Dear Sketchbook,
Here’s to art teachers everywhere! The students are getting loud and antsy, the days are darker and shorter, and art teachers are running on paint fumes, caffeine, and glitter. The countdown to winter break is real.
As the year draws to a close and chaos is at its highest, take some time to celebrate. Close your door during your next planning period or lunch break, grab your favorite snack, turn on a top-notch playlist from The Art of Ed Community, and let’s reminisce!
Celebrate YOU and your art teacher energy with these three intentional areas.
Celebrate the art.
Look around you. How many piles of artwork do you see? How many pieces are hanging on the walls? How many pages of sketchbooks are filled? How much art have you already sent home? So much, right? Celebrate all of the artmaking that YOU facilitated—and we’re not even halfway through the school year yet.
Here are two simple ways to give yourself a pat on the back:
Note: Be sure to follow your organization’s guidelines for permissions around sharing students and their work.
- Snap some photos of your favorite student pieces and share them with your administrator.
- Post the pictures in The Art of Ed Community, too, so we can celebrate with you!
Celebrate the mess.
Smudges of paint on the tabletops, glue oozing out of a bottle, balled-up paper that never made it into the trash can—these are all signs that creativity is taking place in your art room. Instead of getting frustrated with the mess, take a moment to appreciate it and embrace it. Redirect your energy (for a moment) from cleaning to celebrating!
Remember that:
- You can’t have bold art without the mess.
- You can’t have deep learning without mistakes.
- You can’t have a thriving art program without so many supplies and students.
- You can’t have curiosity and exploration without questions.
Celebrate the tenacity.
Art teachers show up day in and day out for students. You keep teaching watercolor resist, providing specific feedback on artist statements, and recognizing students with kindness confetti—all with a giant smear of paint on your face that you don’t notice until you go home.
You power through when the kiln breaks mid-clay unit, when you’ve run out of pencils, and when rainbow water pours over your sink onto the floor because there’s a handful of paper towels stuck in the drain.
When things get hard, art teachers lean into the moment and grow. True artists know that creative breakthroughs often happen on the other side of constraints. It takes grit and courage to be an art teacher that not only teaches art, but inspires students.
Celebrate your resiliency alongside art teachers Keisha Morales and Jackie Jablecki in the AOE mini-series, Dear Sketchbook. These two real art teachers share insider glimpses of their school years, persevering through challenges and celebrating wins along the way. From surgery and long-term leave to epic art shows and traveling, this series delivers moving, relatable moments that will make you laugh and cry in all the best ways.
For two other ways to celebrate YOU this week, check out these suggestions:
- Treat yourself with a fun, new art supply—or a special dessert.
- Relax with suggestions tailored to the type of Winter Break Art Teacher you are.
Before you close this year’s chapter and look ahead to the next, take a moment to celebrate the art, the mess, and your tenacity. The art and the mess are reminders of the powerful work we are privileged to do. We have the opportunity to make the world not only a better place, but a more beautiful one. We achieve this by facilitating inspiring art and cultivating creative leaders who will continue to advocate and create long after they leave our programs.
Most importantly, the character building that happens along the art teacher journey is truly impactful—even when it feels invisible. The art and the mess would not be possible without you and your tenacity, so give yourself a cheer and end the year on a big celebratory note!
Sincerely,
Your Favorite AOE Art Teachers
To chat about what you’re celebrating with other art teachers, join us in The Art of Ed Community!
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
