'Deck the Walls...with ART!'

​This is my third year at LWHS, and I'm not gonna lie- I kinda love it!  No joke, I love my students, my classroom, my colleagues- I just love it!

I have been working on my room bit by bit over my time there and I really feel like I have made progress.  It's not 100% organized, but definitely getting there.  Don't BEElieve me?  Check out this blog post from my first teacher work days in the new space;

http://www.jenniferlovegironda.com/blog/beeforeand-after

So here is the thing...my strategy has been to work on the room in 'zones'.  I started with the front storage/office and front half of the room my first year at LWHS.  Last year, my students and I started to tackle the back half of the room, aka the '3D' area.  Heck, I even got the kiln room lookin' legit.  But the last area is the waaaay back storage.  It is still a work in progress, but SO MUCH better than it was- BEElieve that!

One thing...the enormous piles of old student artwork. When I say 'old' I am talking about work 2-3 art teachers ago, some of the stuff was from when I was in HS back in the 90's!!  Yikes!  I had the students sort through it here and there, but really all we did was just move it from one place to another.  

The time had come to get rid of this old artwork.  

My dilemma.

But I couldn't fathom just throwing it away.  It's old, but some REALLY great stuff.  So I had the idea to set up a big display of all of the art in the back half of my classroom.  I decided to use the back half that way I could leave it up as long as possible, knowing it wouldn't interfere with any projects I had going on to get ready for the new school year, and even into the first week.

I made a flier basically saying 'free art' available...oh, but I DID mention to keep me in mind during the year with extra pencils, newspaper, paper towels, etc.  (hey, I have 200+ kids to look out for and no budget!)  My principal forwarded it to the staff, I even spoke up at the faculty meeting...and slowly but surely the teachers started trickling in!

(Top) The 'art display/giveaway' set up before the teachers wandered over...and (bottom) today, after I finally closed up shop! (I had students deliver any piece that were left to various locations on campus with a note letting them know to TAKE IT!)

No one left empty handed.  Some only took a few pieces, some took piles of work, some made multiple trips...some even came back with their teacher friends!  The teachers had a little help getting their classrooms ready, we made the school more visually exciting for our students, and I got a chance to get the teachers in my room, advocate for art, talk collaborations and let them know what types of items I needed donated.  

​Oh, and I got all of that old art outta my room! I love a win-win!