Thank you for making my birthday so special, I felt very loved today!
What a great birthday...the day never ended!
 I know I am a little late with this...forgive me. I am always amazed when I read this famous quote made by Dr. Martin Luther King spoken over 4-5 decades ago. He spoke of creating 'Critical Thinkers" and Character Education! In the last decade the educational community speaks the same message about creating "critical thinkers". They say that this is the "new direction" in teaching and learning. Well guess what guys, M.L.K. said those words back in the 60's!
A brilliant anointed man who over 4-5 decades ago spoke about the direction of education and now-a-days others want to take claim to the thought. Let us never forget what a beautiful soul he was and may his legacy live on in our hearts and minds forever. Love Ms. B.
 Dominque is not one of my art students because all 6 of my classes are too full (no seats available in the room). However, I could not let that keep her from growing as an artist! When she came into my room and introduced herself and showed me her beautiful artwork, I was impressed. I was even more impressed at what a lovely young lady she was on the outside and the inside so I stay after school with Dominque and we paint together. Today Dominque painted this beautiful boat painting and I worked on the Monet mural. We listened to music, painted and had a lovely time together. She is a very special young lady!
Hello Tigers! This week we will be looking at a 20th century art movement call Surrealism. The flipped classroom tutorial this week is in the form of a screencast over my powerpoint presentation. Please watch the tutorial and come to class prepared. Love, Ms. B.
 My blog has become 'un-expectingly" popular! To my surprise my site is now ranked 4th in all Broward County Public Schools related websites. This site/blog stands alone, meaning that I have not linked it to any other site for traffic, so my high traffic stats amaze me.
For those of you who are in education and follow my teaching I would like to inform you that as a part of my graduate studies I am researching and posting information on another blog that I created about the emerging trends in technology for the classroom. Specifically I am researching the new pedagogical model of teaching called "The Flipped Classroom". I have completely flipped my classroom which makes my classroom on the leading edge of the newest trend in education and technology. Although this model is widely used in Europe and Asia, only 10% of American teachers have adopted this pedagogical model. For more information on the "Flipped Classroom" model and to follow my graduate work on this topic, please log in at www.dbonavia.com.  Today I was eating lunch at my desk...looking at the mural that I painted and I had what a call an "art spark"! I thought to myself, "Mondrian would look great on that little part of the wall" so I stopped eating, grabbed a paint brush and started painting. My afternoon classes never heard of, Piet Mondrian but I got them curious. My morning classes will be surprised when they see what I did in an afternoon. I would like to add one more artist to my murals and that will be Henri Matisse. Once I paint Matisse's cut-outs to the front wall in the classroom, I am done! It was a wonderful Friday. Ms. B.
 A great week of Van Gogh!Shelia and I are having breakfast talking about my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Everyone loved my "Starry Night" shirt and cup! Check out the iMovie I made of our week studying Van Gogh. Love, Ms. B. F.Y.I. this week's flipped classroom video is on our site here not on YouTube. I need to train you guys to log into our class website and not just onto YouTube. Next week I will go back to YouTube. Ms. B.
There is no art history course offered at Ely High so I have incorporated art history into almost every one of my studio art lessons. I come to work wearing t-shirts with famous masterpieces printed on them, I paint masterpieces on the wall, I show my students art auctions from Sotheby's in New York on YouTube and I talk about my experiences working in Metropolitan Museum of Art last year.
I feel that I have instilled in my students an appreciation of art history but of course you really never know...that is until one of the schools starting football players comes to school wearing a Vincent Van Gogh shirt and you hear the other kids ask him, "Hey, where did you get that shirt"!!! Thank you David for making not only my day, you made my entire year! It is moments like this when I can sit back and know that I am really making a difference. It is the best form of teacher evaluation...I love my job (I'll say that every day)!  I painted this wall mural with Acrylics directly onto the wall in my classroom. Oh Yeah! My students will move on someday but they will take with them a knowledge of art history! Today one of my students told me that I put "heart into art"! How wonderfully sweet was that to hear! I love my job!
 Te·nac·i·ty, noun
As many of you already know, I am a graduate student at Wilmington University. I am getting a Master’s of Education in Applied Technology. I will be taking two more classes this semester (6 credits) and so far I am holding a 4.0! Tomorrow I start another class so of course today my mind is on school. I was thinking about what my last professor said about me in my final evaluation. He congratulated me for getting an “A” in his class and he said that I had the most “tenacity” compared to the other students. I didn’t give the comment much thought at the time, it was the holidays and I was so busy, but today I was thinking about the word tenacity and what it means. The word tenacity means: persistence, determination, stamina, steadfastness, patience, firmness, and strength of purpose, resolve, and stubbornness. If I evaluate myself I would agree. I don’t give up too easily; especially if someone tells me that I can’t do something or that I am not good enough…I set out to prove them wrong. People usually underestimate who I am and what I can do in life based on appearance. They judge me from the outside and very seldom stop to see what and who I am on the inside. I am sure that many of you have felt the same way at times. It is a struggle that we all face; who we really are as compared to how the world sees us. The struggle that African American teenage boys have in this country is a perfect example of what I am talking about. People (including the police) might see an African American teenage boy simply walking down the street and make a judgment based on appearances. Life has forced me to be tenacious. I have to work twice as hard to fight against the blonde female stereotype and all of you guys have to fight against stereotypes placed on you. We have a choice in life and that is to accept what others think of us based solely on appearances or to be tenacious and prove them all wrong! My strength at times lies solely in my tenacity. I am determined to make something great out of my life; I don't quit. I set goals and if I don’t think that I can reach those goals then I change my thinking. I will rise up and accept the challenge in life and I will be victorious. I will not accept the views that others place on me; instead I view myself as worthy. I want the same for all of you. I will rise up and accept the challenge in life and I will be victorious. I will not accept the views that others place on me; instead I view myself as worthy. I want the same for all of you. So how do you do that? Well, you start by not buying into negativity, or how others may see you. Have a good self image by viewing yourself as worthy...see the good in you and believe in yourself. Then make GOALs in life, hold onto your dreams and don't let go. Create a vision for yourself and think about that vision/dream daily. Then make a plan and stick to the plan with tenacity! If you do all of this and don’t quit, I promise you that you will be victorious! The world is yours for the taking! I am cheering for all of you! Love, Ms. B. I'm not sure I can stay up all night (now a days) but I'm going to give it a try. I will be going to GRAD BASH this April with the Seniors. I am so excited! After I volunteered to be a faculty chaperone, I was told that we leave school at 3:00 pm and arrive in Orlando around 7 pm...we stay up all night and then return in the morning. I'm in bed by 10 every night so this will be a challenge, but I am up for the challenge! I teach 290 students a day and 85% of them are Seniors. How could I not go? Ms. B.
For those of you who do not attend B.E.H.S. but follow my blog, I am painting two more murals in my classroom. Inside the art room I am keeping with an "art history" theme, however, after I complete the inside of the room my students will begin painting outside in the hallway.
I painted the murals in the classroom so that I would be an inspiration and also to model the level of excellence that I want the art department murals. Now that I have motivated and inspired my students I will put them to work designing and painting murals up and down the hallway. I have a group of AP students working on the first hallway mural design. Carlos is leading the group! We will begin the hallway mural as soon as my students complete the rough-draft sketch. My plan is for the kids to start the hallway on Monday. I'm so excited and so are my students. After school tomorrow I will finish the "Claude Monet" mural above the sink area. We are accomplishing great things in the Ely Fine Art Department! Ms. B. Hello Tigers! I just have two quick things to say tonight. First, thank you so much for a great day back from break! All six classes were wonderful. I was just preparing dinner with a smile on my face thinking back on today..to be a high school teacher and have my classes "clap" after my presentation was so heart warming!!! All six classes today broke out clapping...you guys are awesome! You guys made me feel appreciated and special today, thank you! Second thing is just a reminder that "First Priority" club will resume our weekly meetings after school tomorrow in my classroom. F.Y. I., Blanche Ely High School now has the largest "First Priority" club in all of South Florida! Way to go Tigers. We went from only 13 kids attending in September to over 70 at our last meeting. I am honored and proud to be your faculty club sponsor. I put together a quick iMovie of our step team performing at one of our meetings last semester. You guys make me proud! Get a good nights sleep and I'll see you bright and early. Love, Ms. B.  I have uploaded this week's Art 1 Flipped Classroom Video lesson on the life and art of artist, Edvard Munch. This is our focus all week. Please come to class prepared to discuss his painting, The Scream. The video will not be posted on YouTube this week due to the fact that I use footage from another site to show you guys the action where the painting was sold. Ms. B.
Over the last few days, I have been reminiscing about all of the fun that I had teaching you guys in 2014. This is my 32nd year teaching art and 2014 was by far my most favorite year of my entire career! I say that with complete sincerity. Every day has been a blast and I look forward to doing amazing things with all of you in 2015. Thank you for bringing meaning and purpose to my life and for allowing me to share my love and passion for the arts with you. I made a little iMovie with photos from 2014, enjoy! I love you guys, Ms. B. |
Donna BonaviaI am an art educator and a professional artist. I write this blog to guide my students in (SEL) social, emotional, and academic development. S.E.L. is the District of Columbia Public School's priority because we believe that we must educate the whole child. 
Yale National Initiative
Fellowship 2017 2017-DCPS Standing Ovation recognition Highly Effective Teaching
 2016-DCPS Standing Ovation recognition Highly Effective Teaching
DCPS Capital Commitment
Fellow 2015-Present 
2015 Teacher of The Year
Blanche Ely High School
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October 2019
 This work by Donna Bonavia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.msbonavia.com. |
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