Using a Tangle Guide and A Time-Lapse Video for Zentangles

I think that sometimes we forget how important the 'mini lesson' can be for our students. I also feel that many learners are visual and they need to see where we are going with the activity. As a result, I am using quick, time-lapse videos to help provide these mini lessons as well as providing much needed repetition and/or step-by-step directions for some of my students. Let's face it, this is something that all students can benefit from at one point or another. The video is great, because every student enjoys it and they do not think twice about a student asking to see it again. In fact, I think they like to see it several times.

While this post is about how to do this for a quick art project, I think this could be done successfully with just about any content area skill or activity.

Using a Tangle Guide and A Time-Lapse Video for Zentangles

I have a quick video clip that shows students how to look through a Tangle Guide to select tangles (or patterns) they want to include in their design. This is different than my step-by-step videos that I talk through with my students as if I am teaching. Instead, It breaks everything down, but with the joy of time-lapse, and with a quick moving soundtrack which is really helpful for a lot of students. It seems to make it much more accessible for everyone. Try it and see what you think.

1. Create a Tangle Guide or copy a variety of tangles you want your students to try. 
• This can be a combination of different tangles from different sources. Just copy and staple them together so there is less mess and confusion while the students search for the next tangle to try in their design.
2. Create a quick how-to video to use as a part of the introduction.  
• What do I use to record the video?
•  a mini try-pod for a cell phone and I unscrewed the mount from the tripod and attached it to the plate of my regular, full-sized tripod. 
• one end of my dining room table with the tripod leaning over the area where I am working. 
• my iPhone set on time lapse video (you can use regular video speed and change it in your video editing app)
• Adobe Premiere (you can use any video editing app)
3. Play the video as a quick mini lesson or as a motivation at the beginning of your lesson. You can replay the video for those students who may need to see it again. You can even put it in the background on loop!
4. Students are really going to be excited to get started!
5. I think I want to film the students working and finish our lesson with a quick video of their process. They will love it!

How to Make a Basic Pop-Up Card

I have found that my students respond very well to short, 'mini lesson' videos for learning the steps and/or techniques of some of our projects. Here is a quick video that was shared to help students to see the process for creating a pop-up card. You can use this for any subject or holiday and you can challenge students to have more than one thing pop-up within a card. 

Time to Spring Forward!

Apologies to everyone who thought I fell off the face of the planet! In a nut shell, it's been a crazy couple of months for me. Currently, I'm getting ready to return to work after having torn meniscus repaired in my left knee. I am ready to get back to the classroom! Since today we find ourselves setting our clocks forward for spring, I think this is a perfect time to get back on track with my posts.

I look forward to sharing ideas, resources, and classroom updates in the days ahead. 

Month of November

Here it is November 24th and I have not been at school since October 29th. This has been a very frustrating month. I am recovering from a herniated disc, bulging disc, torn disc, and the sciatica that they are causing in my left leg. I can't tell you the relief of just having pain at this point instead of pain to a point that steps were impossible! Phew! It's time to get moving and get back on track! I go back to school on Monday, November 30th and I am excited to get back to my students and back to posting cool things we do in the art room!

A Resource for Teachers and Parents

It has been a long time since I have been able to post anything, but I think things are moving in the right direction and I want to get back on track! Those who have followed my blog can continue and hopefully, some of my Afya colleagues and parents will follow as well. This site is linked to my Afya site as an additional resource for Afya.

I will be posting some of the great things happening in art, as well as great resources I have found. If you have questions about how to do something, just ask. I will do my best to answer and if I don't have the answer, I'll find the answer for you. I want to keep art on your mind and see it integrated whenever possible. We must keep creative thinking alive!

Chinese Calligraphy