Wednesday NAEA Sessions

The first interesting session I went to today was called "The Graphic Novel as Narrative/Cultural Canon/Studio Activity to teach Art and Elementary Education Majors." PHEW! Long title, 25 minute presentation about pre-service teachers researching graphic novels and creating their own comics. One thing I learned is that there is a serious journal about comics called, you guessed it: The Comics Journal. "The Comics Journal is a magazine that covers the comics medium from an arts-first perspective." Check it out at http://www.tcj.com. And....there is a National Association of Comics Art Educators here at :
http://www.teachingcomics.org/

I also attended a really interesting Super Session with Arthur Efland and Elliot Eisner (My hero!) among others on "Connections Between Mental Functions and Artistic Performance." It was very high tech, neurobiology and brain research. And then Elliot Eisner spoke, which was fantastic because he always brings things back to the essential. A quote:

"If you want to know if a kid got smarter by doing art, look at their work. The work will show what that student is capable of thinking about." Eisner also said it is up to us as art educators to create the conditions for kids to access their conceptual possibilities...their imagination.

Corrie's presentation was fantastic! It was called "Paraprofessionals as Gatekeepers to the Art Curriculum." Look for the research article by Corrie and SU prof. Julie Causton-Theoharis in the upcoming issue of Studies in Art Education.

Then it was off to the Crayola party which was quite the scene. It was in a place called Mardi Gras World where artisans create some of the wild float components you see in the Mardi Gras parade. There was a giant Crayola birthday cake, presents for guests, live (mediocre) music and a buffet with the world's longest wait ever. In another room, there were hands on stations where you could play with Crayola products. One of the neatest things was they had a small Mardi Gras parade inside this building and a local high school marching band played. they were fantastic.

Check out my slide show of pictures from today!

More tomorrow.....Kathie