Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Art teacher on overload

I never stay home from school. As a matter of fact I usually stay in school for hours after almost everyone else has left, sharing a bag of popcorn with the 4th grade teacher down the hall when, if we had better time management skills, we should both be home eating dinner.
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Anyhow. Yesterday I felt crummy all day. By the time I left for home (hours after school was over) I had set out complete sub plans for today. And today I took a rare sick day and now, sitting on the couch watching election returns, I feel a lot better and ready to go back tomorrow. And lucky for me, my former student teacher, who now teaches part-time in another district, was able to sub so I am confident that things went well.
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But back to yesterday. I got an email about the fundraiser project. My worries about the kindergarten ladybug project had become real. The company was rejecting the artwork because it was too "rough" (our tissue collage backgrounds got a little out of hand). These kids had been in school for just a week when they did this project - WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!! Anyhow, I got another email later in the day, and it's only 14 kids that have to re-do their artwork. So now I have to find a way, BY THE END OF THE WEEK, to have these each create a fundraiser-worthy piece of art.
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So here's something else that seems to have gotten away from me in my overloaded state: my 5th grade Artistic Licenses. The images above show both sides. I usually copy these on tagboard, and the kids jazz them up with color and sign them, and then I get them laminated. I have some lanyard hooks and key rings and the kids love to attach them to their backpacks, etc. We talk quite a bit about what it means to have "artistic license" or "creative license". Often I use the license when introducing a still life, to make them understand that sometims they will want to make artistic decisions that are not accurate representations of the still life but may be better compositionally, or show better usage of art elements. The kids are so funny. They'll come to art and most will have licenses in their pockets or hung around their necks, and someone will worry "I forgot to bring my license - will I still be able to change things today?" It's sweet to see them take it so seriously. But at the rate I'm going it will be months before I actually get the license copied, and then there's still the laminating part...
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And then there's the saga of the 6th grade altered books - but that's better left for another night.
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And of course, there's my lastest favorite addiction, the art teacher blogs. Every blog I read links me to someone new, with something interesting to read and learn, and great ideas, and I'm now following so many blogs it's hard to keep up with you all. But I'll try. But sometimes I get frustrated. Re: altered books - yesterday I was reading a blog and I saw a link on the blog sidebar that had an altered book post, but I wasn't feeling well so I didn't read it. Today I cannot find it, don't remember where I saw it. So if you've seen something interesting on altered books in the past couple of days, please let me know where to look! Thanks!

8 comments:

  1. Hang in there. Glad you are better. Sometimes you just need a day off.

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  2. Thanks Janie, you were commenting exactly while I was adding a paragraph to my post!

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  3. Omigosh! I am in LOVE with the artistic license idea! I'm so doing this!!

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  4. cute idea with the artistic license. hope you feel better soon! I feel pretty icky right now too, but it's parent teacher conferences today so I really shouldn't take a day off. I know what you mean about the art teacher blogs. I'm obsessed with them too and I follow so many it's hard to keep up with!

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  5. I read way too many art blogs as well and then can't remember where I saw something. I like to save a file of the picture in my ideas folder. :)

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  6. Hope you're feeling better! I took today off for being deathly ill too! I really like the idea of the creative/artistic license... that's a great way to explain diversity in art-making! It's so cute that their so into it- it's something they'll remember for a long time! :)

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  7. It's a great thing to take a day before you get really really sick. Take care Phyl. I'm breaking from blogging bc I we have a new addition - a rescue dog who is too scrumptious.

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  8. Erica, if you read this, I'm so happy for you! I know it was tough losing your beloved dog Blue, so hopefully your rescue dog will become as special with time.

    I'll miss reading your blog and your comments but hopefully when things settle down you'll be back!

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