528 Lockerbie Street

This past Friday, I had the privilege of taking students to the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home and the Indianapolis Home Show. This is the first time that I have been able to take students on a career related field trip and it was wonderful. We were fortunate enough to "tag along" with Mrs. Propst's Living Environments Class.

James Whitcomb Riley was a renowned American Poet whose work depicted a simpler time. Mr. Riley was born in 1849 and in his lifetime produced 1,044 works which he performed in places such as New York's Carnegie Hall. He wrote for and loved children. His works were known to be the idea for icons such as Raggedy Ann and Andy and Little Orphan Annie. After his death, the family with which he lived was asked if the home could be preserved as a tribute. Lockerbie Street is a Historic Home District with each house maintaining its original qualities as they did when Mr. Riley was alive. So the home and all its belongings were preserved and the home became a museum in honor or Mr. Riley. The Riley Memorial Association was formed as was Riley Children's Hospital.

As we toured the home it was amazing to see the original paintings from not only many famous artists and illustrators, but to also see the stenciling and color schemes from the home. It was like stepping back in time. Many students related the home and some of its architectural elements to many homes in Paris. To find out about the home show itself you have to wait until Tuesday!

www.rileykids.org/museum

Winter Arts Festival

In December, our high school art club, raised funds to host an elementary arts festival at our local elementary school. Each member of the art club selected an art project and created a lesson to teach at the event. The elementary students then were able to select a class in which they would like to participate. Students were able to choose from 26 classes. Then we purchased the supplies, examples were made, and we headed to the elementary school for an afternoon of fun. I beleive that the event was a success and the high school students did a fantastic job. Attached are a few pictures from the event.

An Picture can say a Thousand Word....

Or an image can speak only one as the students in my digital photography class have found. Students drew a single word from a hat. They then needed to figure a way to convey that word through an image. Here are the results.

Today had been a very insightful day to me. This morning, I subbed for the Econ teacher. The students were given an assignment on budgets. They were each given an amount that they made working, and then a list of all of their bills they would have to pay in a month. The object of the assignment was for students to figure out what bills should be paid out of what check and how much money they would have a month left just to spend. Well, they found out the had no money left, and that in order to pay their bills they would need to drop somethings out of their monthly budget. What a great assignment. I still have to do this only a daily basis. Just yesterday, my husband reminded me I needed to watch grocery shopping for the week because he had just made the house payment.

It was remarkable what these kids were thinking whe filling out these sheets. They were choosing to cut out their gas and groceries in order to keep their cell phones and internet. WOW! This was an amazing lesson to me on how kids think.

I know when I was there age the only thing that was important to me were practices after school and my boyfriend. I neveer thought about the future, a job, or anything of the sort. My parents paid my bills and I used my summer job money to pay for gas, etc. I never worried about anything. Oh course, we didn't have internet or computers when I grew up and we only had cable for about half of that time. And the future of having a job and responsiblity was well just that...the future.

When I graduated from college, I still didn't get it. I tried to live like I had before, only know suddenly my money didn't seem to go as far as I thought that it should. Well that was 11 years ago. Times changed and I got older. The older I got, the more that it sank in that something was going to have to go..my ideal of spending or my credit. Yeah know, I chose my spending habits. Trying to decide what is a priority is so hard. Now I am old, married with children, and still today I am constantly questioning my spending. It makes me wonder if we ever learn our lesson on spending or if we will just be fighting an uphill battle the rest of our lives.

Art 1 Abstracted Self-Portraits

Art 1 students are just beginning to look at and work in portraiture. There is nothing harder to a high school student, then looking at and drawing themselves. To make this a little easier we abstracted our images slightly, so the students would not be so intimidated about getting everything perfect.

New drawing class projects

Students have just completed a few new projects. The first was a project that combined music and art. Here are the results!

The End of the Nine Weeks

Well today is the day! The end of the first quarter. I have a few students scrambling to turn in assignments and extra credit in some cases. Overall we have had a very busy first nine weeks. The students have been very busy and very successful. I am very excited about working in Graphic Design with my photography students this nine weeks.

When I graduated from high school, I first thought that I wanted to be in Graphic Design and for a year and a half I was in an extensive program at Southern Illinois University. In December of my sophomore year, I realized I just wasn't happy. I was spending so much time in my room or at the studio working that I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I realized that if I continued in graphic design...that would be my life. And if you know me, that isn't me at all. I decided I needed to work with people and becoming a teacher seemed to fit.

I love the opportunity to work with these wonderful, funny, and very enthusiastic students who bring so much energy and life to the classroom. I think it is wonderful that they are willing to try anything and I am excited to see who will just fit into Graphic Design.