Wee People

Wednesday...middle of the work week with the wee people..lol.

You get it, I teach elementary children: about 846 from kindergarten to fifth grade. It's an interesting place to be for many reasons.

As the art teacher, I have multiple opportunities to work in close proximity with all of my students and since I teach everyone at my school...it's a gold mine for group and independent behavior observations. I'm not trying to go Freud on ya...just my mind links things together in interesting ways that often give me extraordinary insights to improving my journey of becoming a better person or a better teacher.

Any what! I have concluded that my situation is rather unique from the music and physical education teachers due to the characteristics of their medium. The P.E. teacher has twice my numbers which requires two aides and the nature of the activities demand physical distance from her little charges to manage the herd. She doesn't have the opportunity to spend much one on one time ...teaches to the whole but preaches to the few who need discipline.

Our music teacher has the same exact class numbers as I, since we swap out every two weeks but the nature of her subject matter is the same as our coach. Her product is the final musical presentation after the monthly PTA meetings. God knows that's stressful!

Then me! I'm somewhere in the middle as I work the entire class as a whole to introduce the big idea such as: Art is reflective of culture and world conditions. Using books, art prints, videos, music...whatever to stir the pot...then to the studio to create their own expressions using various mediums. It's a big messy science experiment in which I get to be the Piper to lead the young artists to trust their instincts or just to trust me and have fun with it all. It's hard to tell who's having more fun or learning more...personally I know it is I who learns the most!

I can lead the herd and I can lean down to whisper encouragement to just one child as he or she works on their special project. Those bits and pieces of paper, clay, glued ditties are precious to that child.

I think, I could be teaching the next Picasso ...don't blow it...stay open and show them the joy you felt when you first picked up a drawing pencil. To teach is to take on an awesome responsibility but the benefits are truly overwhelming at times. I never feel satisfied with my performance nor am I bored with my genre...I'm just another kid in that art room of kiddos.

the Queen has great treasures!