New year

Happy New Year!

I hate New Year's Eve. There was always so much emphasis on having an "epic" night, especially when I was a teenage, that I learned to loathe the high expectations. I'd much rather a low key night with friends and family. But I do very much enjoy the idea of a clean slate; a new beginning. As a teacher, I feel like I have the benefit of two times a year when I can restart (September and January) and thats pretty fantastic!

As much as I don't want to emphasize it, this is a big year for me. I turn 30.
I remember my mother's 30th birthday, or at least the photos and VHS tapes, we are only 25 years apart. :)
But now its my turn.

I discovered today that there are a bunch of lists floating around the interwebs of things to do before turning 30.
I quickly grew bored of them. They were clearly written by early twenty somethings and young mothers. Nothing wrong with that, but I have three months, not nine years, or kids and a husband for that matter.

I did however enjoy this video from Buzzfeed.

SO, I decided to make a short list of things to consider over the next three months and beyond:

1. "Quit drinking. Quit carbs. Quit unhealthy foods. Quit bad friends. And then pick them all up again. Repeat this cycle until you know how to drink, know how to eat, and know how to love. Or turn 30. Whichever comes first." Ryan O'Connell from toughtcatalog. I realize I did not say this, and some twenty something did, but since college, I have come to understand the benefit of this cycle.
2.  Don't worry, be happy. Its so simple, yet so true. I have spent so much of my life worrying that I forget to live in the moment and be happy.
3. Set attainable goals. I've decided that I function best with goals in mind. So with #2 in mind, I need to also make sure that those goals are not too far fetched.
4. Live in another country. I stole this one from other lists I've read. I consider my time on Nantucket this summer as time abroad. Make sure to click the link above!
5. Start writing a blog. Also stolen from other lists. I have to say, I enjoy having the ability to share parts of my life with others and even more so, enjoy the connections made from my three year journey here.
6. Manage money better. Start a 401(k) or in my case a 403(b). I have started managing money better thanks to free services provided by my local credit union. In addition to my teacher retirement fund, I'd like to open a 403(b) this year.
7. Get fit. I purchased a Planet Fitness membership this week. Wish me luck!
8. Keep taking art classes, even if I don't need them for work. I had a blast with my five week drawing in pubs course. It was a great balance between skill and fun and has kept up my desire to draw. Plus, I am able to relate to what my students are going through because I too am drawing.
9. Visit friends and family more often. I stink at this right now. I see my grandmother once a year and my mom twice a year. They are both in FLA and my best friend is in Maine. Hopefully by managing money better, I will be able to visit people more often.
10. Travel alone. My Nantucket adventure was eye opening to me in terms of being able to travel alone. When not in the studio, I spent a decent amount of time alone, or met up with just a couple of girls from class. I'd like to pursue this more. 
11. Paint. 
12. Dream.
13. Spend money on quality things- don't cheap out. The way I see it, at this point in my life I'd rather spend money on things that are going to last. I'm not waiting for a wedding registry anymore. If I want a food processor, I will save my money and buy one on sale!
14. Stay up until 10pm or later on weekends. Or at least as late as I can, depending on the work week!
15. Earn Professional Status AND my Professional License. This may take some work. I should have Professional Status after the first school day next year, but I may need a couple of classes to attain that Professional License. Hopefully by 2015!

So here's to 2014 and turning 30!

I'll keep y'all posted on my adventures in teaching and life as long as you keep reading!

Hershey Kisses and Coal

I am still a little in shock that we completed the week relatively unscathed.
I pumped myself up for a long week of behavior issues, attitude and anxiety after students received their progress reports and we all waited for the holiday break. (Thats awful, but like a big game, you have to psych yourself out) Maybe I got used to the high energy of middle school students before vacation, but the week was calm while students continued to work on their value drawings.

I didn't want to be a complete scrooge, so Friday we took it easy.
I started class, when technology was working for me, with the Disney short, Paperman. If you have not seen it, go do a quick youtube search. The imagery is beautiful and the story is classic Disney. There is no dialogue, but much like the images students have been working on, it is a visual language.
As the movie came to an end, I passed each student a baggie with three Hershey Kisses and a black piece of paper (my dorky art teacher self referred to the paper as a lump of coal... nerd). I asked students to try not to eat all the candy, but leave at least one to try to draw on the black paper with charcoal.

It was not an easy challenge. However I was not met with resistance... either students now know me too well or really didn't mind. I forgot to take pictures through out the day, so the selection above was from my last class. 

I wanted to try it out too! Thats my drawing above. 

The last twenty five minutes or so of class, students chose their own art adventure. I had these handouts and supplies available. The top half of this handout came from Tiny Art Room. I added another challenge and re-phrased a couple of things.

All in all, students were entertained, I snuck in some learning and we're now on VACATION!

What do you do to Recharge?

A couple of weeks ago around 2:30 Tuesday afternoon, I felt blind- sided by a cold. Sniffles and aches; I was in bed by 7 o'clock. I debated taking the next day off, but we had a school wide meeting about a new state initiative that the high school art department was asked to pilot. I felt obligated to be there. (I am glad I was since I was singled out in a crowd of 100+ teachers) Plus the rest of my day would feel like cake with only 44 minute classes. I then debated taking the following day, but I had Art Club and I hated to disappoint, especially after not having club due to Thanksgiving.
Sooo, that Friday it was.

I hate sub plans.
I left a "creativity test" that was a sheet of Xs, asking the students to change as many x's as possible into something... a windmill, a shoe... whatever.
Next, the students were asked to complete their homework (due that day) or continue sketching for their long term value drawing. Not the most exciting or productive substitute plans. But some took advantage of the time. In case of emergency, I had left the substitute with outlines of shoes, asking that if students were not participating, that they should select an outline and practice realistic shading.
When I returned on Monday, the room was in good shape and it appeared that a few students took the time to work on homework or the alternate shoe assignment. My co-worker said the sub was great and the students mentioned that she even tried to engage them in conversations about some of the pieces hanging in the room. (*sigh* thank goodness)

As for me, by Friday morning I was feeling WAY better. I had gone to bed super early the nights previous, but felt like I could use a solid "mental health" day.

I stayed in bed til almost 7am. I made myself a massive breakfast of eggs and home fries, did two loads of laundry and packed for our weekend away. That left me almost three hours to paint...
I LOVED it.
I even think I finished my first painting since returning from Nantucket.

I have been working slowly on this painting since September. It is only 5 inches by 7 inches.

Having the time for myself was an incredible way to kick off the weekend. I brought my sketchbook up to our weekend away and in between watching movies and reading, planned the companion painting to the piece above. The time away from home with nothing that had to be done, was really rejuvenating. Our friends were up too and before we came home, we had an awesome brunch together. The three days were just what I need to get back into the swing of things at school and to power through to the holiday break.

What do you do to Recharge?

S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

There's this comedian who writes for SNL and has a stand up routine or two. I totally can't share it with students, but he has one joke about being at a party as a high school student and yelling "Scatter!" when the cops show up. I always have his tone of voice in my head when I tell my students to SCAMPER.

. . .
What on earth is SCAMPER?
It is only the greatest and most amazing acronym I learned about in my graduate career. And as an education major, you know I learned a whole bunch of acronyms...DESE, NCLB, MTEL, MCAS, DDM, SMART, SSDD...

SCAMPER is an acronym to help one through the creative process.
I was first introduced to it through an assignment for my Creative Thinking course last year. We were asked to gather a bunch of stuff from our kitchens and design a system. I grabbed a steamer, chopper, rubber bands, can opener, baster, cheese grater and a flashlight/lantern. I was so stumped. What could I create that had a function with this junk? I played with it for over two hours before I quit and went to bed.

I thought that a clear mind and a new perspective may help to solve my problem. I also really tried to consider SCAMPER'ing. How could I use these words to help me?

And then I got it... I magnified my objects, took some apart and endlessly rearranged to come up with

a rocket ship that launches a space station (and if I remember correctly, harnesses energy)

I felt like I had such a break through.

SCAMPER is perfect for that road block situation.

Or for where my students are right now in the planning process of their long term value drawings. Many are using some printed references and wanting just to copy the image. I have challenged them to SCAMPER. Or for those that have one sketch that is just "eh," SCAMPER helps them to look at their work through a new lens.  

For me to go through the creative process and experience first hand how awesome and helpful SCAMPER is was totally a benefit. If I could make stickers and put them inside each of my student's sketchbooks, I would. It is a great tool that I can see the benefits from in the planning process.

Go SCAMPER everyone!

High School Spirit

Working at a high school is much different than working at an elementary or middle school. That's a given. But the atmosphere in a high school right before the big Thanksgiving Day game is like nothing I've ever seen.

It starts with Spirit Week.
Each day, from the Wednesday before the game until the Wednesday of the Pep Rally, has a different theme. Grades compete to see who has the most spirit and results are announced at the end of the day. (Although my freshman get the impression that it is rigged for the Seniors to win.)

The first day was Celebrity/Character Day (I did not participate). The next, mix and match/ opposite day. You can see my outfit above. That Friday was Boston Strong/ New England Sports. Monday was Pajama day... it was the coldest day so far this winter and with the heat hardly working in my room, I loved that I could get away with wearing a sweatshirt and slippers! Next was Color Wars: each grade and staff were assigned a color to wear. Everyone seemed to get into this one! The seniors in particular were decked out and must have had shirts printed ahead of time. Plus there were girls walking around in pink tutus and guys in pink tights. (The attire made my evening a little easier, but I will get into that in a minute) The final day, the day of the Pep Rally, was Blue and White day.

So Tuesday after school...
Actually, let me back up to last year. On the day of the Pep Rally last year, I walked into the art room, the door somehow already unlocked, scraps of paper everywhere, unwashed brushes in the sink and our paint supplies seriously diminished. What happened?

The night before the Pep Rally, the tradition is for each grade to decorate a hallway and make posters for the gym. Remember, Spirit Week is a competition. So somehow students got into the Art Room unsupervised and took what they wanted... I was new and part time, if someone had told me, I would have been a little more proactive. I was also seriously annoyed. So this year I decided to do something about it.

I approached the principal a couple of weeks ago, asking if there was any money to supply students with paint not from the art budget. I went out and purchased some tempera paint and will be reimbursed. We have plenty of not so great brushes and somehow a good supply of poster board. I also asked if it would be okay to charge students twenty-five cents for the boards and have the proceeds go to the Art Club.

I have to say, everything went pretty smoothly.
I put the paint in small containers and coffee cup holders like I used to with the little ones.

I had the desks pushed together into giant tables and other supplies like scissors and tape out and available. If students wanted to take supplies outside of the art room, I took down their names, holding them responsible. (I only lost two rolls of tape!) Through the night there were probably up to fifty students in the Art Room and out in the hallway.

By 5:30 though, I was tired and hungry, having no idea that they were going to stay so long! I asked the dozen or so still working to wrap it up and shoot to be out of the room by 6. I had a great group of Juniors make sure the tables were scrubbed and even had some out in the hall washing the floors.

Between poster board and butcher block paper sales, we made $15.50 and the room was still intact. The art department may not have gotten a shout out at the pep rally, but I was happy to give up my time to be a silent part of a spirited tradition that brings the students together in good fun.

DIY Decor

pin

My bureau is usually a mess. Not necessarily because of jewelry, but that doesn't help. (I'm really bad at putting laundry away and I don't know where the best place is to store receipts.) I saw this on Pinterest about a month ago and decided I should give it a shot.

I purchased some peg board at Lowe's and after some trial and error, I found the color that I wanted. Valspar spray paint is the best. Below you can see my messy room and the curtains I love, from which I try to base all bedroom decorating ideas. I also have a Monet print that has served as color inspiration for pretty much all rooms in our apartment. Next to the bureau is my makeshift closet. We have two closets and a pantry in our two bedroom apartment. No linen closet. I turned the eave into a closet with a closet bar and a tension rod to hold curtains. 

And my new jewelry organizer. I decided to put the pegboard into an old frame I had. This is puts less holes into our rented apartment walls. Otherwise I was going to use mirror hanger rosettes. 

Tomorrow I will hang some 's' hooks and get this party started!

I know I might be jumping the gun a bit, but I also started a DIY holiday project. I have seen a bunch of Christmas card holding wreaths on Pinterest. Again, since our place is rented, I have felt bad about taping our cards to the wall, so I decided this year to make a place to hold cards. I bought a wire wreath frame, fifty clothes pins, red ribbon and a bag of styrofoam balls. I had the light green spray paint from the DIY project above and purchased some hunter green to complement this project. 

After spray painting the clothes pins, I hot glued them to the wire frame. Noticing that they were not going to stay very well, I ran some red ribbon around the back, hot gluing and hopefully adding some stability. I also wrapped the ribbon around and between the frame. Finally, I hot glued the styrofoam balls to add some extra decoration. I am pretty happy with the results and can't wait to start clipping some cards in there! 

Celebrity Half Challenge

A huge emphasis in our Art One curriculum is learning about observation and value in drawing. To be totally fair, I drew a lot in high school, but didn't really "get it" until college. As a second year high school teacher, I am still trying to find that balance of what is art one really about and how can my students be successful?

Term Two started with some observational drawing, value scales and vocabulary. We discussed cast shadow, full light area, half tone and reflected light, taking notes and practicing gradations. I did the same along with the students, under a document camera that I am borrowing from the Drama department, which was projected in the front of the room. oooh ahhh technology. But it caught the students' attention! We then drew pumpkins like the ones above.

Next we broke things down into simple, geometric shapes. Under spot lights on tripods, students observed cast shadow, full light and reflected light on spheres, cones and cubes. This part was totally boring to them. I knew it and tried to emphasize that everything they will draw from here on out can be simplified to these shapes... and that this was so important that I am counting it as a "project" grade.

I kind of just threw together the next assignment as a filler between observation and their own value drawing, but I am so, sooo glad I did. Inspired by this pin, I typed up very specific directions, with a vague rubric, as I am counting this as a mini project grade as well.

Students were asked that as they finish their observational shape drawings and value scales, to go into our small (six) computer lab and find a picture of a celebrity.

After cutting the picture in half and pasting one side to a new paper, they were asked to observe the value and proportions from the discarded half or the pasted side, in order to recreate the other half.

I am overjoyed for these kids.
Many were taking pictures of their work with their cellphones before turning it in. One even posted it to Instragram and another told me he was trying to prove to his mom what he had accomplished in art class.
From a teacher stand point, this was a fabulous exercise. Students didn't want to "mess up" because they wanted their celebrity to look as real as possible. They had to draw upon everything I have taught them about observation and measuring, as well as value, and making comparisons between lights and darks. The face can even be broken down into spheres, which they had already drawn. As students were working, they were actively seeking feedback from me and their peers, taking photos and making considerations about how to improve. What more could you ask for!?
Again, I am so very proud. From here, students have been given the task to create a drawing that uses value, communicates an idea and defines the space. Many are overwhelmed by the openness, but we spent a couple of days in the library looking for images and inspiration, so our creativity gears are turning. Look for value drawing final images sometime in December or January!