Everything I Learned About Letters I Learned in Junior High

Who would guess I would learn something in a junior high, one semester art class that would last me a life time and  be used continually.  Thank you, Miss Burks. 

Miss Burks was a soft spoken art teacher in the junior high I attended.  Although Miss Burks was in my life only for a short period of time she gave me confidence and skills that have endured all of my crazy life.  She was a quiet woman, never married and had the responsibility of taking care of her aging mother who lived with her.  As far as I knew back then Miss Burks was fairly old herself.

Looking back, all my teachers seemed old to me but I was young and everyone older than me was old.  Now as an old woman myself I wonder just how old she really was. 

All of Miss Burks students entered a poster contest of some kind.  The poster was to be completed on a half sheet of black poster board with an image and title painted on with....of course, poster paint.  Now when I smell poster paint it takes me back to my time in Miss Burks junior high art class. Although, now poster paint is not my medium of choice, it is cheap and probably worked well with her school budget.

Her method of making the letters was so simple  everyone learned to make pretty letters.  Not everyone was able to stay in the lines when they painted them but they started off looking great. 
I have taken this skill for granted until my daughter said, "You never taught me that."


Although in Miss Burks class we drew the letters and painted them now I use the same concept and cut my letters in fabric which I use to customize quilts, purses, and other fabric projects. 


The concept is simple.  Most letters are symmetrical therefore can be easily cut from a small folded rectangle.   "A" as on the left is horizontally symmetrical while "O" on the right is symmetrical both directions horizontal or vertically. Most letters fall into one or the other category. 


The asymmetrical letters are the most challenging but even those letters are easy when you apply the simple concepts I learned in a junior high class. 


So I wrote up the instructions and made a PDF for anyone to download and keep.

To download the PDF go here.  It is free.  No obligation to buy anything....it is just free for anyone. 

Once you learn the concept of a simple letter you can easily customize the letters and get as fancy as you want.  It is so easy even the children can do it. 

 Customizing quilts is fun and easy. 

I use fabric stabilized with a fusible interfacing.  Instructions in PDF.

Here are two of my quilts made for grandchildren.  Patterns for these quilts are available in my Craftsy store.(Link on right.)

 

 

First Day Back

First day tomorrow!  

Kids will be drawing an animation of themselves 

so I got a jump on them and here I am in my room at school!
See I have my crock pot on my left side and my paints on the right side. 
I think that makes me ready for a new year.  
Say a little prayer for a good school year!

A New School Year

Soon we begin a new school year and teachers everywhere are preparing.

Often the beginning is somewhat bittersweet; leaving the freedom and leisure time of summer but refreshed and ready for the challenges of a new year.

Although my summer was not filled with my own personal creative time I expected to be happening, 

it was filled with creative time with family and energizing ideas for school projects.

I have added a number of new books to my library to inspire me and 

to offer additional instructional aids to students.  

Zentangles are going to be big in our high school art classes this year!

Fabric design is going to go in some new directions!

A make over in multi-layering in collage and mixed media are in the works!

Challenge Competitions, Moody Mondays and Fun Fridays...

all I need now are my students.

 My little helpers are sharpening my pencils,

the room is arranged, supplies organized and drawing papers cut to size!

At no other time in the year, will I ever be as prepared as today!

(In the spirit of Lily Tomlin from Laugh In for those who remember it.)

"And that's the truth!"

So off I pop to a new school year!

Rag Quilt

In my class at school  along with all of my regular high school art students I have a special student from the Life Skills class.  He is a sweet young man and I have enjoyed having the opportunity to work with him.  (Read previous post Warm Fuzzies.)
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The projects I do with him are an adaptation of the projects I do with the rest of my students, often involving some of the other students working with him. Over the years I have found that my regular students rise to the occasion and work really well with him giving a feeling of satisfaction to everyone concerned.

This year being the third year, I felt a need to do something different than we had done in previous years and as the school year unfolded ideas and opportunities presented themselves to me as I needed them.

The first idea came when my sister Linda,  posted a blog about painting on fabric using a glue resist,  School Glue Resist.   This was the beginning of the idea for me.  I had my students paint on muslin using fabric reactive dyes and the school glue as a resist.

We started off taking pictures of artificial sunflowers I had on hand from various angles and other artificial flowers and then cut rectangles of muslin for each student.  My Life skills student seemed to really enjoy working with the paint and fabric and soon I began to suggest we would make several squares and put it together into a blanket for him.  His enthusiasm was reward enough for the extra work I would do.

Each one of the 6 pieces took him a month to complete.  He started with the drawing, traced it onto the fabric, used the glue resist around the edges, painted the areas and then washed out the glue.  We tweaked the designs by finishing them by using a thick sharpie to outline the edges giving it just a touch of black to the piece.

After Christmas my daughter gave my youngest grandson a rag quilt made of flannel pieces and the wheels in my head began to spin like crazy.   It was so soft and attractive and became a favorite immediately.

The rag blanket

The idea for the finish was now firmly implanted in my head.  Once all of my student's pieces were completed I took them to a fabric store to match cotton pieces to the colors included in his painted pieces and bought black flannel.  Backing each piece with an equal size of flannel, and added a double thickness of black flannel for the border I stitched each piece together right sides out according to the plan I had drawn up and then cut to the seam lines spacing every half inch or so.  Then threw into the washer and dryer.

Rag blanket made by student

Wow!  It was great.  I really wanted to keep it and show it off awhile but he also was anxious to get it so I took photos of it and sent it home with the student.

The finished piece is the size of a twin size comforter.
Now we are working on a pillow sham to complete his set.

Warm Fuzzies

Some things just give you a warm fuzzy and today it was during one of my classes.
(Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Being a secondary art teacher generally I have mainstream students with varying degrees of ability. Seldom do I have the life skills students but over the years I have had two or three of the students for a short duration of time until they feel uncomfortable.

John, a life skills student at the high school has been placed in my art class because his father insisted that his son be placed in an art class. My class was selected as the one he would go into. I had reason to have major concern over the child being in the classroom. I was concerned that the boy would be traumatized by cruel students. I was concerned that he would feel incapable of keeping up and he really is incapable of working at a high school level. Plus other various concerns....big class, time, energy, fear of the unknown...you know, just concerns.

The first day John came with an aide. She helped me set him up with colored pencils and papers and he began to color happily. John stands at least a foot shorter than me and is about as round as he is tall. When he smiles every crooked tooth in his head is visible. He seldom speaks but answers with his eyes and his head bobs up and down vigorously in agreement to show his approval. I could not help but fall in love with him. The other students made no visible sign of even noticing John's presence in the room at first.

The next day John came alone and sat down in his chair. I began to work with students demanding my time when I realized he was sitting there without any attention from me. I sent over a pretty girl and told her to go give him a little attention and see if she could set him in motion. Eventually I would get over to him and talk to him and give him my personal attention. He was a happy boy.

The following days came and much the same procedure would take place. I seated the boy next to Claudia. Claudia is my clapping girl. She will spontaneously burst into applause if I hold up a picture anyone is drawing and soon we would all be clapping and holding up our drawings to get approval from the class. Claudia also, was very sweet to John. John was very happy sitting near Claudia and she was as good with him as if he were her own child. In exchange for the wonderful attention she gave John I would give her extra attention like extra pats on her back, looks of loving approval across the room, affirming her actions verbally as often as I would see her. I watched out for my duo from wherever I would be in the room. All of this attention did not go unnoticed by the rest of the class. No one ever said anything about John's presence. If they disapproved they were kind enough to keep it to themselves. No one was mean or cruel.

Today Claudia was outside taking photos and could not take care of John. No sooner had Claudia left the room but Jason, a tall slender boy somewhat new to the class having only been in the class for two or three weeks jumped into action. Jason pulled John's chair into position, pulling it up close to Claudia's seat and then Jason sat down in her seat next to John. Then Jason began to assist John, helping him to get his drawing going in the direction he figured I would want him to go. When I looked up and noticed what was happening I made eye contact with John who was smiling from ear to ear. He was a happy boy.

And I was a happy teacher seeing the softening of a class full of students by the mere presence of a disabled child. John has brought out the kind hearts in my students. How blessed we are to have him in our classroom.

Jason tucked his little chick under his wing and began to cluck over him. I think that he had been just waiting for his chance to help.

Pep Rally Star

Our last pep rally starred my nephew, Alex. YouTube has three videos to complete the performance. Here is the first one. Alex is the tall one on the far left in a horizontal stripe shirt(second from the left side, actually the shirt has a vertical stripe also but it blurs out). Everyone said it was the best pep rally the school has ever had. First year in high school and already a star! Congrats, Alex.




Here is the second video clip.



And the grand finale of the performance. The crowd loved it!

First Week

We have completed a full week with students.
It has felt like we are doing marathon teaching with so many classes, advisory and planning periods. But ironically it feels like we have already been in school for weeks.

I am drained at the end of the day.
My feet ache from standing most of the day.
And my creativity is mushed....squashed....
And being a junior class sponsor means working the concession stand at the games....talk about work.....the fast food industry......a good reason for these kids to get an education so they do not have to do this sort of work for the rest of their lives.

The other day one of the older women at church commented that my job is fun. People often think that teaching art is fun and there are times in the day that it is. I guess if you like to listen to the tragic love stories of the young and wasted (I mean restless) watch football jokes (oops, I mean jocks) strut like roosters in the hen yard, see cheerleaders bounce their way into the rooms, hear the drummers parade down the hallways on football Fridays while you are trying to impress precious knowledge into the minds of a room full of wiggling teens and lead room fulls of kids to discover how to "make things pretty" in 45 minutes or less every day several times a day then sure, teaching art is fun.

But really for me.....I do like it. I love the drum roll down the hallway, especially knowing my own nephew is taking part in it. I cringe when the kids cry on my shoulder about their "loves" but understand that they believe this is the most important time of their lives and that the years to come will be the downhill side of their lives. (What a surprise they are in for. ) I grow tired of disciplining but when I can assist a young lady from being sexually harassed by boys, I am all over that.

And where else could I be caught drawing in class and everyone think I am doing my job?

Next Plan

One more test to give then the school year will officially be over and I can move on to the next plan.....

Plant swap!

I have been working in my yard every chance I get just because I love to do that as anyone who reads my blog knows fully well. I have added new flowerbeds, a dry creek bed with a small bridge and mulched pathways here and there, moved in the hot tub and have begun to landscape around it in. Things are shaping up.

Now the old flowerbeds look drab and need to be spruced up and updated. I want color in my shady gardens.

The date is set (June 7th starting at 6:30 PM) for next weekend to do a plant swap and plans are now in place to encourage family involvement. A load of play sand will be delivered in a shady location for the little children. The older guys like Caleb will give trailer rides with the lawn mower (not running the blades of course) to the little children (or whomever. You're as young as you feel) and there will be some sort of yard games for the men or women if they choose to play. And last but not least...sharing plants with each other and those who don't have plants hopefully will enjoy just being there. As the evening winds down we will watch the sunset-extravaganza-show provided by God while we sit under the shady oak trees sipping lemonade and eating dirt cake or watermelon while enjoying the company of friends and family.

I've wanted to do this for several years and finally I have put it on the calendar and it IS going to happen.

Wish me luck that it will be fun.
Put it on your calendar
Bring your lawn chairs.

Just hours from the end

Here we are now with just a matter of hours before it is all over.
Two classes completed entirely and three more to go. I will be finished with two more classes tomorrow and one on Thursday. In a mere 36 hours it will all be complete for the year.

Not that I am counting!

What Will I Do For work?

She asked me as she sat in my class thinking about the upcoming summer,
"What WILL you do this summer.....like.....for work?"

How innocent!

One of the HUGE differences I see between the young and the old-in-their-eyes is that we are never bored. In fact, I do not HAVE enough time to do all I want to do.

Gardening, painting, cleaning, organizing, bonding with grandchildren, gardening again, going to workshops for art, get my hair cut on a regular basis, finishing the remodeling job like painting, crown modeling and flooring,.........

I just want to have the time to get to do some of the things I have on my list. Instead things that eat up my time are things like house keeping maintenance, laundry, cooking lunch now as well as supper (his mother spoiled him...he wants a big meal for lunch), Go-For tasks......oh, and this year, I have to move all of the furniture out of my rent house and dispose of it or store it.....for sure garage sale.

Winding Down the Year

It seems only yesterday that I was blogging about winding down the year but a year has passed since I last blogged on that one.
Now here we are with only fifteen more school days left in our year.
Of the fifteen days I have thirteen working days with my students,
three of those will be end of year testing the last week,
two days next week of online testing while a sub will keep my darlin's since I am the Help Desk Coordinator (what a joke) ,
which really only leaves ten more days of actual teaching time.

I am firing the last of the clay whistles my students made these past couple of weeks and
encouraging my students to complete projects they started that they did not finish earlier in the year.

Winding down, excitement building!

Now I am searching for fun meaningful projects to round off the year that can be finished in ten days.
The last week I ALWAYS do the M&M drawings for my test and give them three full class periods to complete it (and if they know what is good for them they should use every minute of it. It takes time to create a masterpiece).

I must post some pictures of the M&Ms that my students do. They love doing the projects because they think drawing circles is easy and actually it is not really difficult to draw the candy itself but the bag has to be included and it is crinkled and wrinkled not really a rectangle and requires a close examination for details. Those who are seniors and are completing the M&M drawing for the third or fourth year have it figured out and do a really nice job. In fact, I have seen at least one in Caleb's frame shop to be framed. That always makes me happy.

When I think back over the past year with my students I can remember a number of paintings, drawings and good artwork that I hope parents will appreciate enough to have framed, not just because my son will profit but because it is so good for our children when we value their work.

Like the majority of teachers I am ready for the break.
I think maybe teachers are more excited than the kids could ever imagine.
In fact as excited as the kids are to be out of school, teachers ARE more excited.

Punished with a baby?

Okay, I did not intend to get into this but really!.... Obama.......punished with a baby?
How many women in this world long for conception and can not conceive? I bristle at that statement.

As a high school teacher I KNOW that the majority of our teens are sexually active. Because I teach art my students relax and often begin to discuss a variety of subjects. It is no mystery that a baby during the teen years is a hardship on the teen but punished is not the word that we should use here. A common subject matter for drawing in all of our art classes is the student's baby. I do not think they would say they are being punished. They love their babies.
I am not condoning their irresponsible and immoral behavior. But to state that we are punished with a baby is to suggest that a teen should be able to choose to murder the baby that God breathed life into and placed in that womb.

One of my classes got into a discussion about abortion this past week. The majority of the class initially felt that abortion is wrong but in the case of rape they felt it was alright. The most selfish people in the room backed their choice of abortion not surprisingly. I carefully guided my questions so as not to tell them what I believe but rather to make them think. (I find that when people feel that they came to the decision without being told what to think, they take claim to it better.) I did not present any new arguments but asked questions at specific points in the discussion that I felt they needed to hear.

• One girl in my class is all about herself, her dancing and advancing in dance. Her mother told her not to mess up her chances at advancing in her dancing by getting pregnant and basically said she would get an abortion should she get pregnant. She is sexually active (I will not go there). I asked her when did it become a selfish act to abort a baby? She looked at me stunned beyond words when I asked the question. Others jumped in agreement. Adoption was mentioned, women who could not conceive were mentioned and the conversation turned to mutual friends of several who adopted children and how wonderful it was that those children were not aborted.
  
• At some point in the discussion I asked if the cells were growing inside is that evidence of something alive like a plant growing? And if that is a life did that make a mother a murderer if she aborted?
  
• And of course, the primary question: what did that baby do to deserve to be denied life?

The question of abortion was truly a controversial question when I was a teen. Although it continues to be a controversial question I fear that our youth have not considered it fully or REALLY thought of it from the moral standpoint.

Well, in my fourth period class they now are at least, thinking of it from a more mature point of view.

Spring Break

Spring break!
Great time to catch up on all the work that does not get done during the school year.
I work harder during spring break than any other week of the year
and
I love it.

A Moment of Silence

Every morning at school, before the announcements but after the pledge we have a moment of silence that lasts for one full minute. This falls at the beginning of my day when I start my first class and everyone is in the room. There we stand no one speaking, complete quiet in the art department. The only minute for the entire day that is still and quiet.

Being a praying woman I often neglected this moment thinking this time was not my time to pray. Instead I might have used it for reflection of the coming day or to discretely take attendance or whatever I needed to do in silence. After a few frustrating days I decided to reinstate this time of prayer before the announcements but after the pledge. It was only at this point of frustration that my desire not to be teaching these vain, selfish teens that I became willing to turn it over to God. I pointedly directed my prayers to my students needs. I prayed for my children who are away from me, my grandchildren, my family. I prayed for my students that they would be receptive, ready to learn, obedient....and then I prayed for myself, that I may be able to be peaceful, act according to God's will, have a ready answer to their questions and that I may be able to contribute to their needs.

Now it is an important part of my day like my coffee time at the end of the day with my parents. I start my work day with a small talk with my Father.

Interesting fact: my days are more peaceful, children more receptive, ready to learn, obedient, talking to me about current events, moral dilemmas and sometimes about art. I have learned to love my students.

How did this happen?

Wants and Needs

I got into a conversation today with students over the difference between "wants" and "needs".
It all begun with one bemoaning the fact that he did not receive an allowance.

Oh, Pobrecita!
Can you imagine?
No free money from Mom!
What will he do?

I commented that he probably got more from his parents than if he had an allowance because if he had an allowance they would expect him to pay for his "wants".

Then we had to decide what their needs are and what their wants are.
Poor kids! They could not tell me the difference!!!!!
I finally had to tell them what they needed to sustain life.

Their comment?
I WANT to go to the movie and I NEED money!

HOW do you argue with that logic?!!!!

Watch for the Quiet One

The comment I made at the end of my last post on comparing children was aimed more at a child being in the shadow of one who is outstanding in some way.

In the classroom it is often seen that the quiet child sits back and does not get the attention because he is overshadowed by the outgoing student. In my classroom I have two outstanding girls painting a picture. One girl is sweet and speaks to me daily, compliments my attempts to be a good teacher and is enthusiastic about her work. I love her. Then the girl next to her is also a sweet girl but she is going through tremendous problems at home and she is very quiet, never speaks to anyone in the room, does not smile much, gets totally "into" her painting (which is good therapy) and does not ask for help. She to is doing a good job. I also, love this girl. When one on one I ask her about her personal life, I ask her how she is dealing with this problem or that problem and I try to be there for her. Sometimes, she opens up and talks and sometimes she only gives a little.

It is VERY important that I maintain a balance of attention to both the outgoing child and the quiet one. Having been the quiet child I understand my quiet student. She is content not to be the center of attention and she is working out her problems in her head. She will not demand attention until she gets totally cornered. As the adult I need to keep a finger on her pulse.

Finding the specialness in each child and helping them to fulfill their potential is the goal of parenting, the more children, the more difficult the task because everyone knows that when there is only one child it is hard to isolate their specialness because everything is special about him.

Expert in the Room

I am the expert in my classroom and as long as I remain inside of those four walls I am still the expert in that room where 85 students will come and go and spend a few minutes every day.

But being the one in the room with all of the knowledge and expertise comes with a cost.

Each person individually is to learn something that comes from me before the end of the year and although I can impart that knowledge in a broad spectrum of information it takes my individual attention to touch each person and motivate them to learn. Which means I have to perform daily per class period per person, that is where the high cost comes in. Sometimes I feel I need to clone myself to get to each person but then I am not the expert in the room anymore. I am one of many like me and I have to give up that prestigious position of expert.

Trying to keep up with the demand for attention in the classroom can be exhausting and frustrating but I AM the EXPERT in the room.

But then on the other hand if I can delegate an assistant among my students, train them to do a part of what I do and place them in charge of helping others I empower another person, boost their confidence and their worth and relieve myself of the tiring task of being the only person who can do the job. Then empowering another student to do another task that I do, I begin to be the coach of a team. Working together the team gets the job done.

September Update

Life is a series of compromises.

It has been a busy beginning to the school year both at home and at school.

School is going well although I am not doing the job I thought I would be doing. Small changes have taken place at school but big differences are evident. Students are for the most part better behaved and the classrooms calmer.

At home progress is being made. Counter tops have been ordered and will be in soon. Cabinets will be finished soon. It seems to be coming together. It gets more exciting to me with every change. It is going to be beautiful.

Open Doors

School is in full swing now.
Two days teaching and it feels like it ought to be Friday already.........but not in August but maybe...... say September?

I was a little embarrassed that I have been passing out my little "thought for the day" to each student as they came through my door. I thought maybe the kids would think it was a little lame but I did it anyway. Today I decided that they might think it is sort of fun. After reading the thought today, one of the girls waved hers around announcing that she had heard this one before and this big ol' boy who had pushed past me while the others were crowded around me getting their "thought for the day", turned around and said, "hey, I didn't get one" like I was passing out candy and walked back to the front of the class to get it. My heart sang!

It has entered my mind that is it the personal touch that matters to these kids more than the actual words on that little slip of paper. I think they like the individual attention of one person reaching out their hand to place something in theirs as they are greeted one by one. I went around the room this afternoon looking for the little thoughts expecting to find 85 of them on the floor. I found a total of four in the room.

My thought for the day, "Teachers open doors, Students must go through it."

Make a Difference

In preparation for the beginning of school the teachers have seen a number of motivational and inspirational presentations. One of the inspirational slide shows I watched today was about a young bagger named Johnny. Johnny was born with Down Syndrome. After listening to a motivational speaker who told all of the grocery store employees to make a difference in people's lives Johnny did just that. Before long his line at the grocery store was three times longer than the other checkers. Why? Because he put his heart into his job. He and his dad spent each evening finding and creating inspirational quotes to give out to all of his customers.

You can watch the slideshow online (It is not creating a link here but I will post it in my links on the side.):
http://www.stservicemovie.com/

It touched my heart when I watched this. Of course, I did relate to Johnny and I do have a soft spot in my heart for those with Down Syndrome but I was so unexpectedly inspired by him that I spent my day looking for ways to make a difference in my students' lives.

Whether or not I will truly make a difference in anyone's life I have found a renewed sense of pleasure that I thought was gone for good doing an old job. I have put more thought in the preparations for my students and have spent many hours finding just the right things to do and say to them. Taking Johnny's lead I have found inspirational quotes for every day of the first semester, printed off enough for the first week, wrote a two or three line welcome to my 85 students to hand them as they enter my door. If a young bagger with Down Syndrome can transform a grocery store into a caring environment I can at least, try to make my art class a good learning environment.

The inspiration Johnny gives others reaches beyond the grocery store. Today it inspired teachers.