NAEA Conference

I am attending the National Art Education Association conference in New York. Today I spent the morning in the exhibition halls, being plied with free goodies from vendors in the hopes that I will order their products for my classroom. In the afternoon I attended some presentations.

The first was a session on teaching 3D arts at the elementary level. All of the lessons were designed to be completed in 1-2 45-minute sessions. This is ideal for schools where you meet with your students once a week for 12 weeks, or if you are "art on the cart." I wish this presentation had been longer, because I would have liked to see their k-5 lessons in more detail. Fortunately, I have an email address to request a copy of the powerpoint presentation.

The next was, in theory, a presentation on "discussing controversial issues/art with children" but was a poorly organized lecture at best. The presenters were university instructors. They showed a bunch of controversial images out of context, discussed how their art ed students had come up with a list of potential lessons and hypothetical tactics for dealing with reluctant parents and administrators, and then focused on a single anecdotal experience when supporting the display of a college student's painting of a nude woman with her hand over her genitals (entitled "Women Have Balls, Too) against complaints from other college students. I know college students are young, but they are NOT children, and this presentation was not at all useful.

Finally, there was a presentation by two MAEA people that I know: the former MAEA president, and one of my cooperating teachers from my student teaching in Winthrop. They spent 1/2 an hour talking about how they put together a display of postcards from students across Massachusetts, using clear pocketed shower curtains that hold 4x6 index cards. The display method really is cool, but didn't need to be discussed for 30 minutes. It was a tad overkill. The best piece of info I got was where to obtain those shower curtains.

The biggest problem I had all day was the same as last year in Chicago: the conference rooms are too small. I couldn't get into some rooms, and the one room I did get into I never left because it took me an hour to get in and finally get a seat. So I just stayed put and waited to see what presenter would show up next. All in all, I didn't do too badly with that method: 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

After the presentations, I stopped at a social gathering and joined a tableful of teachers from all over the country. We chatted for a while and I got some advice on my job search, some much needed moral support, and a little bit of teachertalk. With some refreshments to sustain me, I felt ready to hit a few more presentations. By happy accident, I ended up in a Museum Educators' session about summer camp programs at the Taft Museum in Cincinatti, which has an interesting way of including collections acquisition for their elementary art camp attendees. One of their lessons asked the question "What objects define your culture, family, etc." The idea was to have a collection of items, like urns represent a period Greek history. They expected the kids to bring in iPods and cell phones, but instead got photos of family and friends. It was an unexpected surprise.

Then I went to another presentation by a teacher who works with middle school students to create "collaborative collage mandalas" that are influenced by 9/11. That was really interesting, and I think I'd like to try his lesson: What do you want the world to look like by 2020? Start with yourself and work outward to family, community, etc. He also said he has 90 minute blocks with his middle schoolers, which really surprised me.

All in all, my one full day at the conference was pretty productive. Tomorrow I get to spend a few more hours, and then I must go home. But already it was worth the bus ride here and back.