Sunday

I need to work on lesson plans today. I brought home a stack of papers that need to be organized into complete thoughts and then reformed into something that flows into a day to day plan for an art project.

I have just finished the first rotation - a ten-day sequence of classes that changes continually through out the year. I now have a feel for all the grades levels and for the flow of my schedule.

I need to work on my fourth grade lesson. In the last two weeks I taught African masks from the seat of my pants. I heard one by say, "Boy, I didn't know art would be so fun in fourth grade!" and another boy gave me a note telling me much the same thing. Wow! I am not used to such praise. I feel like the bar has been raised a bit. I know what they liked about the project. That, I think I can duplicate. What I don't really know is what they learned. So today I will work a bit at developing little mini lessons, sound bites, to pepper here and there with hopes that some of these take seed as knowledge and understanding.

I also need to look more closely at my 6th grade plan. Last year they came to me in the morning. This year they come the last period of the day. That change in schedule dictates that I change how I teach, so last year's plans must be modified. I need to make it the class more user friendly. By the end of the day a quiet sixth grader can turn into a snarling, resistant participant. I have come to realize I no longer have a defense system that protects me from mean people, so I need to find ways to engage the whole crowd. I am going to take a clue from my excited fourth graders and look at ways to make the projects more "fun." I have been looking at a book on the art of Jacob Lawrence, I think this may be the direction I choose to take.

I have had a couple of other revelations today. My green dress that I have worn to church for the last couple of years is noticeably tighter. The website www.cowboylegendsofsantefe.com has a couple of pairs of boots I really like... so the boot fetish is still alive. The scripture reading I am scheduled to do today at church has one non-sensical sentence and that really bugs me. And that I am beginning to feel really whole, and I hope this feeling lasts a long long time.