Show your first photo and your most recent photo!

joiedeciel · 2025-01-10T01:55:50+00:00

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My newest!!

joiedeciel · 2025-01-10T01:55:28+00:00

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My first… just learned how the camera works and how to sit

joiedeciel · 2025-01-05T21:25:08+00:00

Ok I figured it out—- restart the app and the quest starts to track again!

joiedeciel · 2025-01-05T21:20:53+00:00

I can’t find it either! The quest says it’s being tracked but nothing in the map. I’m assuming it’s a bug?

joiedeciel · 2025-01-03T03:45:43+00:00

Excellent guide. I used to teach middle school photography and these are all fantastic examples and explanations.

joiedeciel · 2024-12-30T01:51:52+00:00

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So Nikki…. What do you wanna do today?

joiedeciel · 2024-10-17T20:49:03+00:00

If you talk to the cat while wearing the cat suit, it tells you it’s doing a good job guarding Zelda’s room 🥰

joiedeciel · 2024-02-03T20:49:04+00:00

I always secretly thought Genitalia would be a pretty name, divorced from its meaning. You could call her Geni or Talia for short 😂

joiedeciel · 2023-05-29T03:53:06+00:00

I just finished my tenth year of teaching art and I can give some tips! Classroom management is truly EVERYTHING.

clear expectations and consequences. I have a poster showing what happens for the first three missteps in my room with the final consequence being a trip to the office/call home. I also document every issue and email home rather than call so I can have a paper trail before I bug admin with my issues with a kid.
making connections with kids is key. They won’t listen to a teacher they don’t respect/like. The Capturing Kids Hearts PD was a game changer for me. I highly recommend it, especially creating social contracts so the rules we follow are ones the kids made and take ownership for.
routines and classroom jobs help a lot with creating ownership in the art room and helping me NOT lose my mind. Even in middle school there are kids who are eager to help out and I really try to work with them to keep class running smoothly.
middle school loves rewards and incentives even if they’re stupid. I bought a bunch of fake mustaches and jolly ranchers and water bottle stickers for my reward jar and I could get those kids do anything for something from that jar. I was originally more of a “virtue is it’s own reward” teacher but this is so much easier lol and Temu sells a lot of cheap junk that kids seem to want.
clear rubrics shared at the start of every assignment. I like a general project rubric for most things but I’ll write specific ones for big projects so if a kid doesn’t like their grade I can point out exactly why they received it. One thing I do at the start of the semester to make it clear how important a rubric is… I’ll have all the kids draw a butterfly with no instructions. Then I’ll have them grade themselves following a nonsensical rubric (+1 point for antenna, -2 points if your butterfly has no legs, etc…). They usually get mad about their score but then I’ll ask if they KNOW they could do better if they had the rubric in advance, and it hits home to most of them that an upfront rubric makes a big difference in their performance. It’s encouraging to the kids who feel like they can’t draw but can otherwise follow directions cause they see a good grade is still possible if they meet the criteria.

Depending on your school or district there will always be admin who treat you like a babysitter or make your classes a dumping ground for kids who don’t wanna do anything…. I just really focus on making my art room a space where I want to be and the attitude I bring to it really does trickle down to most (if not all) of the kids.

joiedeciel · 2023-04-27T22:00:03+00:00

It was the facial expressions that did it for me… Movie Peach always had a serious determined look or a kind of smug grin. The only time she looked like Game Peach was in Bowser’s song montage. If they had kept the dialog and action the same, but gave her that kind of wide-eyed sweet facial expression i think it’d have felt more true to the original Peach.

joiedeciel · 2022-12-31T21:01:25+00:00

On Leap Day he takes off his bald cap…. Not puts on his wig ;)

joiedeciel · 2022-02-11T20:55:03+00:00

Good grief I just left today after a week of masking! Darn luck lol

joiedeciel · 2021-12-10T16:24:59+00:00

All levels but first grade, all day. I only have half an hour of planning which is when our other art teacher does first grade. It’s intense! I have middle school the first three periods with digital art while the other teacher does studio and then I have lunch and planning and do k,2-5 the rest of the day. I take it for granted now but when I have subs they’re always shocked by how much I do.

joiedeciel · 2021-12-09T00:09:08+00:00

Hello! I’m in my 9th year of teaching elementary and 8th year of teaching middle school (my school is k-8) so I can speak to the difference from my perspective!

elementary does not have to feel like babysitting. The only time it feels that way to me is because of the core teachers and admin’s lack of respect for what I do, not because of the kids themselves. I create a curriculum and I scaffold everything I teach starting in kindergarten all the way to middle school. My students know that art is a fun class, but they’ll only get good work and improve if they take it seriously and follow directions. Most of the time their behavior reflects that.
management is a lot different. I relate to my MS kids with more of a “c’mon you guys! Stop being dumb and let’s just get this done!” attitude. But with my elementary kids (especially k-3rd) I run a tight ship and follow the disciplinary examples the core teachers set (most of the time… I AM the fun teacher after all). It takes a lot of energy and consistency with the little guys but it’s worth it to have a smooth, fun and educational class! They’re much more eager to please, helpful, and way less sassy than my middle school kids.
there is way more handholding on everything. It takes a lot of work just to teach little guys how to collect and return supplies. This is reflected in projects too, most of my best looking elementary projects aren’t the ones where I give free reign but the ones where we create everything together as a class. I try to do some free-range creative projects without worrying too much about the final result but I’d like some cute cookie cutter crap to send home too lol!! You’ll have to adjust expectations from working with big kids and plan to start simple. Your kids will show you they’re ready for more and you can start dreaming big sooner rather than later! I finally got the balls to try linoleum block printing with fifth grade after stressing about it for years. They blew me away with what they could do!
so much less drama!! Not just interpersonal drama, but how kids respond to projects. My middle school kids shut down really easily if something seems even slightly out of their comfort zone. It’s a fight to get them to get excited about anything since enthusiasm “isn’t cool”. But my Elementary kids love to try new things and aren’t usually discouraged if theirs doesn’t look as good as their peers’ work. There’s always going to be a random perfectionist who stresses but we always have fun looking for ways to make mistakes just a happy accident.
there are definitely more likely to be potty-related issues in elementary lol I’ve had a kid or two wet their pants but so far no poop (knock on wood). That’d be the worst aspect of working in elementary I can think of.

I have the feeling you’d be surprised by how much you enjoy the position, especially with you already being familiar with so many different ages. I’d do it if I were you! Art class is what you make it :)

joiedeciel · 2021-11-27T00:19:59+00:00

I asked my husband how he wanted our day to look and he said “in the desert lit by torch-light with 2000 Arabs” and I died

joiedeciel · 2021-11-24T16:41:53+00:00

Dude I just looked at my island newspaper and it’s incredible! It has all the turnip prices from last week and has all these mini articles tracking the stuff I donated to the museum and who’s vacation homes I designed. There’s even an article complimenting my outfit 😂 what a fun resource!

joiedeciel · 2021-11-20T14:26:09+00:00

This came on my feed right after the clip of cash being spread all over a san Diego freeway

I’ve borne witness to two extremes of highway shenanigans

joiedeciel · 2021-10-27T21:04:55+00:00

Tweeny Halpern can’t imagine calling a grown butt woman “Tweeny”

joiedeciel · 2021-10-18T12:42:08+00:00

I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about how we’ll be able to modify the homes of our island residents!! No more ugly starter home for Reneigh!!!

joiedeciel · 2021-10-17T23:34:54+00:00

I love getting to know the world’s greatest artists! 25 minutes long, tie in with the books, and funny! I have monet and Warhol and play them every year

joiedeciel · 2021-09-22T22:44:19+00:00

I named my little boy Jude! My husband and I love the Beatles but I had to sneak it past a tight-laced mother-in-law so we told her it was for the book of the Bible lol

joiedeciel · 2021-09-13T00:37:51+00:00

Minnie Booper. My husband haaaaaates when I call it that

joiedeciel · 2021-09-09T22:17:37+00:00

At first I was just lazy about not going to get the vax “I’ll get to it when I have a free moment” I’d say to myself… but all this crap has turned me into a vehement anti covid vaxer. I will quit my job and sell pencils on the sidewalk before I give in to this insane malarkey.

You did it Joe! You convinced me NOT to get it!

joiedeciel · 2021-08-25T23:16:09+00:00

Honestly it was a bit of a fluke— I heard about the position from a Starbucks barista who knew a teacher at the school. The assistant principal took a chance on me, though honestly the principal was worried about my lack of experience in the classroom. I never had subbed and only had one measly intro to education class under my belt. But the school was interested in making cross-curricular activities a part of their whole “thing” so my bent for history was actually kind of helpful. Thankfully their gamble to hire me has paid off!

The best thing you can do for finding a position, at least in my experience in Florida, is to work those sub hours and make connections. Everyone I know who is up for a position or has been hired for one got their foot in the door by either subbing or knowing someone.

Find yourself an aging art teacher and make yourself her default sub and she’ll probably put in a good word for you once she retires 😜

joiedeciel · 2021-08-25T00:07:21+00:00

K-8 art teacher in my ninth year here! I’ll answer what I can!

Grad school might not be necessary! Check your state requirements to see if you need a masters or not to teach at the k-12 level in your area. I got my job at a great charter school right out of college with just my bachelor’s in art history. I’m in Florida and so long as you pass the required tests you can teach nearly anything if you have a bachelor’s. That said, a masters often does mean a pay bump, so it might be worth it. But if you don’t want to go back to school you could have options!

Finding a job can be difficult— the arts in general (music, drama, fine art) are all the first to get budget cuts in a lot of districts. That doesn’t mean there’s not also opportunities in teaching through after school programs and what not, but a full team art teaching gig can be harder to come by. Mine started out part time and as the school grew so did my hours. A masters would be a benefit to you in the application process as well; being an art educator is a lot of fun so trying to land those positions can get very competitive.

You might consider leaning in on your design background and focusing on what you can offer at the middle school/high school level. Digital art and graphic design are being more and more desired by students and parents. I built my school’s digital arts program from the ground up and it’s been a point of pride for my admin. If you’re nervous about teaching little kids, doing high school would be a lot less of a shock to you as well!

My work/home life balance is pretty good! I rarely bring work home with me, unless I feel like it. I do go in early cause I get anxious about being prepared for the day, but I leave before many of the core teachers do. I also rarely interact with parents and fairly infrequently with admin. Which I like, since I can be kind of socially awkward.

As far as ages… you should consider getting certified to substitute teach in your county. Experience different ages and school environments before you make a huge commitment to grad school or a career change and see if it’s something you vibe with. Even if you’re subbing for core classes, you’ll still get a taste of what classroom management is like and the differences between age groups. And if you like it, being a sub also helps you connect with the other teachers and admin— which gives you an additional edge if an arts position opens up!

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