Back to the Blogging

For the past few years I’ve put my blog on hiatus—my attention was focused elsewhere and on other types of writing. But I am now in a place where I can get back to blogging. And I am thrilled! I’ve missed this type of writing so much. Plus, I am working on some new exciting projects that I can chat… Read more →

Trauma-informed pedagogy: some strategies

I thought it might be useful to outline some strategies for thinking about trauma-informed pedagogy in your classroom. This is based on multiple workshops I’ve run, my own experiences in the classroom, and a twitter thread. In case folks are coming to this website and are not on Twitter, it seemed beneficial to post a recent thread that offered some… Read more →

Helping Students with Lecture & Discussion Outlines for Online Art History Classes

If you found yourself unable to concentrate due to the stressors, fears, and upset of COVID-19, then you were not alone. I found my ability to focus on small tasks almost impossible at moments. I also had the hardest time retaining information. With frequent check-ins with my students, it was clear they too were struggling as well. We brainstormed at… Read more →

Reimagining Participation Points in the Classroom, Oh My!

After years of experimentation (with successes and failures), I’ve finally settled on a great way to reimagine participation in the classroom. I am fully aware that this won’t work for many people, or even most classes, but it has worked wonders for my art history classes under 30 students. Once I found the winning recipe, I realized I’d never be… Read more →

Teaching Activities for Covid-19

I thought it might be useful to share some activities that I created in light of the covid-19 pandemic. These are all activities that I created in a space of a day (!!!). A couple are based on ones I’ve used in class multiple times; others are brand new, but do the work of an activity or discussion I might… Read more →

Get students to escape the art history classroom (digitally!)

I recently had to be away from my class at the College Art Association Conference. I run an in-class escape-room activity for my World Art History class, so I thought I’d see if I could create one in a digital format. While it is obviously not the same as being in person, I will say that the students enjoyed it and… Read more →

Special Collections and Practicing Art History in a World Art History survey class

Special Collections and Practicing Art History in a World Art History survey class In my world art history class (15th-century to the present, second-half of a two-semester sequence) a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to find an alternative to the research paper. The class always fills at 25 students, and I had become tired of research papers.… Read more →

Revisiting The Carters’ “Apes**t” again and again: An activity in 5 stages

In my world art history class (15th century to the present), I’ve tried to find a number of ways to showcase for students the benefits of repeated looking, of deep observation, among other things. I also–of course–want them to realize that art can be used in a variety of ways in our contemporary moment. I’ve done this in a number… Read more →

Curatorial Acquisition Activity for the Flipped Art History Classroom

In my Latin American art class this semester (Spring 2020), I’ve created a few new in-class activities that have worked really well. One of the best has been a curatorial acquisition activity. As of late, when creating activities for a flipped classroom environment, I’ve wanted more “real world” examples for art history students. [Side note: This has been HARD!] I… Read more →

Assessing the Usefulness and Validity of Online Sources, or Developing Information Literacy

A couple of years ago I published an article in the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy called “Doing Digital Art History in a Pre-Columbian Art Survey Class: Creating an Omeka Exhibition Around the Mixtec Codex Zouche-Nuttall (2018). As part of this essay I shared examples of assignments I use in a Pre-Columbian art class, which are part of a… Read more →

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