizes outstanding leaders and is voted on from the at-large membership of the Texas Music Educators Association. 

Mr. Van Zandt is in his tenth year as Director of Fine Arts for the Round Rock Independent School District. In this capacity, is involved with operations, curriculum, staff development, budget, and staffing. He is also actively involved with the structure and curriculum of the district's Fine Arts Academy. As a part of his role, he is a constant advocate for the arts in education.

Jim holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music Education degrees from the University of North Texas, where he was listed in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. He was Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair at Westwood High School (Round Rock ISD) from 1995-2001, after serving as Director of Bands at Richland High School (Birdville ISD) for the previous twenty years. He has also taught in Denton, Fredericksburg, Raymondville, and Jayton, Texas.

Jim is tireless advocate for all the arts and our faculty and leadership are extremely proud of him in achieving this well-deserved recognition.

Dia de los Muertos

Art 6 Ofrenda

Studio Art 7/8 Ofrenda

Tomorrow my students at Hernandez will be wrapping up a month long unit that focused on Dia de los Muertos. We created paper-mâché skulls and various foods to display in our classroom ofrendas. We also created festive flags and posters to create awareness, as well as tissue paper/newspaper flowers to adorn the ofrendas. We all had a lot of fun trying out new media together: paper-mâché, watercolor pencils, water soluble oil pastels, and acrylic paint. On November 2nd we will have class celebrations to remember why we started this unit to begin with. A month ago students were asked to think about someone who has passed away that they would like to celebrate and remember on Dia de los Muertos. Many students chose family members, pets, and iconic figures (Frida Kahlo, Martin Luther King, Jr....) and then wrote a short dedication.

Overall, classes are going really well and REALLY FAST! I cannot believe that we are wrapping up the 2nd six weeks already - each day seems to fly by quicker than the last. I am still staying pretty late most days of the week trying to catch up/prepare, but am hoping that soon I will start kicking myself out of the classroom at a decent hour (or at least before it gets dark outside). I am very excited for the TAEA conference next week! I'll be hanging a few pieces of student work in the student exhibit area. Which reminds me, does anyone have an extra mat cutter at their school? Cindy and I are without one and I am getting a little nervous about upcoming shows/displays. I guess I could free hand it... ahhhhhhh! hahahah :)

I hope everyone is having a really good year so far!

Sarah

Congratulations to Visual Art Faculty Sharing at NAEA

Congratulations to Round Rock ISD Visual Art faculty who had accepted for inclusion in the program for the 2011 NAEA (National Art Education Association) National Convention in Seattle, Washington, March 17-20, 2011. Tiffany Asha (Deerpark MS) will be presenting Coming to an Understanding:The Role of Art Education in Teaching about Islam.  Kara Hallmark (Union Hill ES) will be presenting E-Portfolios and Process under Best Practices.  Tim Lowke (Cedar Ridge HS) will be presenting PowerArt – Integrating Art and Math.  We are proud of these three faculty members on this prestigious, national accomplishment and their commitments to applying and sharing best visual art education practice with students, peers and the national association.