GAEA Conference Fall 2024

This elementary-based hands-on work session will allow you to create a personalized pixelated self-portrait on paper and then bring it to life with beads. This project will allow creative expression in choosing colors and patterns to create a pixelated character to look like you! There is also a technology-driven option. We will also be exploring artists who create pixelated murals throughout the country and see how to take street art into the classroom. Whether it is a school tagline or mascot, this fun collaborative project can be a great way to start or end the school year! Leave this session with everything you need to implement these lessons in your classroom including PowerPoints of artists, step-by-step guides, and the templates needed for success..

This workshop is designed to give you all the knowledge and teaching resources to complete a "Textile Landscape" with your students! In this lesson, students will learn the parts of a landscape, and how to create depth using the foreground, middle ground, and background, but they will also learn how to sew! I teach my students a simple running stitch and whip stich to complete the project. Once they get the hang of it, they never want to stop! I still have students come in with ripped hoodies every now and then and ask if they can borrow a needle and thread to sew it up. More advanced students can also learn more challenging embroidery stitches to add detail on top of their landscapes as well. There are tons of opportunities in this project to differentiate for different skill levels. This project came about because I had a LOT of small scrap fabrics and fabrics with irregular cuts that could not be used for our more traditional fiber arts units, and I felt that they were going to waste. I was sorting through them when I found several pieced that reminded me of mountains and other landscape features. Since that day, I have done this project several times and it is always a huge success! The students have gotten more and more creative with using fabric with pattern and texture, and adding buttons, ribbon, and embroidery. It is always fun to see what they come up with. So, please join me if you are interested in receiving those resources and want to come make some beautiful fiber art masterpieces! Lets sew some scraps together to make something greater than the sum of it's parts!

The presentation explores the increase in confidence and self-efficacy in using Mixed Reality Simulations (MRS) to prepare pre-service teachers. Currently our pre-service candidates have field experiences, and clinical experiences of being in the classroom with students and the mentor teacher. They are not allowed to sit in and observe or participate in parent teacher conferences, 504 meetings, IEP meetings, student behavior/discipline meetings, or communications with parents (outside of those volunteering). The Mixed Reality Simulator provides a safe (virtual) environment for pre-service teacher to practice these conversations, record, watch, reflect, discuss, and learn from their experience. Pre-service teachers stand in front of a screen and talk directly with the simulation (see the picture). The simulation has been preset with a scenario. For example: the scenario may be a parent/teacher conference where the student is being unsafe in the classroom, or bullying another student or the parent is complaining about the student’s grades. The experience is recorded. The pre-service teacher participating then watches and writes a reflection about the experience, challenges, etc. There will be a MRS experience at the beginning of the semester as well as the end of the semester, allowing students time to learn, have their field experience in-between. Additionally, there will be class discussions on the experiences that will be audio recorded with field notes, to allow for comparison on the pre and post experiences. Student reflections will be artifacts of data as well. The presentation will include a sample recording of the MRS experience as well as reflections from the students and an analysis of the student reflections. The hope is this new technology will build confidence and better prepare our pre-service teachers.