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Episode 253: Thermostat or Thermometer? Creativity Climate Control

Laura and Matt Grundler

Daniel Bryant

What if the key to managing your art room isn’t reacting to the energy but setting it? Ramping up creative heat to spark your students’ artmaking or cooling the environment to let them focus. Especially toward the end of the year, when the “temperature” in the art room can feel out of control, teachers have the power to shift the climate. Matt and Laura invite art educator Daniel Bryant back to explore his “thermostat or thermometer” approach to teaching. Daniel shares how he adjusts the theoretical temperature in his classroom—and helps students recognize those shifts too—from high-energy creative brainstorming to calm, focused artmaking. Along the way, he offers practical strategies for becoming the thermostat in your own art room.

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