Faculty and students from the art and design education program in the NIU School of Art and Design will be presenting a number of sessions and workshops at this year’s Illinois Art Education Association Conference in Bloomington-Normal.
Friday, October 18
9:10 – 10:00 am
Assessing to Support Students’ Social and Emotional Development
Location: Marriott – Redbird C
Kathryn Sowinski (Doctoral Student) with Eva Coker, Carrie Carlson, and Johnson Wor (Doctoral Students)
Assessment in the art classroom plays a critical role not only in evaluating student progress but also in supporting their social, emotional, and artistic development. Unfortunately, traditional critiques and assessments can sometimes have unintended negative impacts on students. This session aims to explore how carefully designed assessment methods can nurture students’ social-emotional well-being while fostering their artistic growth. In this interactive session, participants will explore various assessment methods, ranging from informal to formal and formative to summative. Drawing from research and best practices in both art education and social-emotional learning (SEL), attendees will learn how to implement assessment strategies that promote a positive and inclusive classroom environment. Special attention will be given to culturally responsive assessment methods that honor students’ diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
9:10 – 10:00 am
Current and Future School Leaders Unite!
Location: Marriott – Beaufort
Jonathan Grice (Alumni), Director of Fine Arts
Are you currently in an educational leadership role or aspiring to one? This workshop offers a space for participants to discuss common challenges, collaborate on solutions, and build a supportive network. Learn from experienced leaders, share your ideas, and help us build a community dedicated to mutual growth. Join us and contribute to shaping the future of art education leadership.”
9:10 – 10:00 am
AP: Get it started, keep it going 🙂
Location: Marriott – Redbird B
Jilian Reints (Alumni), Secondary Art Educator
AP is an asset to any art program. Whether you are just getting started and looking for tips or a 20 year veteran looking to refresh, this session will have something for you. I am 4 years into 2D studio and 1 year into AP Drawing and am happy to share both what has been working for me as well as the struggles I’ve come up against. Logistics, calendars, guided questions, supplies; you name it, we’ll talk about it!
10:10 – 11:00 am
Contemporary Art for Contemporary Kids: How Art21 has Shaped Our Art Programs
Location: Marriott – Redbird C
Karen Brinker, Elementary Art Educator with Jenny Raia (Doctoral Student)
Come learn from our experience with Art21 Educators! Jenny and Karen spent a week during the summer of 2023 in NYC with art educators from around the world, and are on a mission to bring contemporary thinking into their art rooms. They continued to meet with their Art21 cohort throughout the 23-24 school year, and want to share what they have discovered along the way. The presentation will include information about artists, year-long goals, lessons, and ways to make it all elementary friendly.
10:10 – 11:00 A.M.
Authentic Art Assessment Strategies That Demonstrate Student Growth
Location: Marriott – Beaufort
Deborah Filbin (Alumni), Secondary Art and Design Educator
Demonstrating student growth and collecting student data is often required as part of a teacher’s performance evaluation and duties. This can be especially challenging in visual art and design classes. Find ways to collect data that is authentic and meaningful to art achievement, and reflects classroom instruction. Discover assessment strategies that reflect your instruction and demonstrate growth using both visual and numerical data. A variety of methods will be introduced and collaboration with colleagues on other strategies will be welcomed.
10:10 – 12:10 P.M. 120 Minute Offsite Workshops
A Common Link
Location: ISU Center for Visual Arts – CVA 311
Joan Mills (Alumni), Art Educator with Laura Milas & Anne Becker (Alumni)
Enhance your generative powers of art creation using a common link. Workshop participants will create small mixed-media collage artworks that function independently and cohesively. Generative art-making, problem-solving, and fluency are among the tenets being explored during the workshop. Participants will see how work can express individuality and collaborative group identity. This workshop supports personal and student instructional artmaking.
11:10 – 12:00 P.M.
Video & Animation Lessons for Student Voice
Location: ISU Center for Visual Arts – CVA 134a
Luke Jenner, High School Teacher with Justin Bickus (Alumni)
Join digital media arts educators Luke Jenner and Justin Bickus for a fast-paced best practices session, where they’ll share lessons using Adobe tools and open-source software, focusing on artistic integrity within video and animation instruction. Discover practical strategies for fostering integrity and explore the exciting and intimidating potential of AI in high school art and media classrooms, leaving with actionable ideas to enhance your curriculum.
3:10 – 4:00 pm
Pixels and Pedagogy: Enhancing Middle Level Art and Design Education through Digital Media
Location: Marriott – Redbird C
Kelly Gross (Assistant Professor) with Eva Coker, Sara Campbell, Natalia Zaragoza, & Melissa Jasso (Students)
Join us for an engaging session focusing on art and design education for 4th through 8th graders, where pre-service students take the lead in teaching. This session explores a diverse array of digital art media, including photography, Pixlr editing, video production, and stop-motion animation, while covering a wide variety of content. Discover innovative lesson plans that use postmodern concepts to inspire creativity and technical proficiency in middle school classrooms.
4:10 – 5:00 pm
Unveiling Surprising Realities for Future High School Art Educators (What they don’t tell you in college)
Location: Marriott – Redbird G
Lindsey DiLeo (Alumni), High School Art Educator with Wendy Guss & Zachary Wisser (Alumni)
The role of a high school art teacher is a multifaceted one, requiring a blend of artistic skill, pedagogical expertise, and an understanding of administrative processes. While colleges and universities strive to prepare future educators for the challenges they may face, there are certain aspects of the profession that often go unaddressed in formal education. This session aims to shed light on these sometimes surprising realities, providing valuable insights and practical knowledge for aspiring and current high school art teachers. Topics will include class load, the traveling teacher, teachers contracts, school board policy, classroom management and the processes of teaching art.
4:10 – 5:00 pm
Critical Artist-Teacher-Researchers: Pilot Studies at the Doctoral Level
Location: Marriott – Redbird B
Dr. Kryssi Staikidis (Professor) with Kathryn Sowinski, Johnson Wor, Carrie Carlson, & Sarah Greer (Doctoral Students)
This presentation aims to introduce the audience to current research topics that are of interest to doctoral students in the design of pilot studies in a doctoral research methods course. Presentations by doctoral students incorporate critical qualitative research methods related to holistic visual arts assessment, cultural influence on assessment practices in undergraduate graphic design classrooms across US and Ghanaian cultures, animal ethics in the visual arts classroom at the middle level, nature journaling at the secondary level to support social-emotional skills in teens; and visual journaling as a strategy for supporting social-emotional learning at the middle level.
4:10 – 5:00 pm
Punk Rock Classroom
Location: Marriott – Redbird F
Edd Magierski (Alumni), High School Art Teacher with Rich Stachon
Even if you do not identify as “Punk”, you can have the Punk mindset in your classroom: DIY, relentless passion and work ethic, and making your scene. By the end of this session you will have a handmade ‘zine that has all of the Punk aesthetic baked right in ready to hit the Kinkos and make copies. Hang out and talk with two old punks as they share how the punk scene back in the day still informs and influences what they do today in the classroom.
Saturday, October 19
9:10 – 10:00 am
Surviving Your First Few Years: Stories, Tips, and Wisdom
Location: Marriott – Redbird F
Deborah Filbin (Alumni), Secondary Art Teacher
The first few years as an art teacher can be overwhelming: Balancing lesson plans, new teaching responsibilities, acclimating to the school environment, managing art supplies, and your first few performance evaluations can seem overwhelming. Keep the excitement of why you wanted to become an art teacher while learning to balance new responsibilities. A veteran art teacher with over 25 years of experience shares stories, tips and tricks to help balance responsibilities, and wisdom that you can apply to help survive the first few years of teaching.
9:10-11:10 A.M. 120 Minute Offsite Workshops
Hands-On Origami Workshop: Strategies to Teach the Art of Paper Folding for All Ages
Location: ISU Center for Visual Arts – CVA 027
Sarah Greer (Doctoral Student), Elementary Art Educator, Middle Art Educator, with Eva Coker (Doctoral Student)
Have you wanted to include origami in your lesson plans but unsure where to begin? This is a hands-on workshop where we will practice the art of origami, discuss how to create a successful origami lesson, discuss the benefits of practicing the art of paper folding, and explore how this sculptural practice may be implemented at all age levels. During this interactive workshop, participants will receive hands-on learning, lesson plan ideas, and resources to bring origami into the K-12 art classroom. All levels of experience (or no experience) are welcome to participate. This workshop aims to equip art teachers, regardless of origami proficiency, to include this art-making practice in their classrooms at any grade level.
10:10 – 11:00 am
Designing with Purpose: Enhancing Creativity Through Design Principles in the Art Classroom
Location: Marriott – Redbird B
Johnson Kwame Wor (Doctoral Student) with Godwin Dzidzornu Amuzu (Doctoral Student)
This explores ways five design principles- Balance, Unity, Repetition, Contrast and Proportion can be used purposefully to create impactful designs in the art classroom. The idea is to equip instructors to better inculcate in students the sense of intentionality in the creation of good designs by relying on effective application of these design principles. Presenters will use case studies and practical examples to illustrate how these principles are strategically employed to craft innovative and impactful works. An interactive critique session will invite attendees to explore how these principles are harnessed to achieve great designs. By exploring the practical use of these design principles, participants will gain a deeper understanding of how they can effectively be utilized by their students for greater results in the classroom.
1:10 – 2:00 pm
A Preservice and First Year Art Educators Roundtable
Location: Marriott – Beaufort
Danielle Sheppard (Alumni), Secondary Art Teacher, Preservice Student Advisor
What do Preservice students and first year Art Educators need now and in the future? This session will focus on topics of what Preservice years into student teaching, to then the first years of teaching. Topics about resources, opportunities available, and transitioning from student teaching to the first year of teaching and experiences along the way. The goal of this session is to share about different experiences, listen to the needs of our preservice and first year Art Educators, share resources, and opportunities that can be provided to help direct future goals and planning.
1:10 – 2:00 pm
Art Education as Creative Practice
Location: Marriott – Redbird E
April Macatangay (Alumni), Art Educator with Kristina Sutterlin
This session will discuss methods of building lessons that are led by student voice, experience, and curiosity, with lesson planning taking the form of a Creative Process. It will take you through different approaches to coming up with a lesson, how to identify and incorporate “big picture” objectives, all while naturally tying in teaching technique and essential art-making skills. This session starts with a presentation component and closes with a discussion on how to concretely apply the Creative Process to lesson and curriculum building.
1:10 – 2:00 pm
Falling Up the AI Curve: Disrupting Art and Design Education with Tech, Ethics, and Innovation
Location: Marriott – Redbird C
Chris Grodoski (Alumni), HCD + Innovation Strategist with Brad Olson
AI is permeating education and creative endeavors. This session will review AI tools and their intersection with Instructional Practices, providing ethical, instructional, and curricular resources to accelerate AI integration with people-first praxis. We will share resources that touch each grade band for the creation of AI infused art to issues about ownership and strategies for students to navigate an increasingly real unreality. Presenters work in the AI and Art Education space and look to empower people during a period of unprecedented technological change!
1:10 – 3:10 pm
Creating Comics in Art Education
Location: ISU Center for Visual Arts – CVA 027
Kathryn Sowinski (Doctoral Student) with Sarah Greer, Godwin Dzidzornu Amuzu, & Jennifer Raia (Doctoral Students)
This hands-on workshop session aims to provide participants with practical strategies and resources for integrating comics into their art curriculum, catering to both traditional and digital approaches. During this interactive workshop, participants will explore examples of student and teacher-created comics, teaching resources, and sample lesson plans. Participants will discover how incorporating comics into the curriculum can enhance student engagement, creative expression, and literacy skills across various grade levels. By exploring diverse themes and narratives in comics, educators will gain insights into how to address the lived experiences and cultural backgrounds of their students, promoting inclusivity and equity in the classroom. Participants will leave the workshop equipped with practical strategies and prompts for incorporating comics into their art curriculum, including thematic prompts such as social issues, personal narratives, and lessons learned.
2:10 – 3:00 pm
Exploring Cultural Influences on Graphic Design Assessment Practices: Insights from a Pilot Study
Location: Marriott – Redbird A
Johnson Kwame Wor (Doctoral Student)
This pilot study investigates and presents students’ perspectives on cultural influences in undergraduate graphic design assessment practices, with a specific focus on their experiences and preferences in Ghana and the US. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the cultural factors impacting art and design education and will learn how to ensure respectful cultural representation while avoiding appropriation. The ultimate goal is to promote fair, equitable, and inclusive assessment practices, which are essential for any strong educational undertaking.
2:10 – 4:10 pm
Nurturing Interdisciplinary Creativity through Nature Art Activities
Location: Illinois Art Station – 101 E Vernon Ave, Normal, IL 61761
Carrie Carlson (Doctoral Student), Secondary Art Educator, PhD student with Eva Coker (Doctoral Student)
Spending time with the natural world is beneficial for mental health and encourages greater awareness and understanding of environmental systems and issues. Want to encourage your students to look more closely at nature with an artist’s eye? Feeling stuck on how to bring more interdisciplinary fun into your art lessons? Join us for nature-inspired art activities to get your creative juices pumping. Attendees will participate in activities designed to encourage cross-curricular creativity, including seed catalog haikus, nature journaling, insect mandalas, and blind contour botanical media exploration. All levels are welcome. Lesson plans, presentation slides, and examples will be provided.
3:10 – 4:00 pm
Making YouTube Work for YOU
Location: Marriott – Redbird F
Ailysh Cooper (Graduate Student), High School Art Educator – Oak Lawn Community High School
Sharing experiences, tips, and tricks, this session is all about how you can use YouTube for YOUR unique teaching style and personality. If you have ever wanted to clone yourself, have flawless demonstrations, or have tinkered with a flipped classroom, this session is definitely for you! Ailysh Cooper, the creator of Ms. Cooper’s Art Class on YouTube, will share her experience along with ideas for you to make your own video tutorials for your unique situation and students. Worried about starting a YouTube channel? Come anyway! This session is geared towards beginners and the curious, but also builds on previous YouTube presentations.
