Draft Folder Clean-Up: Am I special, enrichment, or multi-level and what makes you so typical?

This post was originally started 11/29/14.  Just 12 days later, The Art of Education posted this article:  Beyond Glorified Babysitters: Jaw-dropping Names Art Teachers Are Called.  It felt like I missed the boat, and would be beating a dead horse. but here are my thoughts regardless. I've edited my beginning ramblings to make a complete post too!

I've always loathed the title "special."  My first few years of teaching, I was the art teacher.  I wasn't grouped with anyone. I always did everything alone.  My second school district, I was a specialist. Elementary Art Specialist.  It sounded fancy.  We were never called "specials" though.  We were the fine arts team, and PE and library had their own thing going on.  It wasn't until my current district that I was referred to as "special."  I disliked it from the start.

Art isn't special.  Art is necessary.

In my district, art, music, PE, & library are special.  It is short for specialist, or special area.  To me, it just reiterates the idea that having art is a privilege, not an expectation.  I came across something recently that reiterated my feelings and illustrated it wonderfully: Every student every day is required to learn math, but will probably not grow up to be mathematicians,   Why do we not require every student every day to take art?  We know most will not grow up to be artists.  It should have the same importance.

I brought up my label at our first day institute with my brand new principal.  I threw out a few ideas and we kind of settled on "multi-level teacher".  I don't mind this label.  I do teach all the levels, and now I'm actually being considered a teacher!  Yeah!  My new principal has been very good about referring to me as multi-level too.  It hasn't quite gained the momentum I had hoped... but it's a start.

Fast-Forward to our next institute day.  We heard a lovely presentation on teaching students with autism.  I noticed right away that the presenter referred to students without autism, or special needs as "typical."  At first, I thought it sounded kind of weird. But, if we are referring to students with special needs as students with special needs, then typical would be the opposite. Calling a student without special needs regular ed is what's derogatory.

Considering my teaching position is referred to as special - I started referring to classroom teachers as typical teachers.  It does seem to make them sound less important and not at all unique, which in turn kind of makes me feel a little special.

2015 Art Ed Blog of the Year! Vote for me!

I can't even believe that I am a finalist for Art Ed. Blog of the Year through The Art of Education.  I absolutely love blogging about what my students and I are up to, and my thoughts on my daily routines.  Even though I see the blog getting hits... I always kind of feel like nobody really reads it.  This is kind of nice to get some recognition!

If you feel so inclined, you can vote for me and many other fabulous blogs here.

If you are new to No Corner Suns, here is the gist of the blog:

A million resources:  Every worksheet I make, every worksheet I find, every lesson plan I love is available somewhere on this blog for download. Just check out that ridiculous list of tags on the right!

An art studio: In September of 2014 I opened No Corner Suns art studio in downtown Westmont, IL.  Many of my posts detail the ups, the downs, and the how tos of branching into private art teaching.

Substitute Plans:  I've written three books that are complete lessons for the elementary art substitute.  The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook:  The Basics, K-2 Lessons, & 3-5 Lessons are all available to purchase on my site or through TPT.  It is a complete print and leave booklet perfect for subs and curriculum appropriate for students.  I also offer a bunch of free sub plans that I have developed over the years.

Your Art Room's A Mess:  I used to have time to write books.  This is meant for the new or disorganized art teacher.  It's a little bit classroom anecdote, little bit anal retentive a organization tips.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sixteen blog posts in the drafts folder: Time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Every once and awhile I come up with a great idea for a blog post, and a week or so later, The Art of Education writes it for me.  Waa Waa.

I like to take my snippets of information and start a blog post, with the intention of going back to it later... but obviously, I do not always get to it.  Starting tomorrow, prep yourself for 16 blog posts that might not end up being complete thoughts!  I'm cleaning out the drafts folder folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Wouldn't you love to vote for me for blog of the year, please?

 I admit, I haven't been the greatest about posting everyday like I used to... but I'm still getting a lot of hits each day and this blog is FULL of free resources for every art teacher.

The Art of Education is hosting a Blog of the Year contest.  Wouldn't you like to vote for me? Please?  All I kept thinking about was that Seinfeld clip when the thought even entered my mind to pander for votes....

Here's the deets:
Click HERE and fill out this simple Google doc.  Voting ends 1/15/15 (that's tomorrow, yo!).  I felt I fit into the Rising Star category best. I'm no Deep Space Sparkle, or Cassie Stephens... !

Thanks!

Throwback Thursday! 20,000 views!

Holy Schnike!  No Corner Suns is just about to hit 20,000 views.

This blog was officially started on Blogger on 1/12/13 with this post.

All posts prior to 1/12/13 were Tumblr exclusive.  (That blog just celebrated it's 3 year anniversary on 2/18/14.)  So, anyway, seriously, in like a year... that is a lot of hits!  Thanks for coming and downloading some junk and hopefully being inspired! I love art education and I love sharing!  Thank you. Thank you.  Thank you!