Currently Teaching: art

June 19, 2018

Just a small round up of past art projects taught in various settings.

Inspired by Georgia O'keeffe and New Mexico. Oil and chalk pastel on black paper.

 

[caption id="attachment_265" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Hands of a middle school artist![/caption][caption id="attachment_263" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Middle school art project inspired by Rex Ray.[/caption][caption id="attachment_267" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Elementary School Art, Fall 2017[/caption][caption id="attachment_269" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Summer camp collages inspired by Chilean Arpilleras.[/caption][caption id="attachment_266" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Summer camp mixed media plates inspired by Romanian, Horezu Pottery.[/caption]

a.l.o.e. in the classroom

A.l.o.e. in the classroom has arrived! It's a blog dedicated to my teaching and learning adventures. You can visit a.l.o.e. in the classroom here. 

How will I manage teaching and posting regularly on two blogs you ask??? I have no idea. Hahaha. My thoughts are, a lot of planning (as usual), less tv (except for Downton Abbey and other Masterpiece classics... and maybe a Housewife of some city every once in a while), definitely little or no travel for a while... We will see. Where there's a will there's a way, One day at a time, Reach for the stars, ... and all that other good stuff :)

I leave you with the last days of summer in Brooklyn. x

A gorgeous summer sky

Many, many trees grow in Brooklyn

This one is my favorite

My first, ever, live, baseball game!

MCU Park, Coney Island

Cheerleaders!

Me and Chrissy, my teaching partner/partner in crime.
You will be seeing more of her this year ;)

Good old fashioned fun

For the love of Social Studies

And the work begins... 

I took a road trip to Albany last week for the NYSCSS Summer Institute 2015 with my former and current teaching partners/friends. It was a three day conference on an inquiry model for teaching social studies (learn more here and here). 

Social studies is my favorite subject to teach, and I decided that this institute would be a good way to get my teaching gears started after this lovely year off. We worked hard and I plan to share more resources and ideas in the upcoming school year. For now I leave you with some impressions of my first trip to Albany.

After a 3+ hour drive north from NYC, our car stalled as we made our final exit. We almost made it to the hotel.

Waiting for a tow truck :(

We decided to skip the "complimentary" continental breakfast on the second day, and treated ourselves to breakfast at The Desmond Hotel's restaurant.

We made it to the NY State Capitol Building and Mall...

So much gorgeous sky!

stopped to get cheesecake at this husband and wife establishment...

and spent two hours at The New York State Museum. Here's a peek of The Shakers: America's Quiet Revolutionaries exhibit.

"As much as Shakers praise God with song and dance, 

they also praise God with the creations from their hands."

       

The permanent collections at the museum include NY state environment and early indigenous people through colonization, immigration, and today. What an amazing resource for teaching fourth grade NY state history. If only this place was closer... 

Making a Reading Life

Summer reading is reading for pure pleasure :)

Here is what I'm currently reading

I just started it so I'll keep you posted on how it's going. What are you reading this summer?

Making a Reading Life

Currently reading...

in the mornings while having coffee, toast, jam, and a hard boiled egg;

in the evening while Lim watches tv (usually something I'm not interested in);

before bed to fill my dreams with inspiration.

1. The Uterine Health Companion: A Holistic Guide to Lifelong Wellness

2. Here is New York

3. Life: Selected Quotations

4. Soar: Follow Your Dreams

Art Journal

Today marks the last official day of my year off. I will be forever grateful for this gift...

Happy Friday and LAST DAY OF SCHOOL to all of my teacher friends and colleagues out there!

Learning Goals Update

Back in September I wrote  a post on the learning goals I wanted to pursue this school year. Well, the school year is almost over (last day is June 26th) and it's time to assess my progress. 

10 things I want to learn more about this year:

1.     How to take better photos. 
      This has not moved forward as much as I would have liked, but I will get there. My Verizon contract is up in July so a new phone is in the works (my current phone was free when I signed up with Verizon and I plan to purchase a phone this time around). Also, my birthday is in August so maybe I can finagle a camera? Just putting that out there into the world :)

2.     How to use my electronic devices (currently am only using them at about 10%)

      I've signed up for one-to one mac classes at the apple store! This is a step in the right direction. Things are looking promising.

3.     How to use this blogger layout and template designer to add a banner and links and gadgets and …

      Am currently still in search for help with this. I prefer human teachers to me fiddling with buttons that could potentially take me down a rabbit hole I won't be able to get out of. However, I did manage to view some online tutorials on how to add posts to pages in blogger, and successfully applied this below the header. I fiddled with some other things, but assistance is still needed. 

4.     How to hack an IKEA console table.

      After much deliberation and searching for the perfect kitchen storage solution for the empty wall opposite our stove, I came right back to the Norden Side Table I originally liked as it fits perfectly in that space and is the most cost effective of them all. A trip to IKEA and Benjamin Moore is imminent.

5.     New York State

      Trip to Hudson, New York, and watching PBS specials on NY and NYC ... these count towards my NYS education, no? :) 

6.     Mexico, China and South Africa

      Yes, yes and yes. Reading, making a shrine, visiting Singapore (which has roots in China), learning new facts about Chinese New Year, visiting the Ubuntu Photo Show at Chelsea Market that supports children at-risk in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, ... My enthusiasm for teaching and learning about these cultures has not wavered. Now onto Egypt!      

7.     Embroidery and fiber arts

     I tried my hands at some embroidered fabric hearts, received a sewing tutorial from mom, visited a few blogs and pinned some pins,...every little bit counts!  

8.     Sketching, drawing, painting

      I completed my Drawing II and Painting II classes at Parsons, bought a book on how to draw and am trying out some exercises, watched some drawing tutorials on youtube, continued to work in my art journals, and signed up for some online art workshops (I can not help myself with these online classes).   

9.     Collage and mixed media
      I completed my collage class (it was a good introduction), but my mixed media class was cancelled due to low enrollment. Some of the online classes I'm taking include collage. I plan to continue to explore this medium. 

10. Yoga and meditation to slow down and quiet the brain

       I took a few yoga classes at the gym last fall but after the holidays all yoga has stopped. I'm on my year off so anxiety levels are low, but this is something I would still like to pursue this summer, and put into practice when I return to work in September.

What I've learned about myself through writing down goals is that I am a lifelong learner, and that I am consistent in my pursuits despite the pace that I move in (slow and steady wins the race). I've also learned that often times the things I put off the most... are the things I need the most (e.g. yoga). They are the things that do not come easily to me or that intimidate and challenge me and take me out of my comfort zone (e.g. technology, sharing this blog, travel that's too far from home). If I am completely honest, sometimes it's simply laziness. During these times I tell myself, "Don't be afraid to experiment" and "Just Do It!" 

So what are my next steps??? Work on some house projects, take those mac classes and squeeze every ounce of knowledge out of them, experiment with my future iphone and camera, and for heaven's sake... go do yoga! 

April is National Poetry Month

Teaching poetry to elementary school students is one of the most enjoyable things I have experienced as a teacher. I am not in the classroom this year to share this study with them but I can share a bit here.

Every year we ask our students to read through books of poetry and stop at a poem that they connect with. Coincidentally, one of my painting assignments this semester was to "let a poem find me" and to let that poem speak to my theme for painting. Happily, a few poems and quotes found me. Here's one of them and some poetry sites I've poked my nose into. Better late than never ;)

I'm pasting this guy right into my writing notebook.

Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952

Links to Poetry Resources:

TED-ED: 10 Poems to read during National Poetry Month
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group: Poem-a-Day 2105
Poetry Foundation: Children's Poetry
The Classroom Bookshelf 

Let a POem Find you!

Making a Reading Life

Currently reading...

Magazines to help me get through my cabin fever

An oldy, but goody, to motivate me into a writing practice

An inspiring picture book because I love picture books
and stories about people doing extraordinary things.