Whew. What a weekend. I clapped for friends getting awards and recognitions, I connected with old teacher friends (and accidentally wore the exact same outfits as some of them), met some new ones, presented and painted with other teachers, won a raffle(!), and learned so much from fellow art educators.

If you attended the conference, I feel pretty confident in assuming you walked away with some new lesson plan ideas, new tools (both physical and philosophical) and hopefully, a renewed enthusiasm for your career.

So what now? Don’t want to lose that refreshed teacher glow? Here’s my plan.

REVISIT WINNING IDEAS:

The presenters and speakers have posted their slides (and research, and directions, etc) on a shared Google drive. It’s searchable and shareable! Check it out here.

STAY CONNECTED TO YOUR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY:

PAEA’s Facebook group is poppin’ lately, and is a great resource for lesson plans, supplies, and professional development opportunities (and obviously keep your eye on this blog).

There’s also a number of sub-groups that you should think about joining if they apply to you:

PAEA Elementary Art (for those of us who hang with little kids.)

PAEA Special Needs in Art Ed (lots of ideas for those working in Special Ed or with a desire to serve your special needs students better!)

PAEA Higher Education (pretty self explanatory)

and theres more for students, non-public teachers, and various regions have their own FB pages too. Check out yours to connect to your fellow art teachers!

Philadelphia area art teachers, best be sure your a part of PATA (Philadelphia Art Teachers Alliance), run by our girl Leslie Grace. The Facebook group is where it’s at (loads of good events and resources, in addition to monthly meet ups.

GET SOCIAL:

Find PAArtEd on Instagram. We’re trying to highlight lots of fun art teacher stuff, highlighting our teacher members work, great lessons, and cool resources. You can tag us (@PAArtEd) to share and maybe get featured! It’s a great way to quickly connect when you’ve got a few minutes between classes (if you’re so lucky), or while you’re waiting for your lunch to microwave.

Anyone else have any post-conference motivational strategies?