Connecting with Students at Ralston Middle School in Omaha, Nebraska

Earlier this year I read a Tweet by Abby Schukei, an Art Teacher who I admire and follow, seeking out a willing 7th and 8th grade Art Teacher to swap Artist Trading Cards with. Artist Trading Cards are 2.5" X 3.5" pieces of artwork that are exchanged world-wide and currently trending in the Art Ed world. I thought this opportunity would be GREAT to connect our students with another set of middle school students in the Mid-West so I responded with "Me, Please!".

During the month of March ATC's were the early finisher project in Expressions. I wanted students to have all mediums at their disposal to invite as much creativity as possible. Expressions students did not disappoint. Check out these beauties! We exchanged over 170 uniquely designed, hand crafted cards. I was really proud of the thought, time and effort the students put into designing their cards.

Through the creative process, Expressions students began to show an interest to what living in Nebraska was like and what it was like to be a Ralston Middle School student. So, we decided to create a video focusing on the Leading Edge and the Expressions Art Room just  in case they were wondering the same thing about us. Two students created this video which we shared out the day we mailed out our Artist Trading Cards.

About a month later, we received Artist Trading Cards from Ralston Middle School and the Expressions students were SO excited! I carefully displayed the Artist Trading Cards on a table at the Street Fair and almost every student came in and selected a card. I loved listening to the conversations between students as they selected their favorite card. The students oohed and aahed over the quality of artwork, unique art processes and technical designs of each card. In observing this exchange between my stuents it was obvious that they felt very special receiving something so creative from someone they had never met before.

Artist Trading Cards are a great way to communicate ideas and make connections. Thanks to Abby's Twitter post our students have learned this first hand!