New ideas come out of the woodwork as previously used lessons are taken out and dusted off for another year's use. How can art class be made more exciting for the kids? More engaging? More personalized? More fun? What basic processes do I want them to internalize and take with them as part of their artistic process for the future? I see them for such a short time. A little window in their lives. Happily I am able to see that sometimes that is enough to spur on art interest and encourage kids to be their best selves. Even after twenty years, though, I still feel like the kids I have not been able to truly motivate or help are personal failures. It is hard not to feel that way. Being a teacher means you care and want the best for every student, regardless of how they may behave, perform, or otherwise outwardly manifest in class. With over three hundred kids at a time, that is a lot of caring every day! It can be both vitalizing and exhausting. Either way, it is a complete and total honor to be in this position and I truly feel like the luckiest person on earth to call it my profession. Especially being at my old junior high school, where many fond memories were made.
That being said, 5:00 am came early. I am back in teacher mode, but aim to hold on to artist-mode daily this year, as well. Back to the nightly art schedule, too, of studio time or teaching, to keep personal creativity alive. Back to the morning ritual of coffee and blogging (for the kind five readers that stumble onto this site.) Endless audio books about varied topics, and the snortling of the pugs under my work tables. To drawing every day, to continually learning and exploring the creative road map that my brain wishes to explore. We all have one. While the new year truly begins in January, to me it is always September. Happy New Year!
What will you make today?