xoelle » teaching

Have I mentioned that I have the best job ever?

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:03:39 +0000

Last week my students and I learned about graffiti. They created thier own graffiti artist name (so as not to get caught yo!) and then chose a social or political issue to make a statement about. I am always amazed at the creativity that can be found in these students! My greatest frustration as a teacher (besides the brushes that get left unwashed and the instructions that go unheaded) is that my students can’t quite understand how great they truly are, and can’t quite see yet the opportunities that are open to them. I gather such hope for the future from the students that I teach! The converse can also be true, it is difficult for me to see the negative things that are taking hold upon these students too- apathy, dishonesty, vanity, and selfishness. Thank goodness there’s more good than bad. =)

And the good is overwhelming. I got paid last week to sit out in the sun and tag the back wall of the school with a bunch of super cool kids. These kids are so cool in fact, that I can’t wait to see what happens to them in the coming years. I know that most of them will not become practicing visual artists, (which is such a shame! Look at this outstanding work!) but I will be content if they are able to craft a life that is artful, even if they have to do some certified public accounting to pay the bills.

You wanna take a shot? Try this graffiti playdo site. It rocks. =)

Sunshine in my state and in my soul! I’ll ketchup with you’s pickles later.
elleayeyouareaye!

observation

admin — Mon, 29 May 2006 18:55:04 +0000

I know that I’m different. It must be on my mind lately as I’ve written about it a few times here. I feel normal and right within myself, but I don’t fit in with the rest of the world. I notice things. I see the way that the spily milkshake makes an intersting pattern on the floor at work. I can hear the conversation of the students across the room, even as I’m reading my book. I can sense the connections between individuals as they walk next to each other into a store. Mostly, the things that I observe in detail are visual. You can find me mesmerized by a pattern that others would find meaningless. I am intensly curious about how things are made, how things have come to be. What materials made this? How are those materials manipulated? Who refined the technique? What circumstances is it now manufactured under? Every question leads to another question until the thing I know the best is that I don’t know very much. This is the preface to my story, or maybe the explanation as to why this event seemed so strange to me.
I got off work at Red Robin last night and stopped by Wal*Mart to pick up some photos. I was in full Red Robin regalia: dark jeans, non-slip black shoes, dark blue embroidered polo with the Red Robin logo loud and proud, nametag, buttons, and apron. So imagine me, and the unbelief that comes over me when not one, but two people ask me to help them locate items, within a five minute period. It shouldn’t surprise me. It happens almost everytime I’m at Wal*Mart in my Red Robin uniform. I am just amazed how the powers of observation have failed my fellow shoppers. Surely, if the large Red Robin logo and nametage didn’t do it, the handful of purchases, car keys, and wallet in my hand would be enough to let anyone know that I was not in fact working there. The first time it happened a lady actually stopped me in my long, fast-walking stride to ask me where the photoalbums were. When I told her that I didn’t work here, she looked confused. A minute or two later, while I was browsing the hair color section a man kept staring at me, and when I looked his direction he asked me where the sunscreen was. I did my best to look baffled and exasperated, but he continued to stand, open mouth in front of me. So I sighed, told him that I thought they were in the seasonal aisle, pointed him in the right direction and continued by saying, “but I’m not sure since I don’t work here”. He was gone before I finished uttering these words.

It is minute meetings like this that remind me that my everyday wonder and observation is not universal. Maybe it’s this lack of observation that makes people ask my sister and I if we’re twins. We are asked so often that now it’s a joke between us. The better part of the joke comes when we tell people that we are seven years apart and they gasp and then ask, “which one of you is older?” This has happened more times than I can count.
If anyone ever asked me why I teach art…I’d probably tell them that I do it so that I can make money, so that I can make my own art. But why teaching art when there are other ways to make money? It’s because I have found such wonder through observation, through noticing detail, intricacies, patterns. It is these observations that make my own work more interesting. I think they make everything more intersteing and theirin lies the answer to the original question, if asked by the principal of a school and answered by me trying to secure a job. “I teach art, Mr. Shiny-Desk-Man because I believe that first observation, and then expression makes the experinece of life more enjoyable. I teach art because it is the way that we communicate the best parts about being human. I teach art because it can enrich every moment of one’s life…even the idle moments spent looking at the milkshake spilt on the floor”. By the time I have finished this impassioned little speech however, Mr Shiny-Desk-Man will understand that we are vastly different and the interview will effectively be over.

=) elle!

yay!

admin — Wed, 24 May 2006 05:40:14 +0000

It has been 9 months and 15 days since the California Commision on Teacher Credentialing received my application. Today, I was honored to find that I have successfully jumped through the right hoops and the State of California has found me worthy to teach in their state. My certificate arrived in a large, thin, white envelope. It’s green. It has Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature on it.
California is becoming more of a reality.
Now all I need is a job. =)

laura. =)

worried on my lunch break and Lewis and Clark High School

admin — Mon, 22 May 2006 16:18:06 +0000

I’m a substitute teacher. I spend my days in random classrooms across this city handing out worksheets, putting on instructional videos, and mis-pronouncing students names. I understand and embrace the consequences of my position. Students are going to try to sneak out of class. Students are going to call me “Mrs… uh….” Students are going to take this opportunity to throw things at one another and see how many curse words they can speak before I take my eyes off of the book I’m reading. I expect all of those things. I’m never prepared, however, for the negativity and vanity of students. I’m worried about the future. I’m worried because I can’t get some students to look me in the eye. I’m worried because I can’t get students to talk about anything other than sex, and pot, and that *&#%ing awesome movie or rap song. I’m worried because most students in a class will lie and decieve me because they think that they won’t get caught. I worry because I don’t remember my classmates being like this when I was in high school a few years ago. Have our young people gotten that bad in such a short amount of time…or am I just getting really old?
I know that the problem is partially my own. I have much to learn, compassion to gain, sincerity to develop, and patience to grow. I hope that I can develop these skills in proportion to the challenges that are surely ahead. =)
btw- it’s gorgeous today! Not because it’s sunny, but it’s overcast (anyone for portrait taking?!) and the air is hinting rain, and I don’t have to work at Red Robin tonight (yes! only one job today, how sublime!)
love you all, especially those of you whose names start with B.
elle!

if I wasn’t so tired, this would keep me awake at night

admin — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 02:28:19 +0000

I am awed daily at the hostility and apathy I find in the classrooms that I teach. I encounter 13 year olds who are more sexually experienced than me, and love to talk loudly and rudely about it. It sends little pains into my heart. I feel helpless. I am too soft and smiley to make an impact. Almost everyday one of the student says to me, “they’ll listen if you yell”. But I won’t yell. I won’t participate in that culture of shock and screaming. I do want to scream though…. but what I want to scream can only be punctuated by hugs…I want to scream, “don’t be in such a hurry to grow up!, work hard!, stretch youself!, give!, love!, be patient and have faith!”…
=( I’m worried about who the world is going to contain in a few short years.
eeeeeeeekkkk!

I’m counting on you guys…you wonderful happy bunch of crazy kids that’ll keep the smiles in the world.
Keep smiling.
Keep giving.

I love you!!! *grin*
elle

I’m not married to my Dad

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 03:56:40 +0000

I’ll tell you a secret. I’m an art teacher. *grin* that’s not the secret! The secret is that I can’t draw very well! I made my way through college (and a BFA program) without having to draw too much by claiming a style that didn’t require too much precision. =) These are my drawings from student teaching today. They are items from Mr. Tyler-Babkirk’s desk.
I appreciate that in 2006 we retain the distinction between Miss, Mrs. and Ms. I like that I’m a MIss. I like that can state my marriage situation by adding a few letters to the front of my name. I love that I am still called after my Father’s name. It drives me nuts when students call me, “Mrs. Hawker”. I can handle, “Miss… Um….what’s your name?”, and “Miss Haewl…”, but calling me the name that my Mother earned when she married my Dad is just not right. It always makes the students laugh when I point out that I am, in fact, not married to my Dad.
While I dearly love being a Miss, and pride myself on graduating from BYU-Idaho with only an AA dregree, and not an MRS degree… it’s time. I think. Do you think it’s time?
There’s something romatic about taking the name of the man that you love. I am old-fashioned. I’m eager to start stitching my Monograms. Who’s initial shall I add?
I’ve always liked B…and tomorrow, I’ll prove it. =)
love all y’all. Really.

*heart*
elle!