Everyday Art Room

50 episodes listed below

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Art teaching, grounded in real classrooms.

The gist

Everyday Art Room centers the real work of art teaching, from lesson planning and materials to equity, mentorship, and community connection. Its conversations stay close to the classroom while making room for bigger questions about culture, representation, disability, and student voice.

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About Everyday Art Room

Everyday Art Room is a practical, reflective podcast about the daily realities of teaching art. It is built around conversations that start in classrooms and often reach into larger questions about culture, access, belonging, and community. The show spends time on the details teachers actually manage. Materials matter. So do budgets, smart boards, posters, student language needs, and the support a first-year teacher receives before a lesson ever reaches the table. Recent episodes show a strong interest in expanding what art history and art curriculum can look like for learners. A conversation with Flavia Zuniga-West highlights contemporary artists as a way for students to see living creative paths and enter themes such as family, ritual, memory, migration, and culture with more depth. The mobile art studio episode looks beyond the school building, comparing classroom teaching with community-based teaching and the different planning demands of each setting. Equity is not treated as a side topic. Episodes on English language learners, anti-ableist art education, and cultural appreciation ask teachers to look carefully at assumptions that can hide inside familiar routines. The show is at its best when it connects big pedagogical ideas to small classroom moves. A visual cue can support an English language learner. A mentor can steady a new teacher. A community project can change how an educator understands the families being served. Conversations often return to listening, reflection, and the idea that students already bring knowledge into the art room. The pacing is conversational, sometimes personal, but the editorial purpose remains clear: help educators do better work with more care. Everyday Art Room is especially useful for elementary art teachers, though its themes reach educators thinking about creative classrooms. It values curiosity over certainty. It also values practice over slogans. Across its archive, the show frames art teaching as an evolving discipline shaped by students, communities, artists, and the willingness of teachers to keep learning.

Made for: Everyday Art Room is for elementary art educators and teaching artists who want classroom-tested ideas with a reflective edge. It also suits new teachers, mentors, and arts educators thinking about equity, curriculum, and community connection.

What sets it apart: The show pairs practical art-room concerns with deeper reflection on who curriculum serves and who it leaves out. Its strongest episodes connect everyday teaching choices to representation, accessibility, language, mentorship, and community life.

In their own words

Everyday Art Room, with Nic Hahn, is a look into the world of elementary art, offering advice, stories, and ideas to improve your teaching.

Why you'd press play

The supply closet meets the anti-ableist mindset shift, with Candido Crespo asking the useful follow-ups.

Press play if you want

  • classroom ideas that begin with actual students, not an imaginary perfectly behaved class
  • honest mentorship talk about first-year nerves, budgets, and finding support beyond assigned mentors
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
elementary art teachingcontemporary artists in curriculumEnglish language learnersanti-ableist art roomsfirst-year teacher supportmobile and community art studioscultural appreciation and appropriationstudent belonging

Talks about

Best episodes of Everyday Art Room

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

Ep. 235 - The Mobile Art StudioApr 21, 2022

A grounded discussion of classrooms, community art spaces, and why children need room to play toward discovery.

Everyday Art Room follows Kandito Crespo in conversation with April Malfers on where classroom teaching and community-based art education overlap, and where they ask different things of an educator.

Ep. 234 - Strategies to Help ELL StudentsApr 14, 2022

A thoughtful, practical conversation about supporting English language learners in the art room.

Everyday Art Room starts with a real shift in the classroom: Candido Crespo is teaching in a community where the Latinx population has continued to grow, and English language learner programs and students are more visible in schools.

Ep. 233 - Life as a First-Year Art TeacherApr 7, 2022

A practical, candid episode about mentorship, support, and the first year of teaching art.

First-year teaching is framed as a lesson in what support actually means day to day. JT Harris talks through entering a K-6 art role in Central Essex School District, working with about 350 students and taking on a leave replacement with existing supplies already in place.

Ep. 232 - Considering Special Education and Disabilities in the Art RoomMar 31, 2022

A reflective conversation on how art teachers can examine support practices and make more room for belonging.

Everyday Art Room looks at the anti-ableist art room through Jenna Gabriel's thinking on how students build belonging and self-understanding while navigating school and social messages about disability.

Podcasts like Everyday Art Room

Episodes

  1. 1

    Ep. 236 - Utilizing Contemporary Artists in Your Classroom

    Hidden gem

    Contemporary artists are "present, they're alive, they're available" and can build lesson plans with teachers.

    Apr 28, 2022·31m·2 clips
  2. 2

    Ep. 235 - The Mobile Art Studio

    Hidden gem

    Kandito Crespo and April Malfers compare classroom teaching with community art education through flexibility, predictability, and long-term relationships.

    Apr 21, 2022·38m·2 clips
  3. 3

    Ep. 234 - Strategies to Help ELL Students

    Hidden gem

    “Knowing your students” matters more than a one-size-fits-all visual arts strategy.

    Apr 14, 2022·29m·1 clip
  4. 4

    Ep. 233 - Life as a First-Year Art Teacher

    Hidden gem

    Candido Crespo and JT Harris discuss JT’s first year in the Central Essex School District, where he started as a January 2020 leave replacement and then taught through the shift to virtual learning.

    Apr 7, 2022·33m·2 clips
  5. 5

    Ep. 232 - Considering Special Education and Disabilities in the Art Room

    Hidden gem

    Kandito Crespo and Jenna Gabriel connect Everyday Art Room to anti-ableist practice, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Jenna's work teaching art education and foundations of education.

    Mar 31, 2022·20m·1 clip
  6. 6

    Ep. 231 - Strategies for Teaching Photography

    Mar 24, 2022·28m
  7. 7

    Ep. 230 - The Importance of Being Resourceful

    Mar 17, 2022·30m
  8. 8

    Ep. 229 - How to Bring NFTs Into Your Classroom

    Art teacher Kandito Crespo interviews John Hansen about using NFTs as a teaching tool in art education.

    Mar 10, 2022·31m
  9. 9

    Ep. 228 - Discussing Digital Art and Technology

    Mar 3, 2022·27m
  10. 10

    Ep. 227 - Why We Need to Appreciate Each Other

    Feb 24, 2022·35m
  11. 11

    Ep. 226 - Examining Your Teaching and Your Pedagogy

    Feb 17, 2022·28m
  12. 12

    Ep. 225 - Practicing Resilience

    Feb 10, 2022·31m
  13. 13

    Ep. 224 - Art Teacher Entrepreneurship

    Feb 3, 2022·31m
  14. 14

    Ep. 223 - Connecting with the Community

    Host Nic Hahn interviews middle school art teacher LeVar Robinson about community engagement in art education and his teaching background.

    Jan 27, 2022·31m
  15. 15

    Ep. 222 - Appropriation vs. Appreciation

    An art teacher discusses the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation in elementary art lessons with a guest expert.

    Jan 20, 2022·28m
  16. 16

    Ep. 221 - Exploring Collaboration Through Writing

    Jan 13, 2022·25m
  17. 17

    Ep. 220 - Introduction to Candido Crespo

    Jan 6, 2022·14m
  18. 18

    From The Archives: Building Blocks For Success

    Dec 30, 2021·23m
  19. 19

    From the Archives: Choosing Joy

    Dec 23, 2021·25m
  20. 20

    Ep. 219 - The Mindful Art Teacher

    Dec 16, 2021·34m
  21. 21

    Ep. 218 - Making the Most of Your Mornings

    Dec 9, 2021·32m
  22. 22

    Ep. 217 - School-Museum Relationships

    Dec 2, 2021·28m
  23. 23

    Ep. 216 - Centering Student Voice

    Nov 18, 2021·25m
  24. 24

    Ep. 215 - Cardboard Creations

    Nov 11, 2021·25m
  25. 25

    Ep. 214 - Kindergarten and SEL

    Nov 4, 2021·31m
  26. 26

    Ep. 213 - Nic's Final Episode

    Oct 28, 2021·24m
  27. 27

    Ep. 212 - Behind the Scenes of the AOEU Podcasts

    Oct 21, 2021·35m
  28. 28

    Ep. 211 - The Importance of Mentoring

    Oct 14, 2021·30m
  29. 29

    Ep. 210 - Finding Resources for Choice-Based Teaching

    Oct 7, 2021·28m
  30. 30

    Ep. 209 - Exploring the National Standards: Present

    Sep 30, 2021·26m
  31. 31

    Ep. 208 - Exploring the National Standards: Connect

    Sep 23, 2021·21m
  32. 32

    Ep. 207 - Exploring the National Standards: Respond

    Sep 16, 2021·26m
  33. 33

    Ep. 206 - Exploring the National Standards: Create

    Sep 9, 2021·34m
  34. 34

    Ep. 205 - Fiber Arts: Sew a Softie

    Sep 2, 2021·33m
  35. 35

    Ep. 204 - Working With Special Olympics Minnesota

    Host Nic Hahn interviews Special Olympics Minnesota staff about a unified poster series for elementary schools.

    Aug 26, 2021·23m
  36. 36

    Ep. 203 - Bridging the Kindergarten Gap

    Aug 19, 2021·22m
  37. 37

    Ep. 202 - Understanding Art Therapy

    Aug 12, 2021·25m
  38. 38

    Ep. 201 - Finding a Creative Outlet

    Aug 5, 2021·29m
  39. 39

    Ep. 200 - Hearing From the Students: The AOEU Master's Degree

    Jul 29, 2021·22m
  40. 40

    Ep. 199 - Exploring the AOEU Master's Degree

    Jul 22, 2021·17m
  41. 41

    Ep. 198 - Studio Art Club

    Jul 15, 2021·21m
  42. 42

    From the Archives: We all Have Something to Share

    Jul 8, 2021·29m
  43. 43

    Ep. 197 - Plans for a Creative Summer

    Jul 1, 2021·23m
  44. 44

    Ep. 196 - Previewing the NOW Conference

    Host Nic Hahn previews the Art Ed Now Conference by interviewing presenter Rachel Alberts about her virtual art show session.

    Jun 24, 2021·21m
  45. 45

    Ep. 195 - Your Guide for the NOW Conference

    Host Nic Hahn discusses the upcoming Art Ed Now conference and introduces a new conference guide for art teachers.

    Jun 17, 2021·21m
  46. 46

    Ep. 194 - How a Seed Grows

    Jun 10, 2021·19m
  47. 47

    Ep. 193 - Why we Need SEL Right Now

    Jun 3, 2021·23m
  48. 48

    Ep. 192 - Teachers vs. Students

    Nic Hahn introduces a classroom management game called Teachers vs.

    May 27, 2021·23m
  49. 49

    Ep. 191 - The Mindful Art Room

    May 20, 2021·25m
  50. 50

    Ep. 190 - Catching Up With Cassie Stephens

    Host Nic Hahn interviews veteran elementary art teacher Cassie Stevens about her background and current endeavors.

    May 13, 2021·33m