Under appreciated art

I don't usually vent on here, but today I feel the need. So here goes:

Every semester on the last day of clubs, the elementary school where I work has a parent showcase. As part of this parent showcase, each teacher has to display or show something from each club. For the dance and drama kids this obviously involves performing. However, for art, science, health, etc. this means I have to display student artwork and projects on the wall. This is not so bad. BUT ....yes there's a but and it's a big one . . .

No one, and I mean literally no one ever looks at anything put on the walls. The show starts at seven. The lights go out an for over an hour kids dance and sing around on the stage. The lights come back on and everyone leaves. The dance numbers are in the program and every dance number is announced and every club leader who has a performance is thanked. So what becomes of my fellow art, science, health, etc. club teachers and me? We are never thanked, our displays are not mentioned (either verbally or in the program), and the students who worked very hard and did some excellent art never receive any recognition. It has become quite a frustrating thing me that the "flashy" clubs get all the attention, praise, and perks.

Who would have thought that someone would have complaints about the performing arts being over funded while health, sciences, and reading classes are undervalued. It's an odd place where I work. The budget for the yearly play is (according to my best guesstimate math) in the larger half of the thousands of dollars. There are over 100 costumes complete with hats, jewelry, hairpieces, and hand-painted shirts. But as a teacher of an art class I cannot even have enough glue to last for the semester or enough scissors for each students to have their own (but each girl dancer has their own hair piece). I went an entire year without any markers to use or any waterproof paint (until I finally broke down and bought it myself).

However, every dancer gets their own hooded sweatshirt and every kid in the play got a free trip to the movies. The movie trip is a particularly sore point with me since I specifically asked if we could take the kids in my Dr. Suess reading class to this movie, and then the trip was planned and only offered to the kids in the play. Basically, I am quite enraged that at the school where I work children who do not like to sing and dance are overlooked and unappreciated. They feel less important, less valued, and less special than those kids who do. In my mind, that completely defeats the point of coming to after school. After school should be a safe place where all children have equal opportunities to shine and grow. I think they did some pretty cool things this semester in my opinion:

Rant over.

I love my job!

Today in my art class we made thank you cards for our BYU and UVU volunteers a la Henri Matisse. I told the children to make sure to address these to the volunteers, but one of my 2nd grade art students brought this to me at the end of class. It made my day. I have worked a couple jobs in my life that I felt were boring, pointless, and not helping me live up to my potential.

My job at the elementary school is certainly not one of them. I feel of value every day I'm there. I know I am making a difference--albeit a small one-- in the lives of my students. What more could I want out of a job than that?

Just a brief update mostly in pictures

We went to Color Me Mine, painted some pottery, and had a good old time. We got our completed projects back yesterday, and we managed to crack Tony's before we even got it out of the car. Then I proceeded to get a shard of ceramic from the crack jabbed into my finger . . . ouch.

My results from homemade quinoa and corn chowder. So good and so quick. Check out the recipe here.

This picture may seem a little strange, but these two items combined caused the biggest conundrum I have faced in quite some time. It all started over a week ago when I pulled my computer out of my backback and clunk. Something was rattling around in my computer. I turned my computer on it's side to confirm and yet again there was a rattle and a clunk as some unknown heavy object hit the side of my computer. Tony took the bottom off of my computer, but there was nothing there except a whole lot of dust. So for the next few days I was content with the mysterious rattling. But then in class the other day I pulled it our and clunk . . . I heard it hit next to the mysterious slot on the side of my computer. Please tell me if you know what it's for because I still haven't figured it out. See picture below for a visual:

So I pushed the slot open with my finger, tipped my computer on it's side and out fell the nickel on my desk. Who needs to take their computer to the Mac store?

Spectacular Skies

I did this project in class with my kids at school on Friday! I am super excited to show the results after the papers dry and the children glue on their silhouettes. It is a super easy and really fun project that is easy even for little kids (of course the adult should handle the chalk and water). The kids can choose the colors and dip their papers in the water.

I am also excited by my inspiration from this project to do it at home with some silhouettes of some of my favorite landmarks from around the world. All I need is some black construction paper, chalk and an exacto knife . . . so excited! Pictures of the class results coming soon!

Christmas Crafting Results

Here are a few more pictures of my christmas crafting results:

Follow the links for the directions:
Christmas trees
Snowflakes
Snowballs

My parents, Angela, and Gage come tomorrow! I can't wait.

Oh, and I rode my bike in the snow today, lost my balance a little, and almost slid off the sidewalk while attempting to stop myself with my feet. I'm sure it look hilarious. I also dressed like a hobo today. I was extremely comfy..that's all I'm saying.

Vivint and Martha

It is wonderful when the fates align just so to make something happen. For awhile now both Tony and I have been thinking it's time for a change with his job. The people at his company were not really treating their employees like they should. After a failed attempt at a management position and pay cut after pay cut, we decided it was definitely time for a change. On a bit of a whim, we spent some time one evening looking for available positions at other companies. We decided to look at vivint.com because we heard they are a really great company to work for. Tony applied for three positions, and received an email regarding one of them a few days later. Tony emailed back over Thanksgiving break, and got a call on Monday. The interviewer said he would call him back if he wanted an interview. Less than half a hour later (yes just half a little hour), the man called back and said he wanted an interview.

Tony went in today at 12 pm for a job interview, and came out about an hour later with a job. He put in his two week notice at his current job today and they told him since tomorrow was the end of the pay period he could just stop working then. They said they would mark that he had given his two weeks notice and note that he was rehire-able.

He starts his new job on Monday. I am so thankful for this opportunity for a change. I think it will be good for us both. Tony deserves to work in an environment where he is treated well and valued as an employee. Even if they pay is a little less it is totally worth it, and I am excited for this new chapter in our lives.

And for the Martha part, as most of you know I teach an arts & crafts class at an elementary school after school program. I have done this pretty regularly for the past few years, and after awhile the ideas start to run dry. This semester has been particularly difficult because our focus is "Go Green" crafts. Let me tell you that there are only so many projects you can do with egg cartons, newspaper, and paper plates. I was looking for a Christmas craft and came across this site. I was particularly excited about the magazine Christmas trees, and I was so excited to use the idea for class that I made a sample one with the only magazine I could find in the house...thank you State Department internship guide.

I can't wait til my next paycheck when I can go get some spray paint and glitter and make it look a bit more like these:

(It's number 16 on the list of 50 on the link above btw.) There is a nifty little video that explains how to do it and everything. I also can't wait to have some extra funds to buy some doilies to make these! And the best part?!

It is easy enough for my K-2nd graders to do in class on Friday. I am so excited! I am also extremely grateful for all those who have shared their talents online. There are a wealth of resources out there to help poor little busy teachers like me, and I am so happy for it. It makes my job much easier, and it makes my students enjoy class much more. Now I just have to sneak away about 5 magazines a day from various places on campus to use for class.

Life is pretty good these days! I have an interview in Arizona on Dec. 10th for a job I really want. I also have a great Thanksgiving post that I will put up once I get the pictures from my mom's camera.

What I'm Really Doing When I Should be Doing Homework

Silly String fight during break:

And what my kids did last week in school:

I also got bored and baked a turkey pot pie which is currently in my freezer and an oreo pie is sitting in my fridge right now. Going home tomorrow!!!! SOMEBODY SCREAM!

Ramblings from an Uneventful Day

My eyes are tired. They have been tired and burning for the past two days. I tried wearing my glasses but that just resulted in making it difficult for me to see today and a headache because the things are so darn heavy (but they look so good on me!).

We studied Georges Seurat in art class today! I love this lesson. We did the same one last year. I really like his work, and his most famous painting is featured in one of my very favorite movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

It's pretty amazing that he painted a 2 X 3 meter painting made up of only tiny little dots. It took him TWO years to finish!We learned about Seurat's life, Neo-Impressionism, and pointillism. Here are some of the paintings by the students:

The first one would have been awesome if it would have been finished. The bottom one is pretty darn good in my opinion!

I had my first practical application of sewing today! I fixed a skirt for a girl in one of my classes, and I think I did a very

respectable job. I will fail to mention to her how many times I had to pick out the seams because the edges just didn't want to line up.

I really want to see this movie:

Just watching the preview makes me want to cry a little bit, but it looks so good.

This one too:

Remember Remember the 5th of November

Remember guys bonfire night is tonight. Today is one of those days where it would be fun to be British. However, My day was rather wonderful. How glorious was the Provo weather today? (Everybody nod those heads yes!) It was just one of those days when it seems like everything should just be cancelled so everyone can take the time to enjoy the sunshine before winter really sets in.

Even without the sunshine, today would have been a wonderful day! Bones took a 2 week hiatus, and today is was back baby! We celebrated this momentous occasion with pizza and cheetos. I forgot how much I love those crunchy little cheesy curls of puffed goodness!

I enjoyed work today also. We played frisbee for sports class today. It tops my list of this semester's most successful sporting endeavors. We did have a few tears, but nothing too serious. Mr. Marcus and I made a good teaching team. For the most part, I think all the kids enjoyed themselves, and I know I sure did. To be honest, this marked the first time I ever truly enjoyed playing ultimate frisbee! Next week I think we will tackle learning football. I just need to find some volunteers who actually know how to play football first.

Let me jump back to Tuesday for a moment. In art class we studied van Gough, one of my top favorite artists. Unfortunately, I think the lesson went right over the kids heads for the most part. I explained over and over how he used many different, short brushstrokes of different colors and let the colors mix on the paper. I showed them examples of his works, demonstrated on the board, and even took some children who were interested aside to get a closer look at the painting. Despite all this, once the materials were handed out most of the children grabbed their brushes and started covering their whole paper with large strokes of a solid color (sigh). It frustrated me to say the very least. A few turned out pretty decent though, despite the general confusion.

I really think this one up here would have been really good if it was finished.

Listen for the van Gough reference in Brand New's untitled 04 posted below!

Desperately Seeking Sleep

I could tell from the second my alarm went off and I opened my eyes that today would be a long day. The two large windows in my room were letting in very little light. When it's not sunshiney in my room in the morning it usually bodes a dreary day. Today was a dreary, snowy day. The kind of day where the only thing I want to do when I see the wrong light in my room is pull the covers back over my head, turn my alarm off (rather than just to snooze), and sleep until spring.

Unfortunately, this week is much too busy to even consider anything ridiculous like sleeping in. I started off my marathon internship interview week today. I have four interviews this week. Whew, I'm exhausted just talking about it!

On top of the commute and interview, I have two major projects to finish today. I finished my skirt. While it certainly needs a good ironing, I think it turned out pretty decent.

Note: Please excuse the dusty mirror and messy room. If I don't have time to sleep in, it holds true that I have even less time to clean (obviously).

In art class today we made masks. Here is one of my favs:

Oh, and here's the conclusion to the article I mentioned yesterday.

Riveting Non-fiction

So I was reading CNN.com today in my print publishing class. It's pretty much the only way to keep me awake (and therefore sort of paying attention) in this class. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have aerobic dance so early the same morning, but I make do. I learn how to use InDesign while catching up on the day's news. I don't see anything much wrong with my system. Whilst perusing the site I came across this story about an engaged couple who were unable to get married because the man was sent to prison (according to the story wrongfully so). It's a very well written feature article. Be advised: If you read this (which I highly recommend or I wouldn't be posting this) it is to be continued so be prepared for a cliffhanger. It's a love story!

On a completely unrelated note, I found a website that shows how to make a wig out of yarn. I will be making my blue wig very, very soon!

This wig is made out of yarn and a beanie! How much simpler can you get?

Here is exactly what I'm going for with my Halloween costume:

Monet

Today in art class we studied Monet. He was a pretty cool kinda dude in my opinion. I saw some of his works at the National Gallery in London this summer. This guy invented the impressionist movement. To keep things simple we focused on only his landscape paintings, particularly the Japanese bridge and water lily paintings (there are lots and lots of these).

We talked about how up close the paintings look fuzzy and like a big mess, but when you look at them from far away they are beautiful. Some kids even thought the pictures were real from far away (hmmm?).

As far as reproductions, this was one of the hardest lessons we have done yet. And the paint was a long clean-up process. Here is a pic of one of the most successful renditions.

The kids have been asking for about two weeks now to do a Halloween project. I was also informed by one of my students that they don't celebrate Halloween and she couldn't participate in a Halloween project. Therefore, I need to think of something Halloweenish but not directly Halloween related. Maybe face painting?

I went to see Harry Potter with some of the girls from London study abroad this summer tonight. I had a most excellent time!

Matisse and California Dreaming

Today in art class we studied Henri Matisse and his famous cut out style of art. Here is one of his more popular works Icarus:

He called his style of art drawing with scissors. The rules were the kids could only use solid colored paper, glue, and scissors--absolutely no pencils (though they asked me many times). It was a pretty fun and hopefully informative lesson.

There were some that were even better than this (in my opinion), but the kids wanted to keep those.

I recently submitted an application for a PR intern position with Porter Novelli in California this winter. I received an e-mail informing me that I will be contacted soon to schedule an interview for October 29th. If I get the internship I think I just might take it. It's a paid, full-time position for winter semester, and it would be valuable experience in my career field. Of course that would mean moving to California which freaks me out a little, but it would certainly be an experience to remember!

One last thing. I finally got around to making bread pudding. This is the recipe Jessica sent me:

4 cups French bread, cubed

3 large eggs, beaten

2 cups fat free milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

21 ounce can peach pie filling

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

1 1/2 teaspoons butter, sliced into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Coat an 11x7 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Spread bread cubes in pan. Whisk together eggs, milk, granulated sugar and almond extract. Stir in pie filling, reserving 1/2 cup for use as a topping if desired. Pour mixture over bread cubes; press into bread with back of spoon.

Combine cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle on top of bread mixture. Add sliced almonds and dot with butter. Bake 50-55 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm with peach pie filling on top if desired.

As usual I had to tweak the recipe to fit my needs. I used a jar of apple pie filling my mom made instead of the peach. I was also incredibly low on sugar so I would be surprised if I used even 1/4 of a cup. I also omitted the almonds and almond extract.

Marc Chagall

Why Teach for America should rue the day they rejected me:

Ok, maybe that was a bit of an overstatement, but I am pretty darn good at what I do. The kids seem to like me too (this sign was given to me by a girl I made move seats, yelled at just a little bit, and took away her headband after she threw it at another student). I think it says something when even the sometimes difficult students still like me. And even if it doesn't mean anything, it makes me feel good none the less!

We learned about Marc Chagall today. Not being the most informed in the art department, I had never heard of him til I saw a lesson plan based on his work on kinderart (thank heavens for this amazing site). He was a pretty cool guy, and made some amazing art. One of his most famous works is called I and the Village.

A lot of his works are based on the Jewish community in Russia where he grew up. Obviously, he was a painter who expressed his feelings rather than real life in his painting. I mean the man is green!

So with this painting as our inspiration I gave the children the assignment to draw an X across their paper and fill in each triangle with an animal, a person, what they're thinking about, and what they're dreaming about. Here are a few of the products from todays class:

I am deeply grieved to report that poetry week is officially dead! For some reason this year, the powers that be seem to think that we are unable to come up with our own lesson plans. For the next few days we have to read to all the kids as a collective after school group until someone has all the lessons planned for the rest of the semester. Let me just say what entertains kindergarten children does not work for 6th graders. I also spent at least an hour last night looking up songs and lyrics that rhymed so we could listen to music during class today...all for naught! I also wasted quite a bit of paper printing said song lyrics. Alas, I suppose this is just another testament to the fact that life is not fair (insert resigned sigh here).

Warm Fuzzies on a Cold Day

My dad bought me these alpaca socks for my graduation. He especially ordered them off the internet for me which really means something because my dad DOESN'T use the internet. Now this gift seemed just a tad bit nonsensical in the sweltering heat of late April, but my Dad obviously has more foresight than I do. I am sure grateful for them today in this unseasonably cold weather. It might be sort of freezing in my room, but at least my feet are warm and cozy!

Yesterday in art class we got to talk about Greece. Of course, we didn't necessarily get to do anything because I choose what we talk about. Anywho, I love all things Greece. It is currently #1 on my list of places to go. I love the food, the history, the mythology, the art, and perhaps most of all the literature. I really enjoy Greek day (we did one last year in Enrichment reading) because it is something that I am truly interested in which isn't always the case with my job... coughcoughctechnicalsciencecoughcoughc. We talked about some of the major gods and goddesses, heroes, and some of the most famous stories. We watched a clip from this rather freaky rendition of Aeschylus' The Orestia. 

Our art medium of the day was clay (well more like off-brand play dough). I told the kids they could make anything Greek. Here are a few of my favs:

A statue of Poseidon: 

                               

Mask of Agamemnon: 

Just Shoot Me

So despite my newfound conviction to update my blog daily, I obviously have failed to do so. Unfortunately, between school, work, homework, and the miniscule amount of a social life I have, blogging has proven to be difficult. Not to mention the fact my camera randomly decided to quit working. In my opinion a blog is seriously boring without any pictures. Therefore, I made an executive decision not to attempt to bore the pants of people with my text-heavy, pictureless blog. However, I have reverted to using my old camera (ugh) and have some pictures now ready to upload. Here are some products of our cave painting lesson:

At the moment I am contemplating the perfect read aloud book that will appeal to a large group of 6th graders with vastly different personalities and tastes. Any suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated! I'm trying to think of something kind of old school that they might not have read. Some of my ideas are The Little Prince, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and that's about all I have right now.

Also, I am almost at freak out point for this weeks technology science class. It is less than 48 hours away, and I have yet to come up with a lesson plan. YIKES!

Tomorrow is art day again and we're moving on the the ancient Egyptians. I'm pretty excited to see the kids try their hand at hieroglyphics.