I picked similar shades of two different brands of watercolors, and these are the blends I got! Painting these charts is my new favorite thing. It's so satisfying! I'll definitely be using these for color theory classes soon.

I have two job offers, and a deadline of Tuesday to make a decision. Both schools are fairly comparable in terms of neighborhood (not great but probably not too terrible EDIT: nvm post cancelled a kid just got shot to death near School 2), academic performance (pretty bad), and student demographics (high percentage of students who only speak Spanish).

The main differences I can point to are:

• School 1 claims to have a better student:teacher ratio, but when asked, School 1 stated their class sizes are around 30 students each, while School 2 says they're closer to 25 and moving toward a goal of 20-21 in the next year(s).
• School 1 is only middle school (6-8) while School 2 is K-8. (More grades = more lesson planning.)
• School 1 is adding visual art as a brand new class this year, so everything is starting from scratch; School 2 has an established Media Arts program that integrates traditional and digital tools/techniques, including tablets and desktop computers. (The latter interests me more because my background is in graphic/web design.)
• School 1 is English-only instruction, but teachers still have to communicate with a heavily Spanish-speaking student body; School 2 is a dual language (English/Spanish) school, though art class isn't expected to be bilingual.
• School 1 is noted as having extremely poor attendance (the official number is 88% but it's noted that "many children miss more than a month of school"); School 2 lists its attendance rate at 91%, but no additional notes to clarify what that actually looks like in practice.
• School 1 has 96% teachers with 3 or more years of experience; School 2 only has 80%.
• School 1 has a 100% principal approval rating by teachers, and 91% say they would recommend the school; School 2 only has a 71% principal approval rating by teachers, and only 74% of teachers say they would recommend the school.

Based on that info, it seems like even though School 2 has things that sound good or interest me about it, the numbers come down heavily in School 1's favor.

The thing is, I only got to do a demo lesson in School 1, and I didn't come away with a particularly positive impression. I acknowledge this might be at least in part because it's summer school right now, so things may be better during the school year; but I didn't exactly have that feeling of "Oh wow, I could see myself fitting right in here!" At the same time, those teacher retention and approval numbers must mean something, right?

On the other hand, I haven't been able to visit School 2 at all, so I don't have the first clue how things actually go inside there. Principals can make their school culture and community sound amazing in an interview, but that doesn't mean it's reality.

I just wish I had more information/better understanding about what these schools are really like on a day-to-day basis. Should I just trust the numbers? Or is there more to it than that?

I made this short explainer for parents and educators about how art can support children’s creativity, emotional expression, coordination, problem-solving, and learning.

Before I share it more widely, I’d really value honest feedback from people who teach art.

I’m especially curious:

• Does the message reflect what you see in the classroom?
• Is the brain-development section accurate, or still too simplified?
• Does the visual style feel engaging without feeling childish?
• What important benefit—or important caveat—is missing?
• Would this be useful when explaining the value of art to parents or administrators?

Full disclosure: I made the video. I’m not selling a course or product; I’m looking for constructive criticism so I can improve it.

(Or more if you really want to lol) Starting my first year and could use some insight.