President '11-13'
| To Blog or Not to Blog. If you do not promote your art program who will?
written by Frank Juarez I came across this question about a few years ago and it made me think about my students’ work and what direction I wanted my art program to head into. I have been teaching at the secondary level for 11 years. It wasn’t until I transferred to Sheboygan North in 2006 that I realized how students, colleagues and staff viewed student art and art in general. Was it because of our art program? Our art teachers? Misconception? Needless to say, the outcome was quite disappointing. So I thought to myself what can I do to communicate that art is as relevant as any other course besides the traditional display of student artwork? What can I do that no other teacher may be doing within his or her classroom? How can I provide more information at their fingertips to engage them in the creative process? The solution was to welcome the world of social media into my practice and decide what would be appropriate for promoting my art program. One type of social media that I focus on is the use of a classroom blog. A blog is a great way to keep people informed on what is happening within your art classroom as well as in the community. This can take place as student writings, reflections, artist statements, critiques, student work, videos and the list goes on and on. I like to view a blog as a way to deliver content. Our blog, nhsartdept.wordpress.com, is used as a supplement to our website, www.nhsart.com, however art teachers are using them as their own websites. More and more art teaches are creating websites to promote their student’s work and their art programs. A website on it’s own can be less engaging than a blog, however, if it includes a link to your blog you are now able to plug into some social networking. A blog can be viewed as a free newsletter for your school, parents, administration and community by keeping them informed of what you are doing and things that are happening in your art program. Blogs started as and continue to be an online personal journal. With readers able to make comments, your blog’s educational power is magnified exponentially. You can offer subscriptions to your blog or an RSS feed where past visitors are apprised of new posts or further comments to the posts they have commented on. Your blog can be plugged into other social networks via facebook or twitter. The ability to extend the reach of your art program is a great reason to start one. WordPress is what I use. There are other sites such as Blogger, Blogspot, and TypePad that are as good as WordPress. Before taking that technology plunge into the world of blogging, I have listed a series of questions, which will allow you to do some self-reflection. These are some of the questions I have used to figure out how to move forward in promoting my art program at Sheboygan North High School. S is for Strategy: Strategy is defined as an action. ¨ How are you planning on getting the word out? ¨ Do you welcome technology into your life? ¨ Out of a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable are you with today’s technology? 1 being not comfortable, 10 being very comfortable. ¨ What strategies do you currently have in place? ¨ What factors are you using to measure success? ¨ How do you define success? ¨ How are you reaching your audience? ¨ Who is your audience? ¨ How do you create an audience? ¨ Where do you begin? P is for Establish Presence: ¨ How does your potential audience know you exist? ¨ How do you deliver your message/product/business? ¨ Do you sign up for every social media outlet? ¨ What are your priorities? ¨ Do you become selective? Are you selective? ¨ Do you use other means to get the word out? ¨ Do you use implement only technology into your plan? R is for Expand Reach: ¨ Are you solo? Do you have a colleague? ¨ Do you have a support system in place? Who supports your vision? Your work? ¨ Do you send out e-newsletters? e-blasts? Blog updates? Post cards? ¨ Do you write your own press releases? Do you submit your own images? N is for Nurturing Relationships: ¨ What happens after you announce an event, student accolade, etc? ¨ Do you invite others to visit your classroom? ¨ How often do you communicate? Monthly? Quarterly? Annually? What time of day do you communicate? When do you communicate? ¨ Do you share other news besides exhibitions such as awards, artist lectures, etc? V is for Visibility or Maintain Presence: ¨ How often do you publish on your blog? ¨ Are you submitting to local and regional newspapers? ¨ Are you sharing your expertise in your chosen field? ¨ Do you or your students comment on art receptions? Other’s receptions? Art-related events? A Rejuvenated Spirit This summer has been extremely busy for all of us whether it was creating art, participating in art exhibitions, attending receptions, meetings, conferences, traveling, and so on. It wasn’t until the beginning of August that I started to reflect on how I spent my summer. The power to reflect is a great way to create a new foundation for a new school year in which we can expose, educate and engage our art students on the world of art. No matter how busy of a summer I had there was a common thread that ran throughout all of my activities and that was being surrounded by positive, creative and dedicated people who are passionate about art, art education and building creative communities. Having people to bounce off ideas no matter how silly or questionable opened doors for dialogue, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Also, being able to offer one’s expertise to someone else’s concern created a resource for future communication. Times are difficult, but this does not mean that as art educators we should stop striving for what we think is best for our art students or even for us. This is a pivotal time in Art Education and we need to find ways in which we can support others and how others can support us. We need to realize that things may not be the same as what we have been accustomed to, therefore, we need to create new ways in we can continue to educate our art students, engage them in the learning process and still offer them the best possible art education. One way of doing this is to take an active approach in WAEA, which provides opportunities to create new professional relationships with art educators from around the state, seek ways to collaborate with another art educator from a different district, make connections, and to learn new ways to advocate for your art program. The Wisconsin Art Education Association shares ways to advocate for art education, host student-centered events that will provide art students opportunities to showcase their talents such as the Visual Arts Classic, Visioneer Design Challenge and Youth Art Month. For art educators, WAEA offers its members and the community a Fall Conference with a specific theme, a Teacher’s Palette, WAEA Member/Artist Gallery Showcase, e-Mentor Program called Art Seeds, a Facebook page and opportunities to get involved with WAEA. For detailed information visit www.wiarted.org. Artfully Yours, Frank Juarez WAEA President 2011-2013 |
