I've been reflecting a bit about our journey these past two years. Although, we were back doing in person learning for the entirety of this school year, I feel that our experiences with remote learning during the school year 2019-2020 will forever leave an imprint. Remote learning could be considered difficult in many ways. However, I truly feel that challenges present us with precious opportunities for growth. During this time I really had to check in with myself as an educator. I analyzed what my students needed to know/learn and found that the most important piece had to do with how they felt. We were all apart. There was a lot of uncertainty in the world and I wanted my students to know that they were known and needed. I intended for a lot of my lessons to have a SEL (social emotional learning) component. One lesson was so successful, it made the local newspaper! 

I developed a lesson for first grade where I introduced ideas about bravery. I asked students what it meant to be brave and asked them who some people that they consider to be brave are. We talked about how certain Native American tribes would award feathers to warriors for acts of bravery. From here, each student was instructed to create three feathers and submit them to me. I worked to assemble a set of wings composed of the feathers they had made. I then superimposed images of individual students onto the wings so that they appeared to take flight. This collaboration was meant to illustrate ideas of community in a time where we were physically apart.  The message from the lesson is that we, despite being individuals, are together as a class; we are a team, a unit. I am so proud of the team that we are!​

This year was a totally different flavor! Art was on a cart and I have to say as much as I was a worried about the changes, we had a blast! Our projects may not have been as material heavy during the 2020/2021 school year but they were certainly full of heart!

Our school has been doing in person learning full-time since the beginning of September. There were a lot of challenges and changes but students and teachers rocked it! Art class happened in the homerooms and cohorts could not mix like they normally do. Each student had their own art kit. We used plastic scrap booking containers that were packed with relevant supplies pertaining to each project. Students did not share materials and everything was scrubbed down before and after class. 

First off, I can say that I have never grown so much organizationally as I had this year. When you are on a cart it totally becomes a small scale version of your classroom. It definitely doesn't have the same capacity as a room so you really have to make sure it is packed with all the right art goodies! The organizational hacks that I have created have been carried back into my classroom and honestly, we're starting to look like an episode of home edit in here! 

I painted my two carts and hot glued googly eyes, toy cars and even a pinwheel to one. They were all dressed up for the holidays and it truly felt like an art party every time I rolled down the hall. I really tried to create a joyful experience this year for my students. I will be happy to be back in my art room next year but I have to say, I will miss the pizzazz of the art mobiles! All in all, it has been a really positive experience. We are so close to closing up the school year and while it has been a ride I was happy to be rolling along with my art carts, these students and my lovely colleagues.