When I first stepped into the crammed portable way back in 2004 to teach my first art class, I wasn’t thinking about how the tables were set-up or what supplies I had.
I just wanted the kids to like me.
I vaguely recall my mindset, my complete and utter lack of awareness of how “real” this was going to get, and just remembered how happy I was when I left for the day.
I experienced one of the best days of my life.
I was an art teacher and life was good.
Okay….
What this doesn’t tell you is that on day 2, reality set in.
Why did my schedule have 3 classes back-to-back with less than 5 minutes in between?
Why didn’t the admin group grade levels together? Surely they would see how efficient that would be for me.
And why was every teacher avoiding me on the day that Mr. Wilson’s class started their art rotation?
Over the weeks, months and years I realized that teaching art was more than setting out art supplies and igniting creativity.
Honestly, that latter phrase really irks me.
Because it has nothing to do with managing children’s unique personalities, managing 30 pieces of wet painted paper with no drying rack or how to keep kids engaged and on track.
If the latter is something you resonate with, I created a guide with 5 Simple Shifts to Boost Student Engagement in Your Art Room.
It’s a combination of my favorite activities that move beyond just rushing into and out of a lesson. And instead, helps to slow things down, to think about art in new ways and to help connect with your artists.
While I continued to love the process of teaching children how to draw and paint (which is the only thing I taught for 2 years), I started to become aware that there were big differences amongst classes.
Some would finish early while others worked at a snail’s pace. Is it even possible to have kids work at the same pace?
Some kids, even in upper grades, didn’t seem to know what scissors were and some refused to touch them for being too dangerous.
While other classes listened attentively, worked on developing craftsmanship and even raised their hands,
Why were they so different?
Then, the worst thing started to happen: I looked forward to some classes but not all.
Trust me, that’s not a great feeling.
I wanted to love all my classes equally.
Fast forward to 2012, when I was a pretty seasoned art teacher, I figured out how to teach kids to use a variety of mediums and create really stunning works of art. I even figured out what to do with the early finishers.
This knowledge turned into a course that was exactly what I wished I had when I first started teaching.
Teaching Art 101 was my attempt to share what I learned in the art room with the hopes that teachers could skip the trial and error phase of their art teacher journey.
And I believe it helped.
When I sat down with my team early last year to plan our content calendar for 2026, we dove into our communities, studied our readers’ surveys and poured through the thousands of questions we get through our support systems.
Turns out the questions teachers were asking back in 2004 are really not that different from today–just more nuanced and expansive.
While we have created 3 technique-based courses on expressing your creativity, diving into art techniques, material exploration and sketchbooks, we never dove deep into what art teachers really need to know: How to craft a culture of exploration, creativity and curiosity in the art room.
The renewed and completely re-imagined Teaching Art 101 is not just a course, but a resource library that you refer back to again and again.
We made this course for you.
The first year teacher who feels a bit lost or those who are stepping into the art room for the first time.
Veteran teachers who want to freshen up their foundations and others who just need a resource to refer to when they need it.
You don’t need to have experience as an art instructor—you don’t even have to be an artist to participate in this course.
If you are stepping into a room of young artists, this course will be your guide.
And because we’re Deep Space Sparkle, we had to have a bit of fun with the branding. You’ll love entering our Art Academy, touring the ‘campus’ and learning with us through lectures, labs and studio workshops.
And I can’t help spill the beans on our biggest surprise of the course: a physical, full-color workbook.
This will be your class guide, containing everything you need to learn and plan as you work through the video course, a place to write notes, work out an idea, learn a strategy and store your information.
In a nutshell, this is your study guide.
There are so many fun surprises we have included in this course, with a few hidden gems that only a few people might notice and remember from Deep Space Sparkle’s early days.
Teaching Art 101 launches in June 2026 with Early Bird Sales starting in May.
See you in class!
