Art 1- wire sculpture

This week I am going to try to get images up that show what is going on in our classroom. We have a lot of projects in the works. Art one is currently working on a free form wire sculpture.

Priorities

Yesterday morning I was lying in bed thinking about my priorities, for the day, the week, the rest of the month. As kids, we have a schedule we follow. Life is pretty simple, breakfast, school, practice, homework, bed, repeat. But after we graduate and get jobs, it is a whole new ballgame. We begin to find ourselves juggling, our husbands and wives, work, our kids, our friends, our hobbies, and our rest. There are times when I simply feel overwhelmed and I look at other people and wonder if they are in the same boat as I am. As a teacher, there is one more struggle that presents itself and that is how to not let our work overlap in to our personal lives. And that is a tough one. We worry. We worry about our lesson plans, our observations, getting through to students, about that one student who doesn't seem to care, or the student who came to class crying the day before, or the student who has suddenly stopped coming to class at all. I laugh sometimes because I will ask my husband how his day was at work and he will say, the same as everyday. And I think about that and realize how very lucky I am. Everyday at work is different for me. Each day provides me with new knowledge, new approaches, new empathy, and a new love of what I do. If being overwhelmed every once in a while and adjusting my priorities from time to time are the only downfalls in my life, it must not be so bad at all. So the worry comes naturally and I am slowly learning how all of these small parts impact my life and make me the person I am and I don't think that I want to change a single one.

Second Semester

OK, so apparently high school students are crawling out of the woodwork and into art! Yeah us! We have four new classes this semester so that makes a total of four Art 1 style classes. My mental count for the year, makes over 100 new students taking an art class for the first time...how exciting is that. Not bad for a high school with around 600 students. That isn't even counting my repeats in the advanced classes and specialty classes. I am so proud of where our art program is going and the levels of achievement taking place. For a small school we are doing our best to create new and exciting coursework. I believe that one of our strongest features is offering individualized classes rather than grouping Art 1, Art 2, Art 3, etc. Instead our curriculum consists of classes such as Painting and Drawing, Photography and Graphic Design, Sculpture and Ceramics, Hand Arts, Advanced Art, Art Survey, and Art 1. I hope we can maintain these numbers for the years to come.