Tag: creativity

Mosaics Teacher?

Next year I have been given an Integrated Projects class that consists of teaching students Mosaic tiling. I am not an art/technology trained teacher, although media studies was considered in the art stream when I did my course and I did those teaching rounds with an art teacher. The Art/Technology people definitely don’t consider me to be ‘one of them’. I am more confident teaching English. I have taught Humanities though and had no training at all in that area.

I am excited because this week two of the teachers are going to show me how to grout and what better project to grout than my unfinished mosaic table! So, no matter how this experiment (me teaching an arty subject) goes, I will have finally finished this project! That’s got to be good.

I enjoyed making the table and I love mosaics, so it could be fun from that perspective. It will no doubt be a learning curve and hopefully not too steep. I am confident that I will be supported by the teachers, because they are good people.

Schools Today

I’ve just returned from our schools fashion parade. The talent displayed by the kids just blows me away. The beauty of each individual kid who modelled the clothes, all different shapes and sizes, hair colours, individuals shone for all to see. The creativity and work that was on display in the drawings and sketches in the foyer, in the recycled fashion items modelled by the students was stunning. It saddens me that it is so obvious to the adults in their lives, parents, teachers and friends, yet they miss it in themselves. This is why I loved Anthea Paul’s awesome speech last night.

It’s been a busy week at school and I have seen some amazing displays of goodness this week. On Monday we held a Remembrance Day service. A group of students organised and delivered speeches acknowledging their appreciation of the selflessness of those who served the country. Students then pinned names of family members who had served to a string. The remainder of the student body, roughly 600 students all seated on the ground around the flagpole, were so silent and respectful, you could hear the names gently flapping in the wind. Every year I witness this in awe. I look at the sea of faces and feel proud to work among these kids who rise to such occasions.

It is also a privilege to work alongside the teachers who make these things happen. The teacher responsible for the Remembrance Day service and the Fashion Parade sits next to me at my desk. I watch her every year making calls, driving around town, running fundraisers to make these events a success. She gets exhausted, tired, stressed yet her passion for her students and life keeps her turning up every day to make these truly educational experiences happen. She is not paid any more than other teachers at our school, she has no special position, she enriches our school community because that is an expression of who she is. I appreciate her greatly.

The media rarely reports these things. Reporters don’t tell about the kids who support one another through family, friendship and health crisis’s. They don’t find it newsworthy to inform about the efforts that go into fundraising and social action in most schools around the country. They don’t celebrate the talent and creativity we get to see in the art shows, fashion parades, musical performances, to mention a few of the events I get to see every year.

Yes, we will all be exhausted over the next few weeks wrapping up the year into corrections, reports and award nights, but it is entirely worth it.

Limits

Self-Discipline
Tomorrow I need to get back into exercise. I am extremely soft on myself. I haven’t exercised for over a week. I have a million and one excuses as we all do when we indulge ourselves in sloppiness, but the reality is not exercising doesn’t make my life easier as I like to kid myself. I had to think about why I stopped and I realised it was because my heart monitor wasn’t working. Probably needs a new battery. I don’t use it because I have some kind of heart condition or anything. It’s just to ensure that I am going hard enough. I need that feedback to ensure that my exercise on my stepper isn’t just a stroll in the park, and is an effective workout. That’s how slack I am!
Self-Imposed Limits
In our household our internet goes off at 9.45 everynight. My techie partner has set it up like this so that the kids don’t spend all night online. It’s really a good idea as it gives you the chance to get a good nights sleep and creates a limit that becomes a foolproof system. I think I was the first to ask for an extension of that time and when it wasn’t granted I was cranky. I am over it now though and I have been thinking about other ways that I can create healthy limits for myself in other areas of life.
Creative Limits
I have noticed at school if the kids have free reign to create a short story or any kind of project or peice of work, they spend so much time trying to think about what to do or write, it becomes a nightmare for them. When I first started teaching, I thought if they could write about whatever they wanted it would make it easier for them. WRONG! Now I create some kind of limit and it flows easier for them. I am always willing to negotiate with anyone who has another idea, yet it’s rare any student takes me up on that. If any of what I am saying rings true for you read Presentation Zen: Can limitations and restrictions be liberating? The answer for me is too right they can.
Boundaries
Many parents say children need boundaries. As a teacher in the classroom I know students operate best when there are clear boundaries. I need boundaries too. In fact it would be great if I could somehow create some device to prevent me from getting coffee until my exercise was done. Any suggestions anyone?