It's All White

There is nothing like a snow day the week after Spring Break.  It is nearing the end of quite a full week and after a tedious drive to and from Loveland this morning, I've enjoyed a relaxing afternoon trying my hand at cinnamon rolls from scratch, making a lot of dirty dishes, as well as spending some time working on my altered book.  I was hoping to get in some extra hours of painting today as our Senior Show at FCMOCA is quickly approaching and we're all feeling a little behind.  

As of this morning, my student teaching placements are set for Silver Creek High School in Longmont and Mary Blair Elementary School in Loveland.  Although i'm a bit aprehensive about the commute between the schools and the decisions  that come with where my life might be moving next.  But I am also excited about what is on the horizon.  

It has been a great experience working with the drawing I students at LHS and on Monday, I gave a bit of a lecture on all the types of perspective and how to begin a one-point persepective drawing from observation.  We are guiding the students through making their own "Zines" outlining the steps, which I hope they will be able to refer to as they begin their drawings.  It has been very exciting and challenging to work with the classroom teacher in solving various problems and trying new things with the students and curriculum.  Although it sometimes feel like starting and stopping given the craziness of meshing my college schedule with the schedule of the high school, I feel like I'm being challenged to really figure out the logistics of getting my ideas fleshed out in actual lessons and activities.  I am finding that my idealistic thoughts on teaching take on a whole new life when applied to 20-30 students.  I hope too that once I get in a place where I can build more consistent relationships with the students I am working with, it will be easier for me to plan lessons that really connect to them.
I am really excited about the continuuation of this lesson.  If the weather clears tomorrow and I am able to make it down to Loveland for the fourth day this week, I'll be leading the students through an activity exploring Urban Sketchers to give them some ideas for thier sketchbook assignment.  I've been thinking a lot this week about finding more creative ways of presenting information that gets students really involved in their learning rather than having them just sit and listen to me talk.  I thought the Zine would be more interactive, but the students were not as engaged as I hoped they would be.  I'm hoping a Jigsaw type activity with the urban sketchers will get them more involved, but we'll see.

 Anyway, on this snowy day, I was also able to get some painting in, although I'm feeling a little ADD.  I'm finding too in my own artwork, that I need to be careful about overworking things.  I think sometimes I just nee to stop on things.  I've also been really inspired by the artist I posted about yesterday.  Just taking a few minutes' look at her work has given me quite a few ideas about the types of things I want to explore in my own work.