| | Second day, different shortcomingsI know, discouraging post title. My morning at camp
went really great and I'm thankful for it. The little kids in Writing
a Rainbow were rowdy and distracted as they were yesterday, plus I
noticed that the assignment I designed for the day was a little too
advanced. With persistence, good explaining, and troubleshooting, I
was able to get them all on task and working away. It's a writing
class and a lot of them are unfamiliar with writing. Before I got to
camp in the morning I decided I wanted them to label their folders in a
cute, consistent way (easier to identify that way) so I had them write
the colors of the rainbow in order, in the proper colors, descending
from top to bottom. I was smart enough to write them on the board
first, with the proper colors of chalk even. It worked like a charm.
One little girl copied it all faithfully, only to reveal later that she
can barely write! She just copied the words down based on their
appearance! I think she's a very gifted little girl but possibly ADD,
as she's given to prancing around the room, tugging on my arm, pulling
stuff off the walls (including a pushpin, eek), etc. However, given
that she's 6, she might just be 6. All the other kids move erratically
and talk in non sequiturs, so I could be jumping the gun on her, but
she does seem different. I really like her and the other 3 kids.
(Thank goodness my class of young children is so small! They all need
so much attention.)
So
anyway, period 1 went well. Period 2 is Fantasy Heroes, a drawing
class. I really enjoy those kids. It's a bigger class but they're
also older, ages 10 to 16 (though we don't have any 16 year olds... I
think the oldest kid is 14), so they can take care of themselves much,
much better. Plus they create some really interesting drawings. One
boy who I've had in my classes the past two years brought in his "how
to draw dragons" books. Perfect! I'd decided that I'd have them work
from this ancient "how to draw 50 animals" book that I have. Once
they've mastered the concept of drawing animals from a framework of
basic shapes (circles, rectangles, etc.), I'll move them on to doing
the same thing with the human form. I have a lot of excellent ideas
for where I want this class to go and what I want to teach them, and
even the order I want to teach it. Unfortunately for my Paint Like a
Master class, I have no such plan for them and it shows. More on that
later.
Lunch was fun. Nick got me Dunkin' Donuts again (iced
coffee and a bacon-egg-n-cheese bagel) and I sat with Fatima and her
homecenter kids to eat. Fatima is a really sweet girl and she has a
really cool group of girls in her center. I think there may be a few
boys but they were off eating in the other section of the center.
Tomorrow I should probably get some more work (read: class preparation)
done during lunch, but today I just relaxed. It felt nice. Oh yeah I
visited Nick at one point in his center. We were chatting with each
other and a couple of campers and Nick was gently teasing one of the
girls, Honor Sargent (yes, Patrick, I'm serious!!!). She finally had
enough and looked right at me and said, "Why is he so weird?" I
pretended to think for a minute and then deadpanned, "Genetics. And
environment."
After lunch was Fantastic Stories. This is
another small class, only 4 also, but they're older kids, something
like 9 to 16 this time. In it there are 2 new kids and 2 whom I know
from last year. One of them is really brainy and hyperactive and he
loves telling his stories out loud instead of writing them down. His
stories are always full of volcanoes, lasers, secret passwords, and
most of all, his character Snake. Yes, Snake is a snake. He's gone to
all 50 states, all 8 planets, and he has a yacht and a skateboard.
Fortunately he's willing to expand beyond Snake in this class. Plus
he's extremely inventive. I really enjoy the novelty of his ideas,
although honestly he goes way too fast for me sometimes. He talks so
fast and puts in so much detail--and this is ME talking, I am the queen
of fast talking and detail!--he just plain loses me and I have to still
make thoughtful comments about the gist of what my brain can absorb.
He doesn't seem to mind. The other kids are really great as well. The
girls are mostly quiet, but bright and creative, and the other boy is
also very bright and very funny. Today joked about Nick bringing him
lattes.
Now we come to the disaster part of the day. Poor Paint
Like a Master. I decided yesterday that I should start them on drawing
and did some gesture drawings with them. Today I capriciously (and
sleepily) decided that since it was not a roasting-hot day we should
stay in the art center and do some watercolor painting. But what to
paint? I told them they could warm up by painting whatever they wanted
to paint while I set up a still life. For some reason it upset and
confused them when I began setting up the still life of faux flowers
and shells and sponges and cups. Perhaps I was talking too fast and
putting in too much detail? It just made me even more nervous and
tired to see their dead-eyed, suspicious faces staring witheringly at
me, so of course I talked even faster and made even less sense. It was
pretty much a disaster. Fatima was excited that I was doing watercolor
and she was happy to lend her enthusiasm and peaceful confidence, and I
was grateful for it. Lindsay also came and brought with her a bowl of
apples to add to the still life. She drew the apples and lent her
cheerful presence, but I couldn't stop feeling like I had really
screwed up. I need to sit down tonight and figure out what the hell to
do with this class but I am just so intimidate. But why? This is fine
art, for goodness' sake! I was steeped in this since before fine art
went bad. I took enough art classes as a kid to know where to start,
right? The problem is that a lot of the exercises that teachers rely
on are pretty darn boring. I hate to bore the kids so I want to avoid
the exercises, but that's pretty counterproductive. Guess I'd better
buckle down to basics. And I need to stop looking at their dead faces
when I'm talking to them. It really kills the mood.
So,
after I finish inking and coloring Nick's D&D map, I guess I will
grit my teeth and get some planning done for Paint Like a Master. The
class has gotten off on the wrong foot but I can still save it. I have
a lot of resources and a lot of experience. Another art teacher,
Barbara, offered me some advice and I can always go back to her for
more. She's a very kind and mellow person who comes up with awesome
projects for her kids and keeps them super organized. Her classes run
so smoothly. I really want to learn from her.
In other news, I
got my physical today so I could have an up-to-date health form for
camp. I weigh 2 pounds less than I did a few months ago. Whoopee. I
look a lot narrower than last year, though, I think. I'm not on a
regular exercise schedule but I did get a 3-mile walk in most days last
week, not at all on the weekend, and then again today. So, about 4
days out of the last 9. Not great, but not horrible. I've been doing
some light weight training too, but I plan to step it up.
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