How did I get here?

It all started with a pregnancy and a pandemic.

I was expecting a baby in the fall of 2020- right smack in the middle of the COVID19 pandemic. When you’re a teacher expecting a baby, you’ve got a bit of planning to do. Imagine planning for a sub then multiply the work by 100 and that’s what it felt like to plan for a sub in a pandemic. Like many schools, we had students learning from home and at school. And I was planning for both. 

When I sat down to work through everything, I knew I had a long list of wants and needs.

• Art lessons that a substitute teacher without an art background would feel confident using.

• Face-to-face art lessons with considerations for limited supplies (thanks COVID germs).

• Virtual art lessons considering the limited supplies students had at home.

• Lessons for 7 grade levels (Kindergarten - 6th grade)  because that’s the art teacher life for ya. 😅

I wanted lessons that students would look forward to. I didn’t want it to be “one more thing” they “had to do.” It needed to be clear, concise, educational, and (of course) fun and engaging.

I thought, “The internet has everything, right?” I hopped online and started searching. I just accepted the fact that I would buy what I needed and be done, but I was wrong. Very few options for Elementary Art ticked all the boxes. But of course they didn’t exist! This was new territory for everyone. Virtually (no pun intended) every art teacher in the country (across the world, even) needed help teaching art online.

I probably could have adapted a lesson here, a YouTube video there and pieced together some long-term plans. Nothing wrong with this approach, by the way. To me, that plan seemed like more work than it needed to be.

I wanted an easier solution. But I couldn’t find one.

So, I got to work and started making my resources from scratch. Interactive slideshows on the Elements of Art and Principles of Design with embedded demo videos, slideshows and lessons about artists, Social-Emotional art lessons inspired by my favorite books, and drawing guides, and many more. I’m pretty sure I overloaded my sub with plans. Have I told you I’m an over-planner?

As I was making lessons for my own students, I thought about how they might be useful to other art teachers. So with little expectation, I uploaded some things to Teachers Pay Teachers. Before this moment, I had not even purchased anything from TPT. It wasn’t long until I got some positive responses from teachers. To my surprise, I quickly realized that my products could be of service to others.  It was rewarding to hear about how my resources helped their students learn new things and how I had saved them time. Helping others is the best kind of work. So I kept creating. 

After my son was born in October, I decided to take the rest of the school year off.  While I was home, I continued to make resources between naptime and snacktime. I was supporting teachers through the pandemic while also supporting my family. If I’m honest, I was really missing being in the classroom, even in the crazy circumstances of 2020. So making these resources was a creative outlet that brought me joy and fulfillment.

Karr Art began with a pregnancy and a pandemic then evolved into a mission to support other art teachers. Moving forward, I hope to continue to save teachers time with resources that inspire their students.