reflection 3

so here we are at the halfway point.

bummer.

i’d love for this class and it’s thought-provoking discussions to go on for much more than a week…

today was nice. i liked the give and take of peer teaching & group discussion. i really benefited from the short/timed challenges. they really helped me, as i’m feeling more confident about the in’s & out’s of google and it’s many faces. really excited about diigo. think that can only help me get organized. twitter? it’s growing on me.

a big challenge? it’ll be hard for me to become better at compartmentalizing work… during the winter season, on days with meets i often don’t get home until 11pm. 16 hours of “teacher/coach” mode. ugh

it’s also hard to separate work from life as i have my own kids who are the same age as the students that i work with, and who are on the same sports teams, participate in similar activities and are often part of my children’s circle of friends.

i just figure i’m going to be very tired for a very long time.

the selection of options for us to peruse tonight was exciting, but daunting. i sincerely hope they’re left up on this shared document because i’d love to check them ALL out at my leisure - ie: when i REALLY have time to delve into the guts of each one. ted talks are always great, and i loved the rowling speech.

failure IS important… without it we don’t really learn what works and what doesn’t work. i’m reminded of the recent articles about how detrimental the recently popular “helicopter parenting” is - that if children don’t learn how to fall, they’ll never learn to walk correctly. skinned knees are a sign of progress. take a chance. scoot, crawl, walk, RUN.

we need to encourage our students to embrace failure as they would also embrace success… it’s all incredibly essential to really LEARNING.

as a coach (and former athlete), i know the value of teaching athletes how to lose. no individual is ONLY a winner or a loser… they are a combination of both and their growth (as a student, athlete, person) depends on that.

as an artist, i also know the value of failure. a former photography professor of mine told me that in every roll of tri-x film (yes - i’m totally aging myself!), an artist is lucky to get one good photo. that’s one out of 36, which translates to 35 failures. when i would develop my negatives i’d get a little thrill if there was a great photo… i didn't even think twice about the majority being okay or not successful (ie: failure!). it was a part of the process. art students also learn to accept criticism regarding their work. critique is a healthy part of the creative process - it allows us to go back to the spiral and evaluate, refine, execute and eventually succeed. moving forward via success & failure, trial & error, winning & losing is a main component of the creative process and learning(education).

i loved the fact that adam highlighted a special section for us “artists”. thank you! i spent WAY (seriously - WAY) too much time lurking about all the fabulous blogs, etc by fellow artists & art teachers. i’m really hoping to be able to put one of my own together. it’s daunting, but exciting.

here’s some interesting information that i think translates across the board for all teachers - not just art teachers!

10 mistakes for [art] teachers NOT to make:

1. Doing for your stu­dents what they can (and should!) do for themselves.
2. Focus­ing too much on the end result or fin­ished prod­uct.
3. Not con­tin­u­ing to cre­ate art of your own.
4. Giv­ing empty praise.
5. Draw­ing or paint­ing on a student’s work.
6. Repeat­ing the same projects every year.
7. Revert­ing to “cookie-cutter” craft projects for hol­i­day gifts.
8. Teach­ing a new les­son with­out try­ing it your­self first.
9. For­get­ting to enjoy your stu­dents.
10. Not let­ting stu­dents see you make mis­takes.

looking forward to more great new information and technology tomorrow!
‘nite, all!!