Art Teaching Blogging

I have decided to dedicate part of my blog to teaching art. Once I can get the teaching posts on a separate page/tab it will be very easy to separate them from my other fine art posts.... or maybe eventually I'll have to start a second blog site :)

This is my first year teaching art. I've only taught for seven or eight weeks actually. One day a week I teach one high school and two elementary classes, and another day I teach two more elementary classes. These classes are at home school "schools" or "co-ops," so classes meet just once a week. Maybe one day I'll get into teaching at a private school, but I am really liking teaching for home schoolers, and the pay is pretty good :). Also could have something to do with the fact that I was homeschooled all the way through so I understand the system and like it and know where the kids are coming from and know that they need a good art teacher as much as any other student. I like the low stress and my teaching schedule as well.

All that to say...  A couple of weeks ago I was feeling really discouraged and like I was failing and like I really really didn't know what I was doing. I was running out of projects that I had prepared for and I was having trouble preparing enough in time for class. Thankfully, I had a couple of days off of my other job and the house quiet and to myself, so I started scouring teaching art blogs. A lot of the projects I would not use because they are too "crafty" BUT I did find some great projects and I also found many projects and concepts that I got creative with and mixed up and made more art heavy than craft heavy. I do not have a degree in art education, I have a degree in fine art, so I go more heavy on the art than the crafts (this is also what the students and parents want).
I have also come up with many projects on my own and will post them also.
So now it's my turn to start a teaching art blog and hopefully lots of teachers will find it and will find helpful ideas and projects.
Lessons learned so far:
Don't be lazy- it's gonna take a lot of work, especially the first year when you don't have a repertoire of projects and you don't have a clue what you're doing.

Find somewhere quiet where you can think totally on art and get super creative with the projects
Think through everything and how you will teach everything. Be totally prepared well ahead of time.

Know that you will have to set a chunk of time aside once or twice a week to make sure you are prepared.

Don't be too nice to the students, You are in charge!

Try the projects out yourself before hand and bring examples.