Planning Ahead

Today was day two (and my last for the week) on a cart--when it arrives at least--and it was only marginally less awkward than yesterday.  My second graders were wonderful, but I didn't get to judge my first graders very well as we had to go to an assembly fifteen minutes in.  We had time to cover the rules at least.  I'm excited to have the art room for the rest of the week, as I will have a full load of classes each day.

Now, since academic interventions have not started yet, I have a lot of free time on my hands.  Something that I've been wanting to do--but have never actually accomplished--is sitting down and figuring out a year long set of units or at least a comprehensive game plan for fitting in all those frameworks.

Welcome to Art Class!

Oh the first day of school. I've been looking forward to seeing all those bright little faces in the halls and in the classroom.  The last couple of weeks have been spent in preparation, trying to figure out the best way to start the school year and keep my enthusiasm fresh for as long as possible.  I've read the Teaching for Artistic Behavior book and treated it like any college text book (with likely even more notes written in the margins).  And I found a lovely site with several helpful essays that have given me many ideas and invoked quite a bit of thought about my teaching methods.

Tomorrow marks the start of a new school year.  I"m feeling far more optimistic about it than I was earlier in the year.  There was much drama and disgruntlement within our school district, and with the changes that have been made, the atmosphere was markedly lighter at the district faculty meeting last week.

Things are a fair bit different in the art department this year.  Other Art Teacher has moved to be closer to family, so there is a new first year teacher at our school.  Other Art Teacher II seems quite nice and very quietly enthusiastic.  I think working with her will be fun.  We have also lost an art room due to a large increase in student population, so we are sharing a room and a cart.  It will likely be awkward--I've never dealt with either sharing a room or doing art on a cart--but I'm determined to ignore what I cannot change and just have fun with the kids.  No pessimism or other rainy day feelings allowed this year!

I think it's gonna be challenging, but ultimately very fun.