Welcome 2010- Year of Transformation

After reading the new year’s resolution of others via Twitter, Facebook and my overflowing RSS feeds, I thought I should post some thought about 2009 and ideas for the coming year. 2009 was an exciting year for me- not because of any dramatic events, but because I started to learn how to just be- to live more in the now and to really enjoy the life I am living.

transformation... photo by Sir Merv on FLickr

Transformation Watching my son grow and transform from a baby into an independent and fun-loving toddler filled with wonder for the world around him has brought me a new level of joy and excitement for each day that I only imagined before he was born. As I watch him gradually transforming from an infant into a child, I have experienced amazement at how accepting he is of every days challenges, and his growth and willingness to explore has led to my own. While watching my son develop over the year, I have been transforming into a more confident mother. I feel less nervous and more capable each day. I don’t second guess my own abilities as a mother as often, and I have started trusting the process of childhood more- knowing that through all the bumps, bruises and tears, my son is developing just fine into a thoughtful, intelligent, warm-hearted and spirited boy, and that all is going just fine. I spend each day taking more joy in the days ups and worrying less about the downs.

photo by yoppy on Flickr

Creative Growth Shortly after my son was born in 2008 it became abundantly clear to me that I needed to devote more time to creative work. 2009 seems to have been a year of shedding old layers- getting over past criticism and fear and devoting more time to play and experimentation. I have spent the year getting past the past and learning to trust my creative instincts more each day.  Sometimes you just need to dive in and try- rather than expecting every creative endeavor to turn out a stunning master piece. While I tell my students this all the time, this year I have been more honestly practicing the art of ignoring my fear of failure, and I have been blessed to discover that on the other side of that fear is the joy of creative discovery and the excitement of seeing something unexpected develop. The year ended with a burst of creativity- I started painting again for the first time in the decade. Talking with my roommate reminded me that I used to paint- and had even exhibited paintings during my sophomore year of college, but after the trauma of college drawing class critique experiences I stopped painting altogether. In the past few weeks I have been spending free time painting more and in different styles than in the past, and the joy of just getting the paint onto the canvas and letting things go has unveiled creative energy that I didn’t think existed anymore.

Falling with grace photo by Memotions on Flickr

Letting Go All of this has led to a deeper sense of acceptance of life and the world’s ability to keep turning on with or without my worry or fear. I have been practicing letting go- of fear, of worry, of anger and resentment and especially of my obsession with past events. I am learning to let go of negativity in general and am trying to live more in the present. The more I let go and stay present, the more I am able to experience more of the joy in the I am living. My experience of life is changing for the better, and I hope to continue this process in the coming year.

And so- here is my proposition to myself for the new year- rather than making a resolution to do something new, to lose twenty pounds or to become a vegan, or to keep the house cleaner, I resolve to continue honestly on the path I am living, to stay present and appreciate the life that I am living and to let my creativity to continue to grow. I am happy with the past year and I hope to continue living and learning in this way throughout the coming year. As this path unfolds, I hope to find even more success in this concept of positivity, acceptance and transformation.

This morning I read a quote on SuperForest that really rang true for me. I hope that whatever your New Year’s resolution, it will ring true for you as well in your 2010 endeavors:

“What is success? To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; that is to have succeeded.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

May 2010 be a year of success for all.

Dried Flowers 1:365:2010 by wonderbrooks on Flickr

Metal Repousse Inspiration

Stumbled on some beautiful examples of metal repousse while looking for a mirror in B, B & B last week. Took a bunch of photos to share with my fifth graders next week- they will be designing metal repousse coins and I couldn’t resist some of these gorgeous textures.

Blog Blogged and Conference Review Part One

Just had my second ever person blog about my blog. It’s like Googling Google.  It’s very exciting knowing that there are other people out there in the world, reading what I have to say and caring about my work and my students’ work. Check out the post on The Art Classroom here.

In other news, I just returned from the Virginia Art Education Association conference in Richmond this weekend. I attended Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and I definitely had my favorites. I will continue to review my top three this week. Here is the first:

Thursday 2:00-2:50pm- SMART about Art- by Casey Clark

I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation- this presenter reviewed interactive websites that are useful for elementary art teachers for use with the SMARTboard or interactive whiteboard. She reviewed sites that she had used in her class- some of these I have already found and used in the past, others were new to me and looked like a ton of fun. I especially appreciated Ms. Clark’s suggestion to use the SMARTboard for more than just introducing lessons or presenting new information. I frequently use my board to demonstrate worksheets or using ArtRage to present painting and drawing lessons, but I rarely use the SMARTboard for short reviews or mini lessons, nor had I ever tried to incorporate SMARTboard activities for closure at the end of class, and I would love to have interactive sites ready for student use at the end of class. Using the SMARTboard for introductions seems to really get students engaged at the beginning of a lesson, and it would be great to send students away with that same energy- perhaps with the link to an art website that they could use at home or during free computer lab time with their classroom teachers. Here are a few of my favorite links that she showed us:

The Artist’s Toolkit from Artsconnected- great for mini-lessons to introduce or review art concepts.

NGAKids JUNGLE Interactive This is just one of the many awesome interactive sites at the NGAKids website.

More conference reviews to come- just have to make it to the Thanksgiving Break and past Turkey Day.

Empty Bowl Dinner Success

Now that the video segment about our Empty Bowl Dinner has been posted, I can officially deem it a success. This year our 6th graders participated in our 2nd Annual Soup Bowl Dinner, inspired by the Empty Bowl Project originally created by 1997 by Lisa Blackburn andJohn Hartom. For the past two years we have held the Soup Bowl Dinner as a sixth grade service learning project in order to raise local hunger awareness and instill a commitment to community through service. Our students raised over $600 this year which was donated to Food for Others and The Ronald McDonald House. Canned food donations were taken, and sandwiches were made during the dinner, and these items were donated to a local homeless shelter.

I am very excited about the artwork that my students created. Each student created one bowl which was decorated with a personal symbol. Our FCPS new station came to our event this year and now the segment is available for everyone’s viewing pleasure. I am so proud of each of our sixth graders, for all of their hard work and their giving throughout the project.

Follow the link to view the video segment:

http://www.fcps.edu/DIT/streaming/ss05_soupbowl.asx

Here is a link to our students’ beautiful and meaningful work:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ttiwedas/IdentityBowls2009#

It’s been a long time…

It is long past time get back into the habit of posting more regularly. I ended the last school year with a bang, but this year, things like fewer planning periods, more classes, and a new program of studies have sent me reeling, and I’ve been feeling like there is never any time to stop and think. Lots of scrambling and running on autopilot during the past four weeks. I am not a fan of starting out the beginning of the school year feeling like I am already behind, but I’m doing my best and trying to get the hang of the shortened time between classes.

While the beginning of the year has been hectic so far, it has also been exciting. I received a $1000 grant (Thank you Target !) and my PTA is matching with another $1000 to be spent on our 5th and 6th grade sculpture garden project. I will be working with a group of students after school to create life-sized sculptures of students interacting with the school environment. We are also organizing our first weekend field trip for the 5th and 6th graders to meet me at the National Gallery and Hirshhorn Gallery sculpture gardens to view and discuss outdoor sculptures.

I have also received approval from the PTA to start our Wish Tree project, our wish tags have been purchased and the PTA will be purchasing a small Japanese maple tree to plant and get that area of the sculpture garden underway.  I am thrilled that these things are all taking place, the ball is rolling and the students and PTA are excited to see how our garden develops.

More importantly, I received TWO emails this week asking me about my hopes and dreams, and I found this a little unnerving. It isn’t often that someone takes the time out of their day to ask you what it is you really want, in your career, or in your personal life, and then takes the time to listen and try to help makes those dreams come true.

My PTA president was the second to inquire about my hopes and dreams, in this case referring to the art room and art curriculum, and since I have already been discussing my fantastic PTA in this post, let me continue with their request first.  I received the email at 10:15pm and couldn’t sleep after I read it, because no one ever asked me before. As an educator, you are trained to expect to ask when you need something, or make due without, make the most of what you have. Somehow, miraculously, I am in the opposite situation- my PTA and administration want to know- what do I want? What do I want to do, what would I like to have in my room, what sort of materials, support, and money do I need to make my art education dreams come to life. I had to really think about it, and collect my thoughts, and then write a lengthy email about what I think our elementary students need in order to be better prepared for life and future educational opportunities in general- which is what I really care about when I really dig down deep. I explained that I think we need to invest in better technology integration by putting digital media tools into the students’ hands. Many of our teachers have SmartBoards in their rooms and rely on technology as a presentation tools, but I have seen few teachers allowing students to use digital tools to make art. I have plans brewing to bring digital photography, video and digital art-making into my art room, and I am excited to see how my students respond to these new art-making tools. Mostly, I feel blessed to be in a school with a supportive PTA and administration, where it is possible to bring about these changes and watch my students blossom in a more up-to-date art-making environment.

Weaving Technology into Summer Camp Lessons

I feel like I am in the opposite of technology world right now- craft lessons galore- stitchery and weaving with all grade levels to wind down the end of the school year. I am glad to have everyone using the same materials in every grade level at the same time. Classroom teachers are glad to have a project that students can work on now that SOLs are over and the end of the school year is in view. Students are engaged in their projects, and their tired brains are getting the chance to rest on the repetition of weaving and stitchery patterns.

This all seems a simple and relaxed way to finish up the year, but I am sad to not have as many chances or as much time to weave technology into my lessons. I use the flexcam each day to teach new stitches, but my goal right now is to incorporate more technology for student use in my classroom. I have just one more week of instruction followed by major cleanup before I am finished for the year- but I keep finding new and exciting things I would like to incorporate into my classroom strategies and curriculum, and with one week left, I am not going to get the chance to try any of these things out until next year. 

Maybe I will work Voicethread and digital drawing into my drawing and painting summer camps this year. I think I will start a Voicethread for students to respond to during breaks and at the beginning or end of class as a warm up/wrap up activity for each class. And I’ll check in with the camp director about computer lab access for one day of class.

Now, if only I could find another teacher from FCPS that is interested in participating in this technology and curriculum integration workshop at the American Art Museum.

Fourth Grade Stitchery Wizards

After spending the majority of this weeks writing grants galore while managing all of the end of the year programs, parties and potlucks, I am feeling totally wiped and have been leaving school feeling like I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for energy these days and wondering if anything I have been teaching has been making it into my students’ minds. I have been focusing on fiber arts with all grades for the past week, trying to wind down the year with all one media in order to start storing things for the summer, and I frequently have students frustrated in class by the concept of a running stitch. Also- we are currently in the throes of SOL testing, which means that many of my classes couldn’t even come to art class during the past two weeks. I sent the stitchery away with my fourth graders, wondering what sort of mayhem I may have just inflicted on their classroom teacher, hoping that they would survive until the next time they came into my classroom. Needless to say, I could really use a positive stitchery pick-me-up, and I was thrilled with the students creativity and dedication to learning new stitches that were not even required at the fourth grade level. They had the option of choosing how to put the stitches together to create their sampler, and I was afraid that every sampler would look the same, but I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome so far. Some of the results are posted below.

4th grade stitchery-anjali

4th grade stitchery-anjali, originally uploaded by wonderbrooks.

4th grade stitchery-will

4th grade stitchery-will, originally uploaded by wonderbrooks.

4th grade stitchery 004

4th grade stitchery 004, originally uploaded by wonderbrooks.