Goodbye, North Warren Central School

The tables are clean, the shelves are empty, and the bulletin boards are bare. The door is locked and the keys have been handed over to the new art teacher.

I've spent the past 37 years teaching in NY state public schools, 27 of those years in my current district, and 13 in my current building and room, which was brand new when I moved in. So I have been the first and only tenant in this classroom. But now it belongs to someone else.

The ritual of honking and waving is over.

Yesterday was our annual end-of -year luncheon and these were the cute cakes.
(sorry it won't rotate)
Today friend 'C' spent a lot of time in my room helping me clean and sort. We came across this self-portrait I did several years ago, when some students were painting their own self-portraits. My glasses have changed, and my hair has less dark left in it, and I wasn't wearing my punctuation earrings today, but otherwise I guess I haven't changed much.

A lot of people stopped in my room to say goodbye and ask how I felt. Truth is, I feel just fine, though tired. (I've spent the last several weeks with the philosophy of a Warren Zevon song: "I'll sleep when I'm dead".) But I did not even get emotional. My favorite goodbye was from the male 2nd grade teacher (a really cool guy who now owns my frog). He walked by me on our way back from the waving, and said "I don't do goodbye." I said "me neither" and we both kept walking.

If I had been at all unsure or ambivalent about my choice to retire, the last several weeks have made it much easier. NY State's new regulations regarding student assessments and teacher evaluations, which seem to change on a daily basis, have everyone stressed to the max. In the final days of school, many teachers were stuck in training, or writing SLO's, or doing other stuff related to the new regs that took them frequently out of their classrooms on their last days with their students.

Meanwhile, a couple of key staff cuts mean some challenges for elementary scheduling and teaching for the coming year. Our school has always had a K-12 library and one librarian, with a full time library aide. With the position of her library aide cut for the coming year, how does the librarian teach elementary library classes if she has high school students at the same time needing library services? And with the elementary computer class being discontinued, and the former computer teacher becoming the new art teacher (my replacement), the elementary teachers will be expected to do all the computer instruction, which is especially important this coming year as they have been told that a technology element needs to be incorporated in all subject areas. Who will the teachers go to when they need help? I know if I was still going to be teaching, it would be a problem for me because I have ZERO experience with teaching computers.

I know none of this is my problem any more but I feel for the challenges my colleagues will face. The stress has been evident throughout the building.

One last thing here - way back when I was still a college art ed student, one tidbit told to us students by our professors really stuck in my mind: an art teacher should always take the time to make friends with their custodians, as they are your most important allies. For those of you newer teachers, let me tell you, this may have been the most important bit of real world advice that I learned in college. I can't thank my wonderful custodians enough for putting up with me and all my messes, for watering my (many) plants on vacations, for hauling heavy stuff out of and into my car, for hanging framed student artwork in the halls, for just generally being good, kind, nice, helpful people, and for so many others things I can't name here. Thank you Dawn and Dan and Randy and Tim and Joe and Jerry and all the others in years gone by. You are the best! They took very good care of me. And thanks to the college profs that had the good sense to make sure they passed on that important tidbit of advice to their students.

That's all for tonight, but lest you think I'm out of stuff to post about, don't worry. I have several years worth of photos saved, with projects I still want to share with you, and even some recent stuff I haven't yet posted. (An aside here: my original plan was to post the photos of my empty room with just the word GOODBYE and nothing more. As you can see, I couldn't keep myself from babbling so much more.)

So have a good summer, but keep visiting because I'll still be blogging!

Take me! Take me!

What's going to happen to us?
We watched as some of our friends were packed into a box and left the room yesterday with our mom. We saw others leave with teachers who picked them up, renamed them, and took them to their new homes (a flying pig to a 3rd grade teacher, an iguana to the other 3rd grade teacher, the goofy 4' tall totem pole to a 4th grade teacher, a cat to a social studies teacher, a penguin to a special ed teacher, etc.) BUT WHAT ABOUT US?!

Here's our friends who left in the box:

Yes, this full box of my papier-mache samples made it safely to my home today, loaded with: two Laurel Burch cats, an African-style vessel; three large rain sticks; 2 light bulb maracas; a red, white, and blue pig; a garden gnome; and 3 ice cream cones. And as you already know, the dragon left the art room last Friday.

But my little friends at the top of the post shouldn't worry. Actually, as of this afternoon, dapper Mr. Frog already is in a new home, sitting above the cubbies in a 2nd grade classroom, a really fun place with a cool teacher who does lots of hands-on science. He will be very happy there, I'm sure. He actually had several people hoping to adopt him, but I think I chose the best home for his personality.

Meanwhile, the goofy guy on the left will probably come home with me (I'm rather attached to him) and baldie on the right, actually an unfinished project who was supposed to have a glamorous hairdo, will either find a new home at school or stay in the art room with the new teacher, and with the mummy, the giant crayons, and the dragonfly.

I have two days left. So today my 2nd graders cleaned the tables with shaving cream. BEST ART CLASS EVER, they declared, which made me wonder why I bothered to do all that other stuff that required real preparation! After all, all today's lesson needed was a couple of dollar store shaving cream. Check out the last pic to see what someone wrote.

Retirement suprises!

Last night was my school district's retirement party. The basket above was filled, and I mean FILLED with drawings, cards, letters, and more from almost all of the kids I work with now, and also some kids in 7th grade and high school. WOW. And you may notice some gift cards tucked in there too. Double wow.

The photo on the right above is North Warren Central School's art department: past (me, center); present (the wonderful secondary art teacher, right); and future (my replacement and friend, current elementary computer teacher and more, and also the creator of that remarkable basket, left). Sorry about the poor focus on some of these photos. Camera problems :(

Beautiful blood red roses (my favorite color) from my lovely stepdaughter and her adorable husband; and a fabulous cake made by the sister of a staff member who really went the extra mile planning a great party for me and the other two retirees.


Left above, that's the stepdaughter and hubby, and my sweet hubby behind me who surprised me with the red rose corsage (which was really lucky, because I had been making a necklace to wear, and it was almost done and I "oopsied" after school yesterday trimming the excess wire and cut the wrong wire and now need to do damage control and so obviously I couldn't wear it).

The center photo is the presentation about ME. You already know the two ladies at the podium are the present and future art department. On the left is a dear friend/high school social studies teacher who worked closely with me during my 10 years as union president and more. He "roasted" me, in particular about the way I ran the union (I think he used the word "bulldog" more than once, and he called me bossy, but also said I made the union professional and gave us clout and always did my darnedest to protect the rights of my members no matter the situation.) I'm proud to say that everything he said was true, and I was tickled that he knew nothing he said would offend me.

The drawings below came from the many in my basket. Hopefully in the coming days I'll have the chance to scan some of the others to share. I particularly liked these because of the way I was represented, with an apron and red shoes and glasses, my hair white and wild on the left and gray and pony-tailed on the right. Simply fabulous. Thank you Caitlin and Cassie! (Speaking of my hair: I tried to French-braid my hair for the party, and then I got a phone call from my son and got sidetracked and ran out of time. Oh well.)

A couple more things about the presentation about ME:
My replacement spoke about my years of teaching, and the wonderful things kids said. I loved in particular that so many of them said I always smiled, and that I'm funny and creative, and that I don't mind if they make a mess. One quote that I love: "Mrs. Brown is the best art teacher I ever had. Well actually, she's the ONLY art teacher I ever had but she's still pretty good." Smiles.

She had asked me earlier last week what the hardest thing is about being an art teacher, and I had replied "working in isolation - art teachers in small schools are often islands unto themselves and have nobody with whom they can share ideas". I had mentioned how that had changed in the past 2 years for me, partly because of my wonderful young colleague (it is the first time in years that I really feel like part of a team and not a solo operation), and also because of the supportive community that has formed from blogging. She evidently really heard me during that conversation, because, much to my surprise, she contacted some of YOU. Holy guacamole! At the podium she shared remarks from several of you and I must say I was blown away by what you said. You must know, though, that whatever you have gotten from me, I have received back tenfold from my associations with you. Thank you for what you give me by your willingness to share on your blogs, and thank you for taking the time to respond to a request from a stranger! Hopefully you'll get to know her more, since I think she's already discovering the value of our art teacher blog network. Art Project Girl, I should mention, lest you feel left out, that she knew of our friendship but couldn't find an email address to contact you. She couldn't leave a comment on your blog because she knew I'd find it and the secret would have been out!

All in all, it was a fabulous evening, with some wonderful hugs and comments from staff members that I didn't even know cared about what I do. It was also nice to see some previously retired friends who came back to celebrate with us. You may wonder why my adorable son is not in the photos. He's been on his new job barely a month and was not ready to ask for time off. I saw him last week for Mother's Day, and will see him again for Memorial Day, so I told him not to worry about missing this evening - I adore him and know he loves us too!

Anyhow, it's way past bedtime, and it is supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow, so I'd better get some sleep so I can get in some kayak time! Thanks so much everyone.

Bittersweet (w/new photos added) & Art Show!!

Here are some views of the Art Show Garden!! The garden was a HUGE hit! Parents, families, and kids spent a lot of time peeking everywhere, trying to find all the gnomes, each one so unique, nestled among the flowers and bugs; and the mushrooms, the snake, the veggies, the seed packages, the insects, as well as the flowers and dragonflies!


Here's me and my coworker by the Chihuly Rainbow Tower ~


And here's a random sampling of high school and 7th grade work from her students ~ the octopus below was done with a batik-like process. The student who created it is the daughter of my friend "C" that I've blogged about here in July 2010. (By the way, she's healthy these days!)

As for the piece on the right - it's a photo - but it elicited an interesting comment by the gal who is my likely replacement. I've turned her on to reading the blogs, and she said "this reminds me of a bottlecap mandala I saw on a blog." I immediately knew it was the one in this post by Art Project Girl!

Can you tell that the contour hand is slightly raised off the surface in the image below? That piece, and also the adorable sculpture to the right, were both done by 7th graders.

Below - a sweet pair of bookends by a high school student, and perspective tree houses by 9th grades -

And more elementary stuff -

There were too many display flats to show them all, with everything from toothpaste batiks, to Rizzi cars, to 3rd grade dragons, to 1st grade self-portraits, and much more. You've seen much of the artwork throughout the year, so I'm not going to post it all again now. Below is a glimpse of a Chihuly macchia display using coffee filters and starch, and some 4th grade perspective pieces.

The gym, below, before it was filled with people -

And during the show -

Today, at the end of the day, with still lots to pick up, it looked like the end of the movie Woodstock.
Eeks.

Meanwhile - related to art shows, since so many of us are posting about our events, there's a spectacularly awesome post at fem manuales that you should see! The translation of the post is "Spring Festival" and I am just gaga over EVERYTHING there - I want to pin every image! (The blogger does have a "translate" button on the blog which helps a bit if like me you don't do well with understanding other languages.

I almost forgot - about the title of this post - here's the SWEET part first: the excitement of the kids, the wonderful comments from parents and coworkers, many of whom expressed so much sadness that I'm leaving, the giant crowd of happy people, the Booster Club cheerfully donating refreshments, the adults and kids who were so wonderfully supportive, and the fact that it's done and I can relax.

Here's the BITTER part: it is my last show like this. Ever. Despite the exhaustion I really do love it and will miss it terribly. I'll miss the kids like nobody's' business. And then there's the part I probably shouldn't write about but I will, that has me feeling the most bitter. My principal never stepped foot in the art show, even though she was there in the building. It would have been great PR for them, supporting the students and staff, and chatting with the parents and kids. I heard that my superintendent came in for a brief peek several hours before the actual show began, but he never came back. Neither of them has spoken a word to me about the show -not in the weeks/days prior, not during the show, not afterwards. Insulting. No letters of congratulation for me and my coworker, no quickie email, no nothing. It's especially noticeable to me since it was my last show. Parents came and talked to me, a LOT, but nothing from those two administrators. Does your administration show support for your art show efforts? Or are they like mine?

Confessions of a compulsive stapleflicker - and other random ramblings

My name is Phyl and I'm a staple-flicker.

Thank goodness I have a good relationship with my custodial staff, because I have a very bad habit. I warn the kids to always leave their shoes on in my room, and not just because you never know when there will be a fire drill (which, frankly, we do NOT have in the winter anyhow). The truth is, there are probably staples on my floor, or in the hallway, near any of my bulletin boards that I change regularly. The kids all know I'm a staple flicker.

I hang something up; it's crooked; I pull the staples out and flick them aside while I straighten and re-staple the artwork. Usually I'm standing on a chair while I'm doing this, but that's no excuse. I don't pick them up when I'm standing on the floor either. Are there any other staple flickers out there among you, readers?

By the way - the photo at the top of the post is a couple of years old - it was a Lichtenstein-related project. We discussed "thought bubbles" and facial expressions and their challenge was to use both to get across a feeling without any words. The ones pictured are panic, fear, and boredom.

Now about PANIC...
I am having some serious panic of my own right now. I've been curled up with my lesson plan book, trying to sort out what comes next and everything I have planned for the year, and I realize I'm in deep doo-doo. I'm retiring in June, I have a LOT planned, and it cannot all get done. Not possible. What do I leave out? How do I decide? I want to do it all! And why do I keep bookmarking project ideas and pinning them on my Pinterest boards, when I will not get to do them anyhow?

Everyone will do something with dragons in time for our art show. Did you know 2012 is the
Year of the Dragon? And so was the year I was born! I'm a dragon!!!

We're also going to do some sort of big collaborative Chihuly thingy, also in time for the art show (in early May).

Anyhow, here's a taste of what I was hoping to get done between now and the end of the school year -

6th grade:

• Complete our sheet rock cartouche project by the end of the marking period (Jan.20). You'll see them soon.
• Tooling foil relief dragons. Has to happen.
  
• Graph enlargement of seed packets, hoping to also make giant papier-mache vegetables to go along. I already have the seed packs but have my doubts we'll get it done. Do I do the big seed packs without the big veggies? Or skip them both?
• Japanese Daruma - a really fun magical wishing toy, made with a plastic Easter egg and papier-mache.
  
• Perspective words - an annual thing for grade 6; it may get left in the dust this year.
• Plaster bandage - last year we made those "people in action" that took FOREVER to finish; this year maybe finger puppets - they are quicker.
• Surreal lockers
• Art room Pictionary
  

5th grade:

• Papier-mache Laurel Burch cats - we're starting these next.
• Drawing unit, focusing on contour line.
• Some sort of perspective hallway if we have time. I'm afraid we won't.
• Toothpaste batik (my former posts about this project are my #1 viewed blog posts, all the time). I'm planning for these to be dragons.
• I was hoping to do a poster project - I have very specific poster guidelines. Not sure we'll get to it.

4th grade:

• Currently making wampum belts.
• Always do a coil pot project with air-dry clay.
• Always do a cave art project that is a huge favorite (I've posted about this) so I don't want to skip it.
• Planning to do a surreal collage that is always successful; will show the "Get Surreal" video.
• Hoping to find time to do a Jackson Pollock mural painting.
• Usually do an intro to perspective: "flying boxes".
• Hoped to find the time to do a Grandma Moses project. Worried we won't fit it in.
  
• Hoped to have time to make papier-mache garden gnomes. We would put them in the 6th grade oversized garden, if it happened. Don't know.
• Planned to do posters with these guys too. Not going to happen.
• And of course dragons. And Chihuly. I have plans.
  

3rd grade:

• Papier-mache. I was planning on Kachina dolls, but it may be too much for this loopy group of kiddos. Maybe they'll make the garden gnomes.
• Self-portraits? Not sure it will happen. We have some broken mirrors and not enough for everyone.
  
• Laurel Burch project?
• Dali project?
• Klee project?
• Chihuly /dragons/ etc
• 3-D buildings
• more more more
  

2nd grade:

• Teddy Bear chairs and lots more...

And then there's 1st grade and K's, and all the books I own but will not have time to use this year. And the boxes of air-dry clay to use in grades 1, 2, and 3. That's about enough, right?

So what do I do? The fun stuff? The curricular-ly sensible stuff? The crazy stuff? The stuff with guaranteed results? Do I be a responsible art teacher or go out in a blaze of wild color and large wacky projects? How do I balance it?

And how do I tell the kids they will have a new art teacher next year? HELP.

Reality TV, & imagining a new reality

First, about reality TV:
IMAGINE THAT you actually know, not one, but TWO REAL PEOPLE on reality TV shows! Now you probably already know that I love Project Runway and Survivor, but this year my eye has been on two other reality shows - The Biggest Loser and The Sing-Off.

I have a son-in-law on Biggest Loser!!
Actually he's not on right now, as he got voted off a couple of weeks ago, but if you watch BL at all you would remember Joe (above). He'll be back on the show for the finale, coming in December. A week ago, he flew to NYC from his home in Tennessee with his wife (my stepdaughter) and their daughter (their first time in the Big Apple) to be on the Today Show. I was busy teaching and preparing for my conference, but my hubby was able to take the train to Manhattan and got to spend a day with them. How cool is that?! Joe looks fabulous and has changed his life. It may be a TV show, but what Biggest Loser does for people is REAL. Congratulations, Joe!!

As for The Sing-Off - the finale is tonight, and one of my son's good friends from his high school class is in the Dartmouth Aires. This group is one of the 3 finalists! If you watch this show regularly, you might have noticed a nice-looking blonde boy in the group (on the left in the photo above) - that's Alex. We're rooting for you, Alex! (*I should also mention, for those of you that follow college basketball, that another of my son's high school classmates was Jimmer Fredette, a BYU sensation that was a first-round draft pick for the NBA. What a graduating class!)

Ironically, my son also knew people in one of the other groups on The Sing-Off, the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. He just graduated from UR in May, and was pretty involved in the musical community, so he had two teams to root for on the show, thought the Yellowjackets did not last to the finals.

Now to imagining that whole new reality... IMAGINE THAT you've been teaching your whole adult life, and suddenly it is going to be over. This is not imagining; it is real (though it actually feels more surreal than real). It is official - after 35-1/2 years in the classroom, 26-1/2 of them in my current job, I will be hanging up my smock this June. With a 30 mile commute, a contract expiring in June, new education legislation in NY that makes me crazy, and a son that is (somewhat) financially independent, the time is right for me to retire.

I'll be packing up my belongings and moving on. By the way, the heads (above) and the IMAGINE THAT signs are disassembled banquet centerpieces from my recent state art teachers conference. They were being boxed up for storage or transport as I was photographing them, and I feel like the expression on the face of the Vermeer gal below could be mine, wondering what happens next.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing or where I'm headed, though you can bet I'll still be involved with art and education and kids somehow. And I expect I'll still be blogging. But beyond that, I've tossed around a few ideas, and had an unexpected idea come my way, but the truth is, I DON'T KNOW YET. It's a little frightening, as I've always been a planner, and I don't really feel old enough to retire, but my goal is to make it exciting. I suppose to begin I'll spend more time here:
(That's obviously my pretty little home, maybe a month ago. It's an in-progress photo as the trim gets repainted. We'll finish in the spring.)

Anyhow - I'm not a violent person, but I've told my husband "if you see me in a polyester pantsuit, or a velour jogging suit with kitties, a birdhouse, or a flowerpot embroidered on the front, perhaps on my way to a chair exercise class, GET A GUN and put me out of my misery."

Seriously, folks, I plan to be very active and busy; I don't sit still well for long. However I may be looking for some advice on how to proceed. In the months to come, I'm going to be picking your brains and I hope you'll be willing to help me figure it all out!