National Art Education Association
Yes, that is hats
The trip to the National Art Education Association conference in Texas was a fabulous opportunity to join 5000 art educators in Fort Worth, Texas. I was surprised about Fort Worth, population about 750,000. The streets are wide, it was easy walking from downtown to the conference center, and the people are friendly. And, yes the temperature did get to 70 degrees one day.
It was a little touch and go leaving Maine in questionable weather. Our flying plan was to go to Fort Worth via LaGuardia which was changed. We left Portland 2 hours late and went through Detroit and landed in Texas an hour earlier. Go figure!
It was great to see the Maine art teachers in Texas and have a chance to get together with all of them in between sessions.
One of the highlights of the conference was attending a session with Jay McTighe whose work along with Grant Wiggins, Understanding by Design has been used as the basis for the National Core Arts Standards work. Jay went over the components of the Framework that provides a clearer picture of the work that is underway.
I also attended a session with Lois Hetland the author of Studio Thinking. During the conference the latest edition of the book was released.
It was great having the opportunity to share the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative with Catherine Ring and Bronwyn Sale during a session at the conference.
If you’ve attended a large conference you know what it is like to go through the exhibition hall and have the opportunity to speak to the 100’s of vendors and learn about their products and programs. I met Jessica Balsley from The Art of Education. If you aren’t familiar with AOE I recommend you go to the site.
And, as you can see here we also had a lot of fun at the conference, even getting to a genuine rodeo!
me arts ed 