So I guess I lied when I said I'd be posting over the summer. I got distracted with summer fun, and also had no internet availability. So now school has started. I'm at my new school in Donaldsonville, and I'm loving it! It is quite different from where I have taught in the past. For one thing, I'm now teaching art to 5th and 6th graders. I used to teach 3rd grade: math, science, social studies, and art. This is quite different. It's also a much different population at my new school. The school is sort of what you'd call an inner city school, except that most of the town doesn't really lie within the "city" but, rather, surrounded by sugarcane fields. These kids have never taken art classes before, so as far as what they know and can do at this point, it's comparable to what my 3rd graders were able to do. It's an amazing opportunity to get to bring the arts into their lives, though. I love it so much. Even the ones that are "trouble makers" are slowly warming up to it and realizing that they don't have to act up in order to have fun in my class. So far, the most challenging part of it is when I try to get them to write about art, because I suppose they see it as "work" but I have high expectations for them and I know they'll eventually come around if I don't give up on them.
Meanwhile, my life is going well outside of school, too. I haven't been creating much art lately, but I am feeling the inspiration creeping in and I know I'm about to start making some new things. I've always sort of gone through waxing and waning periods of production with my artwork. So I'm about to "wax on" as Mr. Miyagi might say. Stay tuned for upcoming developments.
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