School is out for the week for Staff Development and Teachers Convention which ususally means getting to sleep in all week - but not today! I had a really cool opportunity - I presented an In-Service to a group of teachers from our school system. Sam's art teacher Melinda recommended me to the Director of Visual Arts, and for the day I was an advocate for visual journaling! We started with some artful writing exercises, then got messy with paint. They completed at least a dozen pages and bound them into a journal. There were about 30 in the morning session, and at least a dozen in the afternoon. I applaud all of the teachers for playing along with enthusiasm as I witnessed some really cool results. A *high five* goes out to the non-art teachers who were good sports in the session. I feel so lucky to have our kids in a school system that appreciates the arts - at all grade levels - and with many elective course available in the high school. Yay for art!!
Check it out: Artist in Residence!
I forgot to take a picture during the morning session, but here are the talented folks who stayed through the afternoon. I'm not sure what their "take-away" is, as in what they will use or apply in their own classrooms, but it was rewarding to see them having fun making pages. I think it's really cool that the art teachers got to have a day of play instead of sitting in a lecture about procedure or whatever. Thanks for facilitating this Melinda, thanks to Joan for hiring me, and thanks to Doty for generously sharing your room and supplies. So fun to see familiar faces, and to meet more of the staff!
