The July Mailbag: Clay Scraps, Pacing Curriculum, and The Perfect Teacher Day (Ep. 474)

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by The Art of Education, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz. Welcome, everyone, to the July Mailbag. Welcome to the month of July. We’re just getting started.

We have exciting fireworks coming later this week and an exciting mailbag for you today. Joining me, as always, is Amanda. Hi, Amanda. How are you?

I’m doing great. I don’t know if I would call fireworks exciting. I guess they’re exciting. They’re a little bit scary to me.

Okay, fair.

I don’t like being around normal people who are setting off fireworks. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah-

Like I’ll go to the park because I assume they don’t want to blow everybody up, but I’m less into it when it’s like my 12-year-old wanting to light something in the driveway.

Ooh, right. Fair, fair. Yeah.

You know?

So you’re good with the public shows, public displays, but you don’t need them in your own driveway.

I don’t need them, but I’ll always have them.

That’s good. Well, honestly, I’m thinking about what I used to do when I was 12 with fireworks.

I know.

And you’re correct to be concerned, let’s be honest.

Right. It’s okay. It’s going to be great.

Yeah. My neighborhood goes crazy with fireworks every year, and we spend $23 and set up a few things, and then just let them put on the show, and that’s good enough, and it works fine.

Yeah. I would like to say we bought fireworks in June. My kids talked me in … Not really fireworks, but my kids talked me into snaps and sparklers. They had them out earlier.

Yeah, yeah.

I was like, “Whatever. This is $2 and actually quite a bit of excitement for you, so …”

Yeah.

It’s okay.

I was going to say the snaps, the value of snaps, like the cost-benefit analysis for snaps is going to be off the charts.

I know.

It’s amazing.

Yes, 100%. But then, my 12-year-old, who was trying to tie them all together to make bigger … Whatever. It’s okay.

Yeah.

It’s fine.

Yeah. No, that’s part of the process. You need to, yeah, experiment with them, and figure out exactly, “What can these firecrackers do?”

Right.

It’s good stuff, so cool. All right, I guess … Well, first, we should introduce ourselves for anybody who’s listening, especially any teachers that are brand new and they’re saying, “Oh, hey, I have a job that starts in a month. I should figure out what I’m doing.” Welcome. Welcome to this podcast.

We are here for you.

We’re glad to have you here. But no, my name is Tim Bogatz. I am the events director and podcast host here at The Art of Education. I taught elementary art for a couple years, taught secondary art for 14 years, and then I’ve been working for a while here at The Art of Education. So, Amanda?

Yeah, my name is Amanda Heyn. I’m a pyromaniac. Okay. Just kidding. I am a former elementary art teacher and the director of Community Engagement at The Art of Education, and I have been here for quite a while and just having a lot of fun, helping art teachers through their lives, really.

Yeah. No, absolutely.

It’s really rewarding and wonderful.

That’s literally what we do, so that’s perfect. So that being said, let’s talk about some of the cool stuff that we have going on with The Art of Education the next couple weeks, I guess, the next month. So can you talk about what’s going on in the community in the next couple of weeks?

I sure can. If you are not part of The Art of Ed community, please join us. You can go to community.theartofeducation.edu, or visit our website for a shiny, new landing page where you can join us. Either one way.

Our landing page does look beautiful, so whoever is listening, if you’ve not been to theartofeducation.edu, it’s been revamped. It looks spectacular, so go check it out.

It does. Shout out to the creative team. So the first exciting thing is that we have Art Club, which is our monthly event. It’s online, and essentially-

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Wait, tell them who’s hosting this one.

Ooh, I was going to. It’s me and Tim, so it’s going to be great. We’re going to do a little Art Ed NOW preview for Art Club, so we are going to be doing some poster-making for your classroom based on our featured presenter, who is Lisa Congdon. So we are very excited about that. That is July 10th at 6:00 PM Central Time.

So be sure you go to the community. You can look on the left-hand side for upcoming events, and you can RSVP there and add it to your calendar. And then, we also have Pop Up Studio a few days later on July 14th. That is much more relaxed, and that is just a time and space for you to set aside a time to make art for yourself. So we all just get together on Zoom and basically hang out, and share what we’re working on, what materials we’re using, brainstorm if people have questions or need suggestions.

It’s a very fun time. So we would love to see you for both of those things. That is also 6:00 PM Central. So Art Club, July 10th, Pop Up Studio, July 14th, RSVP in the community.

Love it. That’s awesome. Also, I want to put a quick plug in for the Art Ed NOW conference. As you just mentioned, Lisa Congdon featured presenter. I went to Portland back, last month, and interviewed her at her studio.

It was an incredible interview. It’s going to be an incredible featured presentation, so I think everybody’s going to love her. But the Art Ed NOW conference is one month away, so if you’ve not signed up for it yet, please do that. Again, that brand new website, theartofeducation.edu/now. You can find everything you need at the landing page there.

We have the kickoff Friday night, the main event on Saturday, which will be August 1st, and then an After Pass. It has so much learning that you can access for an entire year. We’re coming up soon and we are thrilled about it, so we’d love to have as many of you join us as we can. Okay, anything else that we need to cover?

Okay, one more quick thing.

Yes.

We are doing many masterpieces over social.

Yes, yes.

So at The Art of Ed, come see us on Instagram. It’s all about watercolor this year, and it’s a little daily drawing or painting, I guess, I should say in this. A little daily art making challenge for you to just kind of keep up with the art making this summer.

Perfect.

It’s very fun, it’s very collaborative, super cool to see what everyone is doing. So head on over to Instagram and join us for that.

Perfect. And then, I believe you had one follow up from last month’s mailbag.

I do have a follow-up. Okay. Hi, mom, but also other people who emailed us. They were a little confused about my AI tip. So last month, we talked all about AI and sort of lessening the environmental impacts, and I said that if you type minus AI after a Google search, it will prevent it from bringing that AI summary up to the top. Now, here’s what you have to do, you actually have to type the minus sign, not the word, minus.

Not the word, minus. Got it.

And not like an M dash, like the minus sign, which is up by your plus and equal sign buttons, okay?

Yes.

Minus sign, minus AI.

Yeah.

Hopefully that’s clear.

The minus symbol. Yeah. Perfect.

Yeah.

Okay. Hopefully that’s clear for people, so … All right. Any stories you want to share before we dive in?

Well, I moved to my summer office, so I work from home.

Yes. Yeah.

But in the summer, I work from an office, so I get to be a corporate girly for a minute, which means I have to put on real clothes because other people are here.

So it’s like it’s corporate girl summer, is that what you’re thinking about?

It’s corporate girl summer, yes.

It does not have any ring to it, whatsoever.

It’s cold girl summer, because there’s a lot of air conditioning here.

Gotcha.

There’s no gardens, there’s no windows. There’s just me in a small, white box. So I’m just wondering if anyone has any ideas. I’m only going to be here for eight weeks this summer, so I haven’t done a lot of decorating. I don’t know. I bought a new …

I always bring my papasan chair because I need to work from a blanket nest sometimes no matter where I am, and I did get a cutie little cloud pillow for that, which is very nice, but I don’t know. I don’t know. It gives me a touch of home.

Can I ask you one other question on this? What do you do for lunch too? Because I’m just thinking about you have this sterile environment. Are you bringing a terrible lunch? Are you just feeling like a corporate drone every day? What happens with this?

Well, today, went out to lunch.

Okay. I mean, that’s one way to solve it. That is fresh air and different [inaudible 00:08:51]-

There’s this new … Well, it’s not new. It’s new to me, a forage kitchen. If you’re lucky to have one, it’s all local ingredients like grain bowls.

Okay. Yeah.

And if I get one, then it will last me for two days.

Okay.

So maybe I’ll just eat 79 grain bowls. I don’t know. TBD. I hate packing a lunch, so I do also have a drawer. I have one drawer, and it is full of chocolate and protein bars. So I think I have all my bases covered.

What more do you need? That’s perfect.

Really nothing.

I will just say that I have all of the windows and a studio to work from, and a garden at my house, and access to my full refrigerator. But the downside is my family is here driving me crazy, to be honest. So I mean, I love all of them, but my wife is a teacher, both my kids are in high school, and they’re just very busy. There’s always something happening in my house, and so there are a ton of distractions, which don’t happen during the school year, so it’s very different right now.

Different. We’re both in different environments, but that’s okay. Here we are.

It is. It is.

Making it work.

We’re aspiring. We’re doing well, so cool. All right. Let’s shift over and start answering some questions. I think this is a first for us.

Every single question here today is from The Art of Ed community, which is exciting. So all of you that have emailed me, thank you, first of all. We appreciate your patience, second of all. We will get to those questions in the future, but I thought it’d be fun to do all voicemails and all questions from The Art of Ed community. So a lot to cover.

And this is cool because back in June, we did a double episode, where we had the regular episode in the podcast feed and the additional episode, a second episode as bonus content in the community, which was very fun to do, and we have a ton more questions. I think we can squeeze it all into one episode here, so we’re going to try. Let’s get on with it, Amanda. Would you like to do the honors?

Yes, let’s go ahead and open up the mailbag.

All right. The first question, this is a voicemail from Gretchen. Let’s give it a listen.

Hi, my name is Gretchen Bjornson. I teach K through A art at St. Francis de Sales in Newark, Ohio. My question for you is, “What are some good ideas for students to use the extra clay they have after they’ve created a project, something that fills up the remainder of the time, or even something that we can do with the extra clay that goes into a bag and gets set on a shelf somewhere?” Love some ideas on some small, little projects for the kids to do and keep them engaged. Thank you so much.

Okay. So great question. This question was kind of answered for me because my budget only allowed for one clay project per student. If there was extra clay leftover, you better believe I was given that to another kid.

Yeah.

And also, I think my sanity also could only … The only one-

To only handle one project?

Yeah.

Yeah, that’s fair.

Just keeping track of clay projects through the drying process, and the firing process, and the glazing process is a lot, and I taught a lot of kids. So if it was me, I would reclaim that extra clay so I could use it for future projects. And if you’re not familiar with that process, that is something that I didn’t learn about, going to college. Like the clay just magically appeared. I took one ceramics class 100 years ago, and the teacher did all of the reclaiming there.

So we do have a Clay 101 article, we can link in the show notes, which has a very easy method so that you could recycle that clay and use it for future projects. However, if you are set on having kids do more than one project, like more power to you. That’s amazing. I have a few ideas. So the first is magnets.

So you can have the kids create a small, flat piece, and then attach a magnet after firing. My son actually made one of these this year. They did a magnet swap, kind of like artist training cards.

Oh, I like that idea.

Very fun. So we have one of his magnets, and then we have one from Josephine, who lives somewhere that I don’t know where.

Okay.

She did a very nice job, and we have her magnet on our fridge. So it’s really fun too, because it’s functional, but also is a great gift for families, and reminds them of the art room.

Yeah, for sure.

The second one would be pendants, so that you could have the kids create a small pendant that they could string on a cord to wear or give as a gift. And third would be test tiles. If you need test tiles for your classroom to test new glazes, this is a really fun way to have kids experiment with different textures, a useful way to use up those scraps and something that could be useful for your classroom. So those are my ideas. Do you have ideas, Tim?

Yeah, those are all good. I think I should probably address the part of Gretchen’s question, talks about keeping kids engaged and keeping them busy when they’re done with the project, because I think that’s … I don’t know. There are a lot of simple, fun things that you can do. I love doing Sculptionary, just like Pictionary, but with Sculptionary, with clay, you can do that in small groups, just make cards with a few different things that they could sculpt and create, and their friends can guess what they’re building.

I think that’s always cool. With elementary kids, I love doing that, just make clay spheres, or do coils, or cubes, and just work with those things small, and cut them up. Just anything that can build those fine motor skills, that’s really beneficial for them. I love to give them prompts of fun things to build, like, “Hey, make your favorite food out of clay. Make your favorite animal.

Combine three different creatures to make a new creature,” whatever it could be, just to get creative, find some fun things that they can do with that, or honestly, just give them some free time. Let them build whatever they would like and just let them know like, “Hey, we need the clay back when you’re done. You can build whatever you want. We’re going to reclaim it when you’re done.” And a lot of times, kids are motivated enough or have some ideas of fun things that they want to try, and I think just opening that up for them can be really good.

But yeah, I would definitely say reclaim that clay when you’re done so it can be reused. And yeah, another recommendation for the Clay 101 article, if you’re not familiar, I think that’s a really good starting point. A lot of good information in that article. Okay, next question. This is another voicemail from Teresa.

Hi, I’m Teresa Roderick, and I am a middle school art teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada. My question is this. I’m planning on spending the entire summer to do a brand new curriculum, which I know is in and of itself crazy because there’s lots of curriculums out there. But my question is specifically, “How do you figure out how long a project should take? Do you do it yourself, and then multiply by threes or some kind of formula?”

“How do you figure out how long each different project would take?” Thank you.

Okay. Amanda, thoughts?

Okay, I do have thoughts. My first thought is please do not spend the entire summer doing a brand new curriculum.

Yes.

I believe you said I’m planning on spending the entire summer. No. No, Teresa.

That’s a lot, Teresa. That’s a very important point, Amanda.

I need you to a break. Okay. So that’s tip number one. Block some time for yourself to do something good.

Don’t block all of the time for your curriculum.

No.

Okay. You do other things.

Yes. Okay, second, it sounds like you’re pretty set on not using a pre-made curriculum, but I would encourage you to check out AOE’s FLEX curriculum, because you can pick and choose the pieces you need. So if you wanted to develop the lessons, you could then find resources, assessments, and videos to support those to make your life easier. To be clear, there are hundreds of lessons there too, but lots of teachers use just the pieces they need.

Yeah.

Okay. Then also, I think there’s two parts to your question, like, “How long should a project take, and how long will a project take?”

Right, right.

Okay. So in middle school, how long a project should take can really vary, and I think a lot of it depends on your students. So this is going to be a ballpark answer. I would say five to 12 class periods. It’s just vibes. Don’t laugh at me.

Okay.

Okay. Can I explain myself?

Can I just say that that is five to 12 class periods? That’s the widest range ever. Can I just say a couple things before you get into that?

Yeah, okay.

Okay. Yeah, I would agree, first of all, that it’s an art and not a science when it comes to planning these things out, and I think a lot of it just comes with experience and having done those projects, or having done similar projects before, and I always like to have plans for a backup lesson or multiple backup lessons beyond what is planned, and then you’re not quite as worried about, “Oh, this was supposed to take three more classes, or we’re running out,” just to have a little more than than what you need. But if that feels like too much, you can just go with what you have put together and cross that bridge for extra things you need when you come to it. But, okay, circling back to the five to 12.

Okay. Can I tell you why?

Yes, please do.

Because I feel like depending on how often you … Okay, five to 12 class periods would be like one to two and a half weeks, if you see your kids every day, which I feel like between one and two and a half weeks, that doesn’t sound weird when I say it that way, does it?

It does a little bit.

It doesn’t, because it also depends on how messy it is, how much setup there is, how much teaching there is, how many steps there are. If you are working on one drawing for 12 class periods, no, the kids are going to hate that, you’re going to lose that.

Right, right.

But if it’s like a multi-step project, you might need that amount of time. Okay, so to estimate how long a project will take, I kind of have a formula. I like to think about how many major concepts or techniques I have to teach, and how long each step is likely to take, and then maybe there’s some weird multiplier of messiness, or how complicated the setup is, so-

Okay. So can you talk us through an example? What would this look like?

Yes. Okay. Let’s think about paper mache masks, okay?

Okay.

So I need to teach the kids how to make an armature for any features on their mask. I need to teach them how to create a smooth coating over that with paper mache. I need to teach them how to paint their mask and maybe how to add embellishments, right? So that’s four to five class periods that I need to just teach, and then I need to think about how long each step of that is, right? So the intro to the project in building the base is probably one day.

Paper mache is probably two days, to get a really good coating. Paint is probably one to two days, and then maybe you’re spending a day embellishing with, I don’t know, feathers, and beads, and paint markers and whatever.

And whatever’s going on the mask, yeah.

Right. So I’d probably set aside six to seven class periods, and like you said, Tim, building in extra time or extra extensions that kids could take if they need to is always a really smart idea. So some teachers will do that on a project basis and say like, “Okay, I’m going to tack on one extra day, and kids who are done are going to, I don’t know, write a story about their mask or do a stop motion animation,” or whatever it is, and kids who need to finish are just going to finish, and they’re not going to get to that extension, and that’s okay. Other teachers like to build in like a catch-up day a few times per quarter and just say like, “Hey, whatever you’re not done with, go ahead and finish it now.” I’m partial to the former, where I just tack on a day to the project because I don’t like having to get all of the materials for all of the projects out on a generic catch-up day.

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

But one more plug for FLEX, every lesson does have the estimated time right on the lesson.

Good. Is it more specific than five to 12 class periods?

Yes.

Okay. I’ll let that go now. I won’t leave that alone. Okay, our third voicemail is from Emily.

Hi, my name is Emily, and I’m an art teacher in Texas. I was calling to see if you have some great ideas for me to use with the first week of art class in August for all the kids. I teach elementary, and I’m interested to hear what your favorite ideas are for the first week of art class. Thanks.

Okay, excellent question. I was going to say we don’t need to deal with this yet, but we do, because there’s some teachers that are going back at the end of July, so it’s time to talk about the first week of school, unfortunately. But I will say that there’s a great podcast episode when Cassie Stephens was hosting the Everyday Art Room podcast for us. She’s got a great one on the first days of school, which is really, really popular, and she has a ton of great ideas there, and talking through all the routines, how she starts everything. We’ll link to that if you would like to check that out.

But I would just say anything that you can do that lets the kids tell you about themselves, and kids love to share about themselves. They love to talk about themselves, they love to tell you about themselves, so open that up for them. Give them the opportunity to do that. Whether you’re designing sketchbook covers with some of their favorite things in the world or doing name drawings that put their name out there, which a lot of teachers love to do to learn names, but then also, they can fill it in with some different images of things that they love. I really enjoy just doing simple artworks like one-day artworks that you can hang up right away, that allows kids to see their work up in the room or work up in the halls as soon as possible at the beginning of the year.

Another great resource is an article by Abby Schukei, called 5 Ways to Make Art on the First Day of School. A lot of good ideas there, a lot of good examples there. And then one other thing, Don Massey, always a great presenter at Art Ed NOW, his presentation is all about collaborative artworks that you can do to start your school year. And so that presentation coming up in August is going to be a great one. He’s always a great presenter, has all sorts of very, very cool ideas.

So if you’re coming to that, that could give you some other inspiration for different ideas for that first week of school. So, Amanda, thoughts from you?

Yeah, basically the same. I like to do some art-making. I like to keep it so simple. So for me, same vein as the ideas you just talked about. We always created portfolios.

So I just had them take a 12 by 18 sheet of construction paper, fold it in half. The artworks didn’t fit in there completely, but it kind of acted as just a little place to catch that artwork for each kid.

Yeah.

I color-coded by grade level, and then the kids designed with their name and class code. I would write it for kindergartners in first grade just to make sure it was legible for those little friends, and then it was so easy. They just had to draw five of their favorite things on the front, we’d brainstorm categories as a group up on the board ahead of time, and then it was really great, because I could circle the room and ask kids to tell me about their drawings. I remember this one little girl, Gwendolyn. I was like, “Oh, I really like your dinosaur,” and she looked at me dead in the eyes.

She was like, “This is not a dinosaur, this is a pteranodon,” and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Okay,” which just let me know a lot about her.

Yeah. Really, you’re learning a lot from that interaction.

So it was so easy and so effective, and so useful because then, week two, you start using those folders, and it’s something they kind of take ownership and pride out of. I also wanted to put a plug in for another resource we have. There’s a excellent PRO Pack by Lindsey Moss called First Day Activities, which covers everything.

Yes. I forgot about that one.

Yeah.

That one is so good.

It’s like everything from introducing expectations to prepping supplies to making art. It’s all there, and it’s really great. So if you have a PRO subscription, absolutely check that out.

Yeah, excellent. Hopefully that is enough resources to get you thinking and get you started, Emily. So next question is from Suzanne Williamson, and from a community discussion we’re having, and she said, “I teach Art 1 in high school. Should I include digital art and AI in my curriculum so students are ‘Future-ready’ for jobs in college?” Hey, we also got a related voicemail. This is from Paige.

Hi Tim and Amanda, this is Paige Bacon with Wyoming Connections Academy. I have a question for you guys, kind of for the betterment of the group, get some ideas maybe regarding teaching high school graphic design students to use AI ethically. Love to hear some great ideas, and I’m sure you guys have some. Thank you. Bye.

Okay, we talked a bunch about this in last month, but probably in the last month’s mailbag, but we probably have more to say. So, Amanda, what are your thoughts here?

Yeah, okay. This is so serendipitous because … So my husband has a PhD in mechanical engineering, but in his graduate work, he did a ton of software engineering, and he is a software developer.

Okay.

And he got together with his old professor and some people who used to work in the lab. They get together once a month or whatever, and his advisor, his old advisor was saying that his son just graduated college with a computer science degree and might have to go back to school immediately because he cannot find a job.

Wow.

And this is a very, very smart 22-year-old guy, who five years ago, would’ve had 25 job opportunities.

Well, and that’s the thing, we’ve gone the past decade, two decades, just thinking that’s an automatic career for you as soon as you graduate.

Right, but with the advent of AI, people aren’t hiring as much because AI is doing a lot of coding. So all that to say, yes, I think we need to teach students about how to understand responsible use of AI because it is here, and it is radically reshaping the landscape of what we are doing in real time, so much so that a four-year degree may be outdated by the time you get done, which is just-

That is wild to think about.

So scary. So if I were teaching this, I would frame AI as a tool, just like Adobe or Procreate, right? And what is really going to serve kids well is understanding how to make things, whether that is physically make them, or make them with AI. The creativity, as we just talked about, the hard skill of computer science and software engineering, something like that, AI can do that, right? So they are going to need to know how to use AI to get two different results.

So I would help students also understand how it’s trained, so you can talk through limitations and biases. I think a lot of people do not understand, like AI is not thinking. It is pulling up-

Right. It’s regurgitating.

Yeah, and it’s pulling up the next most likely word based on a bunch of algorithms. It’s not even regurgitating information, it’s like regurgitating the words.

Like when you autofill your texts, it’s just doing that.

Exactly. It’s just doing that. And so there are some real limitations and some very real hallucinations. I asked it to generate a list of artists for me, and it pulled up somebody who didn’t exist, and it was like, “This person’s art is about this and this and this,” and when I searched, this person didn’t exist. So I think they really need to understand what they’re dealing with.

Along with that, obviously lessons about ethical concerns, copyright, consent, misinformation, right? Like, “How would students feel if they knew someone else was benefiting from their creative work without their consent?” I think there’s some really interesting discussions to be had, especially in the high school classroom. So again, I would make sure you’re presenting AI as a tool, instead of a means to an end. So whether that’s with brainstorming, or generating ideas, or providing feedback on work, or generating prompts for assignments or activities, these are the ways that I would use it.

Yeah. I mean, well, I was just going to say I really like all those ideas, and I kind of align with you on almost everything that you said there. If I can expand a little bit on the discussion ideas, that’s kind of where I went when Paige was talking about using AI ethically to teach students. And I think if you’re a teacher in high school, there’s a lot of discussions that can be had there, and just giving kids some time to process and discuss can be good. If you just have good discussion problem, like ask them, “Is AI-generated art, is that real art? Why or why not?”

Have them discuss that. And I feel like a lot of kids, their knowledge of AI right now is just ChatGPT to help them write papers, and then getting caught using ChatGPT to help them write papers. And so just open up with that question. Like we all know how AI can be harmful. We know how people use it to cheat, but then turn that around, ask them, “But how can it help?,” and that can go back to your ideas about brainstorming, about generating ideas, about providing feedback and all of those ideas.

And if you have advanced students, and I think it’s worth discussing the AP college board, if you’re doing an AP class, they don’t allow AI in any part of the process, and just ask students, “Why not? Why do you think they’ve taken that stance?” And I think that can open up a lot of discussions and really give you a lot of different avenues to go down, whether that be for discussions, for actual assignments, for teaching them how these things are used. I would also … I guess to ask about specific ideas, Amanda, I had a couple ideas for lessons.

Yeah.

You have ideas for specific things that teachers could do with AI?

Yes. I think the question was specifically about graphic design here. So I do think there’s some things you could do here. So for example, you could teach students about prompt engineering. I think this is something we talked about last time and how giving whatever tool you’re using the right information can really affect what you get out of it, like how good of a prompt you use directly correlates generally to how good of an output you get.

So, for example, you could have them use AI to design a series of three logos that meet some sort of specific set of parameters that you present to them. And then I would ask them to choose their favorite and work to redesign it, so they’re kind of layering their own ideas on top to create some sort of finished piece. And then, I think the key to any lesson you do with AI is the reflection after you’re done, right?

Yes.

So like, “What did AI contribute, and what did they contribute, and do they think it’s better than what they could have come up with on their own, or worse?,” or just their thoughts about the process, I think, could generate a lot of really interesting discussion.

Yeah, for sure. Okay. I have a few ideas. First one is very similar to yours, which is sort of the prompt engineering. And I would just give them, give students a random image and see who can recreate it closest on some type of AI, and just have them repeat prompts over and over again, like repeat that as needed.

And it’s a great exercise for learning how descriptive you need to be with your prompts, how different directions can lead to different results, and just trying to re-engineer something is a great way to kind of go about that. I love doing creative prompts and have students go through a list of, create 10 examples of places you love to be, or you love to hang out, and have them do that, and maybe they combine ideas with somebody else you’re working creatively in a group, see what they come up with, and then give that same prompt to AI and see what AI comes up with. And then you can see like, “Hey, does AI have more ideas? Does AI have better ideas? They don’t have that personal touch, they don’t know about you personally,” and just kind of talk about the strengths and weaknesses there.

And then, another favorite one, we’ve all seen the terrible examples of how bad AI is with creating images of hands, for example. We’ve all seen the AI fails, and so I think a good prompt like, “Who can create the worst image, like the worst AI-generated image?,” to kind of demonstrate the limitations that are there.

I love that.

And those limitations are going away pretty quickly, but I still think it’s valuable to try and explore some of the limitations as well, so students have that in mind.

Yeah, definitely.

Okay, next up, we have two kind of related questions. The first one is from Paige McLaughlin, and Paige says, “How do other teachers recharge over the summer?” And then Susan Dufault says, “I need to write two new curriculum this summer. I’m taking a four-credit grad class and caring for an elderly parent. I’m out of creative ideas.”

“What would you do? And please don’t say AI. It’s the creative energy that I need, not the tools.” So how do we help Paige recharge? How do we help Susan find that creative energy?

Oh. I mean, that is so much. So first, what I will say is maybe this is a season of life where you’re not going to be wildly creative.

Fair, fair.

That’s okay. You might just be getting through this summer, which is like fine, just if you need permission to not be wildly creative.

That’s okay too. Yeah.

However, if you do want some strategies to regain your creative energy, I want to go back to a past Art Ed NOW featured presenter, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith.

Oh, yes.

In her book, Sacred Rest, it’s so good, it talks about seven different types of rest you might need, including physical, mental, emotional, sensory, creative, social, and spiritual. So a few that kind of jump out like, “Are you physically tired and you need a nap, or you need a massage?” Right? “Are you mentally tired and you need to disengage from certain people, or maybe social media, or are you emotionally tired and you need to spend time alone, or you need to start a journal or a sketchbook?” But creative rest literally means taking a break from creative demands, which I think is really interesting.

I think a lot of art teachers feel like we have to be constantly producing and creating. That’s actually very exhausting. And the advice from Dr. Dalton-Smith here is very clear, which is like you need to take a break from the work, and you need to engage in a creative activity that you actually enjoy. So maybe you’re trying something new like weaving, and that’s exciting to you. I actually just personally bought a bunch of boutique supplies.

Oh, okay.

I don’t know when I’m going to be boutiquing, but I am excited about it.

Yeah.

But it could also be something else creative, like rearranging a room in your house, or cooking a new dish, right? Just giving your brain space to wander and experiment can really help with inspiration and motivation. So again, another plug for Pop Up Studio in the Art of Ed community, it’s literally just a time to come and make art and do something creative for yourself. So I would say think about the specific way you are tired and how you might get a break from the demands in that area of your life. And again, if you can’t, like caring for an elderly parent, that’s real, and that’s really hard, and so maybe you also give yourself some grace that you don’t need to be wildly creative right now, and you can just do the best you can.

Yeah, that’s great advice. Great advice.

Do you have some ideas?

I do. My first idea is just naps. Take all of the naps, please.

Only naps.

I’m like honestly, you don’t get enough of those during the school year, so that’s great for resting and recharging. I think everybody’s different when it comes to what they need. Like you said, those seven different types of rest are super important. For me, I’m an introvert. I need to get away from people, you know?

Others need to be around people. And I would say just make sure the people you’re around are not students. Like go to a concert, go do something with your friends, go to brunch, whatever the case may be. If you need to be around people, find the farmer’s market and do those sorts of things. I would say, like you said, don’t feel pressured to create.

Do something if it feels right, but don’t force it. Don’t feel obligated. Don’t feel like, “Oh, I have to fill my sketchbook. Oh, I have to journal today,” and take a break from those creative endeavors if they are causing you to feel tired. I would say don’t doomscroll.

I mean, I’m not huge on social media anyway, but I feel like that just sort of sucks the energy out of people. You’re on your phone for an hour and 15 minutes, you literally did nothing, and then you feel terrible about doing nothing. Just put the phone away. And again, as aforementioned, go take a nap, or do something creative you’re feeling that, whatever it may be. But overall, I would just say, you can rest this summer without feeling guilty about it.

Yes.

Rest without guilt. Watch all of the shows that are in your queue, go see all the movies, read all of the books that are on your TBR list, whatever it may be. Just go ahead and do that, and don’t feel bad about it. I think once you are feeling rested, once you’ve caught up on that rest, then you’re going to feel that creative energy, you’re going to feel recharged, and you’ll be able to direct that new energy, wherever it needs to go.

Also, in The Art of Ed community, back in May, we did some weekly wellness drops, and so there are actually five, I think, different short activities, wellness activities for teachers specifically, so you could check those out as a starting point. A lot of those also help you get into your body a little bit, like focus on your breathing, all of that great stuff.

Yeah, love it. Great suggestions. Okay, our final question of the day, maybe the most fun question we’ve ever received. I’m very excited for this one. Heather Hacker asks, “From start to finish, what would the best art teaching day look like for you?”

Oh my gosh, this is so fun.

This is great. Would you like to go first?

Amanda:

Okay. Number one, I wake up and it’s a snow day. The end. Okay, just kidding. I mean, I’m not kidding, but I do have a full day if I have to go to school.

Okay.

Let’s say it’s October. Okay. My perfect day starts the night before, when I pack my lunch and snacks and I shower and do my hair, and I pick up my outfit, because this allows me to capitalize on my night owl tendencies, and then I sleep until the last possible minute in the morning because I hate mornings.

Yeah.

But because this is the best day ever, I’ve had a great night’s sleep, and I wake up feeling very refreshed at 6:42 or whatever.

Okay.

And then, I drive to school and listen to the Art Ed Radio podcast on the way, obviously.

Perfect for your commute, yes.

Then I get to school, and the annoying co-worker, who is constantly coming into my room to vent about something that I don’t care about, is taking a personal day to take her dog to the vet.

Okay.

She’s not taking a personal day for a very sad reason, but she’s gone.

Okay.

Okay?

Okay.

This is bliss. I have to go to breakfast duty because we have to be realistic, but all the kids come and leave, and end on time.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yup.

So that I can be back in my room. And then, it’s the middle of the school year, so every class is in the middle of a project, so I don’t have to introduce anything new. I don’t have to teach anyone how to use a sponge. We’re in review mode. Every class is like review, and then get to work.

And then, I spend every class circling the room, and I chat with well-behaved, like delightfully engaged students, and I knocked some things off my to-do list, like I talked about last month. Like I’m knocking things off left and right, and then also every teacher I taught elementary. So in my fantasy, I also teach elementary, and every teacher is on time to drop off their kids and pick them up.

Yes, yes.

And I also get at least five drawings of rainbows, unicorns, or other magical creatures by the end of the day.

I love it. I love it. Yes.

Three students ask me to make creative extensions to their projects, and they really wow me with their amazing ideas. And then also, I get to eat my full lunch, and I magically only have to pee between classes, and someone brought gluten-free cookies, and they left them in the lounge, and then my last class of the day is a prep period. So I get everything ready for the next day, and then I get ahead on other tasks, and then I leave exactly at the correct time, the end.

I love it. Our day-

I feel so calm.

Our perfect days are shockingly similar.

Okay. Tell me about yours.

Well, I just want to say I’m curious about everybody else’s perfect days to see if like, “Are they right along these lines?,” because let me go through mine, and you’ll see how many similarities we have. Okay. I come in just a little bit early, so I’m not stressed on time.

Yeah.

There’s nothing in my mailbox. There’s nothing waiting for me, which is beautiful.

Nothing.

I go to the art room. My to-do list from yesterday is done because past me was looking out for me. Appreciate that. You, you had the annoying friend, not being there. I have my good friends being there.

Okay.

So teacher friends stop in to say, “Hi, we can just chat for a little bit before the school day starts.” Maybe one of them brought me a nice tea. I would appreciate that.

Okay. Yeah.

And then again, a lot of emphasis on food. Kids bring in cookies or snacks that they’re willing to share, and they’re the good kids who bring in clean snacks that you’re willing to eat.

Clean snacks.

So also in the room, it is a work day or a studio day, so I can sit and chat with students.

Yeah.

We can work along with them. We may do a little art history just so I can talk about my favorite artists, and when I do, students are respectful, and they’re responsive, and they’re curious, and they become part of the discussion. Pretty nice. Admin covers my duties so I can take an extra long lunch.

I love that for you.

Yeah. Maybe even go out to lunch. Who knows?

Oh my gosh, the dream.

Yeah. And then I come back from lunch. The kiln is cooled off enough to open it up. The firing is perfect, and the glazes are beautiful. That’s one of my favorite things that just opened me up, like firing.

Yeah, me too.

And then, I find out somehow that my students are being recognized for their work, or they’re winning a contest or something like that, that makes them look good, makes the program look good. I enjoy getting that news. New supply order comes in, so I get to unbox and check out all the new things, but then, the students put it away for me so I don’t have to.

Yes.

And then finally, I sneak out just a little bit early, and nobody even notices.

That’s a really good ending.

Yeah. Thank you.

I didn’t even think to sneak out early because I’m such a rule-follower.

I was going to say you’re a rule-follower, so you just snuck out right on time. I love that apparently, it doesn’t even cross your mind.

Oh my gosh. It doesn’t even register. That looks fun.

But yes, I would love to hear other people’s perfect day.

Yes.

That’s a great question from Heather, and I’d love to hear what other people have. So if you want to send us a voicemail with your perfect day, we would love to hear it.

Oh my gosh. We would absolutely love that.

Right. Amanda, that’s all of our questions for the July Mailbag.

Great.

I think we can go ahead and wrap it up. So thank you, as always, for joining us. Any 4th of July recommendations for people?

Oh my gosh. Well, you are on summer break, and you have extra time, so I think you should call and leave us a voicemail, and I think that’s my recommendation. Let us know what you need for August.

That’s perfect. That’s perfect. I like that a lot. All right, Amanda, thank you so much. We will talk to you later.

Bye.

Thank you to Amanda, and thank you for joining us for another Mailbag episode. And also, we appreciate all of the great questions. We covered a lot today from clay project ideas and AI strategies to ideas for creative rest, and telling the story of our perfect teaching days. There’s a lot there today, but I hope it was helpful. I hope it was a fun episode for you to listen to.

So whether you are relaxing or resetting this summer, whether you are already thinking about the fall, or just trying to soak up some inspiration, I hope you enjoyed the episode, and I hope that you join us again. As always, we would love to hear from you, especially if you want to share your idea of the perfect art teaching day. Call in, leave a voicemail, or join us at The Art of Ed community to continue the conversation. Also, don’t forget when you’re in the community, to RSVP for Art Club and the Pop Up Studio events, and check out all of the amazing resources that we mentioned. They’re all in the show notes for you.

Thank you again for listening. Art Ed Radio was produced by The Art of Education with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. Please make sure to subscribe so we can join you again, and if you’d love the show, please jump over to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Give us a five-star rating, and maybe even leave us a review. Our theme for the month of July is, “What’s hot?” So I hope you can join us and see what we have coming in the next few weeks.