PT Conferences

This week is Parent Teacher Conferences. They have been very interesting! As a first year teacher, and that of an elective class, I was not sure what to expect. It is actually a great chance to meet the parents and hear what their students tell them about our classes.

The most unique one was a parent who brought me cookies because her son tells her I often look tired during his class! I wasn't sure what to think of that. Sweet of her to think of me, but not exactly the persona I want to be giving to my students!

However, most of the conferences have been very good. They vary from whether they should look for art as a major in college for their child (a sixth grader), to how professional and nice I look today. :-) It is fun to get to meet the parents and hear their perspectives on things. For example, I was concerned that I was not making the 6th grade class interesting enough, but one parent said she is very glad that I am teaching it in an academic manner focusing on the elements and principles of art. Another couple parents discussed ways to help their children focus during class.

Well, one more to go, but not until later today. For now, it's off to painting more sets!

Beard Making

These past couple days I've been making beards for the school play. From set painting, to costumes, to poster design (and anything else they need an artist for!), I'm helping out. This year we are doing Fiddler on the Roof, and I never realized how much work that putting a musical production on in two months would take!

I am happy to say, I am finally enjoying it. The past couple weeks have been increasingly hard between balancing the play, Quarter grades, and everything else we do, and I was having a hard time with it all. I am ashamed to say that I have not had the best attitude about it all at times. But this week, the play is on in just a few days and excitement is growing! While everyone else is getting stressed about everything they need to do before the big day, I'm starting to see how awesome the play is going to be. I'm even starting to get my artistic juices flowing again.

So what, you may ask, do I mean by making beards? Our poor Asian students, and even some Caucasians, have an awful time growing hair, so we've imported some synthetic hair and liquid latex and I am literally "building" beards on their faces. The fun part is that the latex peels off their face in one piece and they can just re-glue it on before each performance.

What is interesting is that of all things I actually learned how to do this almost ten years ago when I was a freshman in High School. One of the moms of the drama group was experienced in "making beards" and I was so fascinated that she took the time to show me how. So now I get to use this skill learned so long ago! What fun it is.

I'll try to have some pics soon of this creative process. One of the students in the photography club was photographing the two-hour process (yes, you heard that right) tonight, so I'll see if she'll pass them on to me. Hold tight!

Is Sleep Really So Important?

Last weekend Nathan and I helped with the High School Lock-in. Perhaps that is why I have not blogged recently--I still feel as though I'm catching up on sleep! It was a great night. Both the students and the teachers seemed to really enjoy themselves! However, the aftermath was a little rough. Most of our students are already incredibly sleep deprived (many regularly sleep only a couple hours a night, and all-nighters are not uncommon) and this certainly didn't help things. Here's a pic of the morning after to give you an idea.

From GirlTravelOR

The morning sunrise was incredible! The air was so clear you could see the islands off the coast. We have a really pretty campus and I tried to capture some of the morning light. Unfortunately I was about five minutes too late before I found our camera. Much of the color had already left the sky but a few of turned out okay I think. The building with the dome on top is the fine arts building, and the room directly below the dome is my classroom. You can also find a few more pics on my picasa page.

From GirlTravelOR

From GirlTravelOR

It was a relief to go home when six AM finally rolled around but by this point I was so hopped up on sugar and coffee it was hard for me to sleep. I was so awake I went home and watched The Notebook before finally drifting off at 10:00 AM. Recovering has been a little rough. It seems I'm not as young as I once was...actually I never recovered well from these things! Just ask my mom.

To cut or not to cut...

So...I've been promising a picture of my short hair to all those back home. Here you are!

From Us

I really like it. One side is a little longer than the other, and the back grows so quickly, but in general it is a lot of fun to have something different.

I always enjoy having short hair. It's so easy to deal with, cooler (temperature wise), and very fun. The last two times I've chopped it, I've immediately started growing it back out so that I could donate it again to Locks of Love. Since there is not Locks of Love here, I'm trying to decide if I still want to grow it out or keep it short. I enjoy both, and even some of the stages in between long and short, but I'm not sure I have the patience to grow it again. It is so much work!

Well, anyways, enjoy the pic. Let me know what you think!