Midterms

I hate doing my midterm grades. I would rather figure out taxes. Seriously.

Rotoscoping

I am such a spoiled art teacher.

Art is expensive, and nobody's going to argue that fact. And there are so many art media to try, it can really begin to get expensive to have an art program if you want to give kids a well-rounded art with experiences in a lot of different materials. My program is pretty expensive to have in a school because I think kids need to experience everything from traditional media (paints, pastels, etc...) to modern art media (film, animation, photography) and that can really add up.

So, imagine my surprise when I asked for 5 licensed copies of Photoshop CS3... and actually got it! Not that my school doesn't supply me with the things I need for my program, but because they supply pretty much everything I ask for and this program costs about $600 straight off the shelf.

Now that I have it, I have to learn how to use it. Luckily, my friend David from Carrot Revolution pointed me toward a really neat collaborative video project he's starting -- Rotoball. The project involves rotoscoping, which is basically like tracing over video and then discarding the video layer so all that remains is the drawing. (Find out more about rotoscoping here.) So far today, I've been messing around with the program and came up with this:

I cheated and used filters instead of drawing on a seperate layer, but you get the idea. I got the general idea of how it works, so now I'm going to try rotoscoping in earnest. :)

Paint

Holy cow! It's the end of the first 9 weeks! The school year is 1/4 over and it feels like we just started. Of course, it was 90 degrees outside last week and felt like summer up until then, so I guess that has something to do with it. It just hasn't felt like fall until now.

Old dog, new trick...

So a couple years ago, one of my students' parents saw me at a ballgame and asked if I would like an old sewing machine. I told her I would love one if she had it to give away... that some student could probably use it. I didn't tell her that I don't sew. Time passed and I forgot about it and then so did she. Then, last year, she came in with a brand new Brother sewing machine with all kinds of embroidery stitches and computerized gizmos and bells and whistles and everything else. She said she had forgotten she had promised me the machine and then let her sister take it, and felt bad about it so she bought a machine to donate to the school. The machine is amazing! But I was totally intimidated by it.

I thanked her profusely and then put the machine away where it wouldn't get broken. But then I felt guilty for letting such an awesome gift go unused. One of my students dragged it out once to make a prom dress, but it really should be used in the class. So I bribed my Mom with lunch at Cilantro's and she came to school to teach (or re-teach...) me how to sew.

It was great fun, I have to admit. It's been a long time since the days when Mom and I would make things together -- from crafts to cooking to the occasional sewing project. I felt like a kid again!

So here's my test piece. My students will be making 9" x 9" applique squares like the one above and then I'm going to sew them together to make a big story quilt in the style of Faith Ringgold. Sort of. I'm no Martha Stewart, but I think it's going to turn out nicely. I've already had several offers of help sewing, and the Vice Principal offered to put it on a backing (or, hopefully, teach me how to.)

This is pretty exciting! I love learning new things! I hate teaching stuff I already know and have taught a bazillion times. Even the things I have to teach over and over again get new life each time I teach them. I have to change projects up from time to time or I just get bored, and if I get bored, I lose my passion and if I lose my passion, the kids don't really seem to enjoy what I teach, anyway. Teaching and learning are enjoyable processes. The classes I've learned the most in have always been classes that I really enjoyed, even if the subject was something I found to be difficult. Hard work and challenges can be really fun. I've found that if I just have fun with what I'm teaching, the kids learn a lot. And, if the kids are having a blast with what we're doing in class, they're learning even more. The day I stop enjoying time at work is the day I'll hang it up and go hand out stickers at Wal-Mart or something.

One Room Schoolhouse

I go past this old one-room schoolhouse often on Rt. 33 between Ripley and Spencer. There are all kinds of old one-room schoolhouses tucked away in places throughout Roane County (all over WV, really.) I have friends whose parents attended one-room schoolhouses.

The current trend in education is to consolidate, consolidate, consolidate! In order to get school building funds, you pretty much HAVE to consolidate as much as you can. Unfortunately, research shows that smaller schools are much better in almost every way! I'm not saying that the one-room schoolhouse is the way to go, but I do wish the trend returned to having smallish schools in kids' own neighborhoods. My kids are lucky enough to attend a small school, filled with teachers who are our neighbors and friends. It has been threatened with consolidation for years, but it looks like we're safe -- for now. It's a truly great school, and the test scores show that it is a successful school, despite the economic reality of the area (which typicallyseems to be linked to poorer student achievement.) It just goes to show that a big shiny new building with lots of stuff doesn't necessarily set students up for successful learning -- it has more to do with a staff that cares, small classes, and a strong community that works with the school to provide kids with great opportunities for the kids and for their families.

I love my kids' school! More importantly, they do too!

Back to Work

It's the second day back to school, and things are going well. My schedule is awesome! My afternoon classes are small, and the kids get along well together. The mornings are insanely busy, but I have my planning period and lunch periods back-to-back, so I can get things done in my classroom, or even run errands if I need to. Oooh, I could go out for lunch sometime and actually have time to eat something! I could paint! Or I could actually write lesson plans and grade papers in school and not have to cart them all home to do, which is probably what I'll spend most of my time doing. :) This is going to rock!

It's the little things that make me happy.

Haircut and new shoes, first day of school blues...

It's that time again.

I'm sitting here at a clean desk, looking around my neat and empty classroom, waiting for wide-eyed students in their fresh uniforms to appear on Monday. They'll be giggling and nervous, talking excitedly about their summer adventures. They'll look tanned and fashionable, with brand-new haircuts and new looks -- new braces, new glasses, or braces off and contact lenses in; all looking so much older than they did in June.

I always get stage fright the night before the students' return to school. I'll be up all night Sunday night, tossing and turning, rehearsing my "welcome back to art class" act. I'll wear my best outfit, curl my hair, make sure my makeup is just-so, wear uncomfortable shoes, and try to appear authoritative and stern, yet approachable and encouraging. I'll field 1,000 complaints about "I can't even draw a straight line," and "I didn't want this class; I signed up for yearbook." I'll make them laugh, and then probably scare the hell out of them with my demanding 7-page syllabus. And then it's on.

An awkward dance will ensue and we'll step on toes and stumble throughout the next couple weeks until we settle down into a rhythm of teaching and learning, falling and catching, mistakes and triumphs, frustration and exhuberance... a symbiotic relationship that is possibly the most challenging thing I've experienced; second to raising my own children. The room will become cluttered with half-finished projects, piles of sketchbooks, bins of art supplies, bookbags, lunchboxes, and the occasional paper airplane or football. The creativity will start flowing from the students and into paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other projects, and beautiful things will start appearing in display cases and on walls throughout the school. People will be surprised at the depth of thought and talent that can come from kids ... and I will be surprised that I have anything at all to do with it because it comes so spontaneously, when it happens.

I'm really looking forward to this year. I always say that. And it's always true. Nerve-wracking and exhausting as it is, I love the beginning of the school year.