Artist Trading Cards, Trade Day 2016

An Artist Trading Card Update!! 

Many of the participants of the swap will be receiving their Artist Trading Cards this week.  In this post, I want to go over the specifics of the trade itself.  I will be highlighting more about the cards traded, as what to do after the trade.

We had a total of 102 (two packages just came in) schools who sent me cards this year. In the packages we received, we had...

12,397 cards in total!! 

Let's first talk about where the cards were from this year.  Hassan received most of the cards from inside the United States... But truly from all over the US.  The state that sent us the most was Texas.  Some of you know we have an amazing #PLN (Professional Learning Network) in Texas that is extremely active on social media.  I have connected with many of these amazing teachers because of the #GrundlerTeam (Matt and Larua Grundler)... They are so awesome to have a Twitter chat every Thursday night, that allows us to get to know each other and collaborate professionally.  Twitter Chats are amazing and if you haven't tried to join one make it your New Year Resolution!  Hope to see you Thurs. nights 8:30 CST for the #k12ArtChat.

Outside of the United States, we had cards from; Germany, Belgium, China, Canada, Scotland, Thailand, and Italy.  In fact, we had 10 schools from Italy participate. This was do to another amazing connection I have to one person in Italy. Miriam Paternoster who is the author of Arte a Scuola, and amazing Art Education blog. She reached out for me to the educators she works with... and let me tell you, they had some STUNNING work to send us.  Click here for her post on the cards her artist created. Stunning work!!

Image pulled from Arte a Scuola

As far as schools who participated, the vast majority was Intermediate, kids age 9-12 years of age. When cards are exchanged, it's very hard for me to exchange only High School with High School and Primary with Primary. Participants might have cards from all levels return back to your school.  It leads to some great conversation with your class after they trade.  I have more to share on the reflection in an upcoming post. 

This year I offered an opportunity to teachers to participate as well.  Over half participated so this tells me that Art Teachers are interested in ATC's too. I will make a few changes in this area (as well as other areas) for next year.  But know, I will do my best to accommodate this opportunity again. 

 

So how did I go about this trade?? I have been receiving packages for months.  I put them in my back room and didn't pull them out until 'Trade Day'.  Durning Fall conference, I pulled all the packages and cards out onto my tables in my classroom.  This is when I started to panic a bit... It was a lot of cards, a lot of participants. I took a deep breath and started working. 

I wanted to celebrate the cards, so I took pictures of what I believe to be all the cards that were sent to me.  I might have missed one or two trades when doing this because I had parents coming in and out for conferences too... so I might have missed some. If you want to see (most of) the trades that were sent, click here. 

As far as preparation goes, I had Katelyn Fiss (our health clerk) donate some time.   She was asked to write out the international postage information. This is a challenge for us because it's often in another language, but what a learning opportunity! 

Those of you in the States know that the day after Thanksgiving is a shopping day we call Black Friday.  Everyone leaves the house very early in the morning and starts shopping for the 'Doorbusters'.  It's something this lady does NOT participate in.  So my Aunt and I went in early and did some morning 'swap'n' instead of 'shop'n'. 

We packed up the envelopes... well, we ran out of envelopes and recycled some boxes too. I had some helpers bring them to my car... and they were off to the post office. 

Being a teacher is not the most flexible schedule.  I camped out in the front of the post office door to be the first one on the day I mailed out our packages.  I was so nervous.  I had 100 packages to send out... That is a lot to ask of an employee first thing in the morning.  I need to give a BIG digital hug to Dan from the Rogers Postal Services.  He helped me with a smile and allowed me to bring in all 12 boxes.  He made this dreaded trip so, so wonderful. THANKS DAN! 

Hopefully, our participants will be getting their packages soon. I ask for forgiveness if the numbers are off.  I really tried to get the right number back to you, but well... I hope the previous information will allow you to understand there may have been some human error.  I will not be able to send any additional cards. Upcoming posts will focus on passing the cards out, and celebrations of some of the cards sent my way.  Be sure to keep checking back for more updates on the 2nd Annual Artist Trading Card Swap.