I like to draw while listening to speakers.  I take their message and illustrate it in a way that makes sense for me. While I may appear to not be listening to the speaker because my head is downcast and my pen is always moving, I'm truly engaged in the teaching.  The drawing grounds me.  It focuses me.

I had the honor of sketchnoting while Susie Larson shared her messages of faith, perseverance and freedom "Through God's Eyes" at the Appleton Alliance 2016 Women's Retreat. 

I actually went to a session on this type of visual note-taking while at the Wisconsin Art Education Association (WAEA) conference in October 2015.  It's called sketchnoting.  I never really thought about teaching it as a skill to my students until I went to this session and heard all the supporting research.  Even EdWeek.org has a post from January 2016 about The Benefits of Using Doodling and Sketchnoting in the Classroom.  Written by Deidra Gammill, Ph.D, who suggests to start slowly:

Get comfortable with your own sketching so you can share your work with your students. I make a habit of including images in my note taking at conferences and meetings, which helps me grow and provides an example for my students to follow.​

Well, there you go.  That's what I'm doing.  Sharing my work so others can be inspired to give it a try.  My meandering doodles may not make sense to you, but I look at them and I remember Susie's words.  

So many of her messages would be beneficial to my middle school students, such as the desire to be part of an imaginary inner (social) circle. Even adults need to be reminded that the inner circle does NOT exist.  Be brave.  Be free from that notion.
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In all honesty, the lemonade stand is a long stretch in relation to the main concept of Susie's message.  She made mention of a lemonade stand and I thought "Oh! that is fun", and I began to doodle.  I wove the image in as part of her apple/seed analogy that led into a reminder that we should all live a fruitful (full!) life where we laugh more and cherish our purpose.  

THEN... at our final session with Susie, she talked about taking risks.  Once again, I made a connection to my classroom.  Are my students pushing themselves outside of their comfort zone with the art materials?  Are they taking risks with their ideas?  

I dare them to. 

She also mentioned the importance of finding those friends who accept you without judgement.  At which point, I nudged my sister-in-law sitting next to me.  I've heard that statement from her mouth a many of times: "We won't judge!".   Thank you, Jenn, for bringing me along for another wonderful, spiritual retreat, without judgement.

Speaking of judgement... last year at retreat, I embarrassed my sister-in-law by posting a photo of 19 Crimes wine with a "Praise Jesus!" on the FB.  Sometimes I think I'm funny when I'm not.  I blame my fun-loving parents who took my siblings and I to reconciliation at church, followed by an evening of family bonding playing Bull Sh(oo)t! because it's a game of lie, cheat and swear.   You know... because we all just came clean with our sins, so we had to celebrate somehow.  (Praise Jesus!)

Welcome to the New Holstein Middle School art STUDIO, where my students are called ARTISTS.

That's what happens when Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (aka: TAB). In a nutshell, it's a choice-based curriculum.  It's where students get to choose their materials, develop their own ideas and struggle through the process.  Isn't that what artists do?!

That's a really big nutshell.
(I am a bit of a nut. A good, fun nut.  I think it's in the job description for being creative.)

Do you think creativity is important?  I've adopted a mantra in relation to that topic, inspired by Sir Ken Robinson:

SShazam!  I am no longer the "art educator".  My new title is "Creative Leader".

So here's the deal.  I'm trying really hard to create a classroom culture where new ideas are praised and all artistic abilities are celebrated.  The emphasis is on building a portfolio of artwork that includes reflections that tell me what they've learned.  How did they challenge themselves?  We've been practicing this on a smaller scale through a Google Form (survey) that students fill out when they complete an artwork.  It's based on the Studio Habits of Mind.

On a larger scale, students are also blogging about it - when I assign it.  In the spirit of choice, this quarter I plan on giving options: a written blog post, a video blog or a live presentation to the class... because sharing ideas is fun.

Then I don't have to grade the artwork! (I once observed an art teacher who took artwork, compared them to each other, and then sorted them into an 'A' pile, 'B', and so forth. I was flabbergasted by that grading system!) 

Instead, the artist (aka student) and I can focus on the learning instead of the quality of the skill displayed in the final product.  If you want to get technical about it, it's called Standards Based Learning, or SBL, because education and acronyms go together like nuts and... squirrels.  Yes, squirrels.  Or do you prefer pea(nut) butter and jelly? Even better, a squirrel eating a peanut butter sandwich...

... and this is how ideas develop.  One thing leads to another.
... and this is how topics transition.  

I once did a tshirt design for a coffee shop called The Chattering Squirrel.  We're close friends with the owners and this guy that runs the place is a social squirrel.  To me, that means that he's fun, energetic and has a heart of gold.  
There. I just invented a new slang term AND gave you a definition for it. Are you reading this, Urband Dictionary? Social Squirrel.  Don't forget it.)
 
So, his wife asked me to draw a caricature of him as a squirrel, holding a cup of coffee.  I'm still unsure if I like it as a tshirt, but it was fun capturing his personality in the design!