New reflections

Just wanted to say a few quick words, since it’s been so long updating the blog.

I finished my student teaching nearly two weeks ago, and have been working on a few projects for my church.
This is an image of the postcard for a concert series I uploaded to the printer yesterday:

front of the postcard for Jazz & Java 2009

Back of the postcard, with directions

I know it’s been awhile…

so much for daily or even weekly updates.

So much has been happening, I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to update this blog, to let everyone know I’m o.k.

And I can’t go into a lot of detail today, because I’m heading to school to do a whole day’s worth of grading.

But I promise I’ll update this more starting this week, as this is the last week of my student teaching.

So, buck up. And I’ll post again later this week.

WingNut

how to tick off 30 students @ once

Before Spring break, I told the students when they came back they’d have a different seating assignment.

Need I say more?

One young lady actually asked, “Mr. Wing, why don’t you just move the trouble-makers?”
I had to hold my tongue as I thought, “What makes YOU (of all people) think I’m not?”

To say we achieved our objective would be an understatement. It’s almost as if we began a new term, as there has been (near) deathly silence in the classroom. And needless to say, “if looks could kill,” those students sending daggers of resentment my way are getting the point that they don’t go to school in a democracy; this is my class.

Truthfully though, and to put a positive spin on the scenario, Mr. Opstad “saved” me by adding, “We want everyone to have a positive experience here, and this will allow you to experience the variety of styles and skill levels of your peers.”

And that’s why he’s the master-teacher, and I’m his “young Padawan.”

Mr. Opstad's young(ish) Padawan

I know it’s been awhile…

I just had to share this one tidbit from an observation yesterday;

My master-teacher, Keith Opstad, was trying to describe to the Advanced Placement students, the difference in how artwork used to be sent to jurors for the final test in class. Instead of a digital portfolio, slides used to be submitted, in addition to a number of actual pieces.

No-one actually asked, “what’s a slide?” but they might have well, based on the blank stares, even after his attempt to describe film and especially slide film.

I promise to add more to this posting later, but just thought I’d share how old I felt after that lecture.

quick note before school

As I was preparing blank sketchbook pages for my students this morning, I came up with a great idea for a logo.

As I really feel like Mr. Opstad is going to be a lifelong friend and collegue, and that this experience could lead to quite a few collaborations down the road, I developed this logo last night

Sketchbook frame logo

and then altered it a bit more this morning (still not 100% satisfied with it, but it’s a work in progress).

2nd version of logo

been awhile

but I only have time for a superquick update.

Student Teaching is going well, but I have been spending an inordinate amount of time there, as our third quarter (my first) ended on Friday, and I spent most of the weekend grading drawings and paintings for my 1 -2 class.

Tonight I begin grading paintings for my 3 -4 class, as all the grades need to be in on Wednesday for the last quarter.

Whew!

The latest project I’ve been working on is a website to keep my students informed about what’s going on in class, assignments they’ve been working on, and lab times they can come in while I’m grading their work, after school (weekends, etc.). The site is wolverineArt.com (the mascott+what I teach) and includes a video on the front page, primarily to let them know if I’ll be there on the weekend.

As part of the site, I created a YouTube account with the same name, where previous video postings are available for viewing.

I was in a really wacky mood as soon as I woke up and saw my hair on Saturday morning and added this video (the reference to James Mason isn’t the british actor who played Captain Nemo, but rather one of my students with the same name).

Needless to say, even though I’m there way too much, I’m still enjoying the heck out of it and am going to have such a great website example that I will likely be able to teach other new teachers how to build them, for their electronic portfolios (a requirement for getting a teaching credential through National University).

And, listening to the “voice of reason,” (my housemate, Roger), I changed the video on the website before going to school yesterday, to a less, shall we say, insane? video

so now you don’t have to visit the youTube site, because that’s all three videos posted so far.

I promise to add more news, even if it’s only a weekly update.

Jay

Idea for getting messages to my students

It occurred to me today to start using technology for my students. It actually took me a lot longer than I thought it would to figure out how to record this video this morning, and get it up on YouTube. But now that it’s up, and I have a ’system,’ not only can I continue to instruct “virtually,” I also am building an electronic portfolio system, which is a requirement to get my credential.

Then I took it to the next step and created a new website to house the information. I call it WolverineArt.com (all there is on it so far is this video).

Opinion/relection; poignancy of entitlements

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it..” Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

What’s true for the nation is true for students. I don’t give grades, students earn them.

Though this reflective journal is not intended to be a political platform, I couldn’t help but post this quote (from 1931!) that someone forwarded to me in an e-mail.

I’ll have another reflection at the end of the week, after I get down off my soapbox…

I couldn’t resist

Altered image (wording) of tee shirt design I found online this morning.

After all the controversy surrounding the artist who used an API photograph to earn a living with the ubiquitous image of Barak Obama, I saw and altered this poster design for my own amusement.

Here’s a link to the  controversy over Shepard Fairey’s depiction of Obama, (the artist who used the AP photo to win fame and fortune with the red, white and blue Obama photo).

It’s only fair to mention that I didn’t design this and have no copyright ownership of it. It is merely an alteration of an existing poster design I found online.

Before you think this has little to do with what I’m learning at my student teaching gig, it is relative, as we had a discussion a few weeks ago about Shepard Fairey’s image and the lawsuit the AP is in litigation with Fairy, over copyright infringement.

Since it is not likely that the artist who’s poster design I copied and altered was the owner of the photograph s/he used on zazzle.com, I’m not terribly concerned about whether that artist will sue me or not.

I’ll merely take and alter it some more and sell the new design while the iron is still hot…

if it gets any better than this…

…I am not sure I’ll survive.

This post should have gone out last night, but I sort of vegetated after an intense week of a nasty cold and a lot of study, culminating into my best day ever as a student teacher. (so far).

Friday’s success began with grading papers on Thursday afternoon. I know what you’re thinking, “grading papers lead to an awesome day?” Yes. I took a break around 4:30 Thursday to take some notes and do a few quick sketches for the following day’s lesson and ended up doing an entire drawing instead.

During many of the lessons I prepared, I was feeling inadequate to teach becuase it’s been so long since I’ve spent more than 30 minutes actually drawing. My intention was to practice a few of the features on scratch paper by lightly sketching an eye, ear, nose and hair to demonstrate how to get very dark tones on a graphite portrait the students have been working on since the previous week. The paper I used, though not the full-sized sheet my students were rendering their final portrait on (theirs are 18″x24″, mine, 13″x18″), was from the scrap table.

At some point I chose to do a little more than the few features, and laid out a grid, to the same proportions my students had, and render approximately 3/4ths of the drawing, to make it an “apples-to-apple’s comparison. Long story short, 3 hours went by and I found myself looking at a fairly complete sample of the drawing I would share with the students the following day.

I was so proud of my drawing that I took a digital photo of it and sent it to my daughter, Erika, with the subject line: “your dad’s still got it.”

Though I did not originally intend to go that far, I had the added incentive of being observed by my National University Supervisor, Beverley “Buddy” Kelsey on Friday, and, though I didn’t necessarily want to show off, I did feel the need to “wow” her as much as my students. Here are a few of the written comments and critiques she turned in on her Observation Form:

• I like when you say, “you all,” as opposed to “you guys” (one of her pet peeves, that she warned me about). (she counted how many times I said it with tick marks – 10x in a 15-minute lecture and demonstration).
• Keep your sense of humor – self-deprecating
• Excellent demo – it made lots of sense
• I appreciate your demonstrating politeness, e.g., when you excused yourself for the interruption while they were working. Politeness is contagious.
• Your self portrait appealed to the visual learner; your description of how you achieved that affected the audio learner; then working on the self portrait (demonstration) was for the kinesthetic learner – good for you.
• Good to use other student examples as a guideline (had previous semester’s samples displayed)

Commendations/Future Goals for Ongoing Improvement based on Reflections:

• Aside: doing something “quickly” – not “really quick”
• Please lose the “you guys” – it’s not grammatically correct (“you’re college educated,” she says, “prove it.”)
• Good idea: self-critique

After the lesson Mr. Opstad added, “your drawing gave you ’street-cred’ with the kids.”

More than “street-cred,” the entire experience was one more affirmation that I’m doing what I should be doing: drawing, painting and teaching.

(Another) best day so far

After preparing for a week for (what Mr. Opstad would later admit to me was the most difficult lesson to teach – and learn) a lesson in composing and rendering 3-dimensional shapes, I was a nervous wreck yesterday. Had I known it was the most difficult lesson, I wouldn’t have been so hard on myself after delivering it.

But I need to keep reminding myself that this is a learning experience so after I got a debriefing from Mr. Opstad, I took another crack at it this morning, telling the students, ”I really laid a lot on you on yesterday’s lesson, so first thing today, lets review (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

During a feedback session with Mr. Opstad, I admitted that though I believe I prepared adequately, the lesson yesterday was inordinately scatterbrained. He suggested I write out the lesson on 3×5 cards, as well as put some notes on the whiteboard in front that the students could refer to during class.

What an amazing difference! I was able to think and deliver all the significant points of the lesson in an orderly and linear fashion. It seemed like such a simple idea, but it hadn’t occurred to me. What a great lesson it was for me. And the students profitted from the review as well.

So much for the lesson to Period 2, Drawing & Painting 1-2, now I get to prepare for another one tomorrow, in oil pastels, for Period 3, Drawing & Painting 3-4! Yay! Luckily, I’m also being taught to stagger the introduction of new lessons for each class, so I won’t overwhelm myself.

Thursday will be another lesson to D&P 1-2, with the added bonus of my University Supervisor observing me. If you are so inclined, please toss up a few prayers for that one, as I tend to get a little more “stage-frightened” than usual with her in the room.

From Friday night 2-20-09

(As I temporarily lost my thumb drive, this is four days late in posting)

yes, as a matter of fact, it IS 6 o’clock on a Friday night and I’m at school, preparing for my class next week. Not only that, but this week was “ski week,” a break in mid-term that is scheduled, and I’m here on a Friday night.

Truth be told, I didn’t actually get here until 4, so two hours isn’t that big of a deal. And Friday night doesn’t really mean anything because I don’t have visitation with my daughter, Alexa tonight/this weekend, nor have I been on a date in …
jeepers, I don’t know how long it’s been.

I may have mentioned this before but I had to write myself another reminder today to stop being anxious about this assignment. As I was preparing to go to the library to print off some lesson ideas and notes from LearningPoint.com (Westview’s website), those creeping thoughts came in, “Monday is only three days away and there’s no way you’re prepared enough to teach!”

My biggest challenge remains that it’s been so many years since I did anything by hand that I’m having to re-learn how to render objects, mix paint and pastel. The bigger challenge is just sitting down, clearing off a big-enough space and doing it. (insert Nike logo here).

Mr. Opstad has laid out a beautiful environment for me to learn — easily the best of all the students I’m sitting next to durning my Thursday evening seminar class — and I’m, what, afraid?

Afraid to play with paint?
Where in the heck did that come from?
I love playing and experimenting.

It’s all the technicalities of creating lesson plans before the playing begins that’s been “nervousing” me. (I know that’s not a real word, but an old girlfriend of mine used to use it, and it seems appropriate in this situation.

So here’s what I learned today as regards my new way of learning and teaching:

1. Grab the samples from the large portfolios that Mr. Opstad has saved from previous classes and replicate them. Play with it, study it, like never before (like when you had time — when you were in junior high school), so you’re confident when you demonstrate it to the students.

2. Write out a “lessons learned” on the process it took to achieve the results

3. Write out your lesson plan, based on what you experienced — the good and the bad — including the standards, differentiation, vocabulary, bridging from prior learning, etc.

4. Teach it by modeling what you learned, in demonstration format.

5. Assess what you learned by viewing the results from the student’s work.

And then move on to tomorrow.

And play with another media. This is where it gets really exciting!

Like Randy Pausch said in his “Last Lecture,” on the video we watched in class last (Thursday) night:

Professor Pausch said, “Brick walls show us how badly we want something. Brick walls are there to prevent those who are unwilling to do whatever it takes to succeed.” (paraphrased)

And lastly, with regards to what I’m still doing here, when he was asked how he got to be tenured as a Junior Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he said, “You want to know how? I got here so quickly? Call me at my office on a Friday night at 10:00 o’clock, and I’ll tell you.”

I figure this work ethic puts me in darned good company.

Now I know why

My kids havent’ contacted me in a while:
First, they’re way better students than I am and likely invest most of their time studying and going to class. Secondly, they are social animals, and “have lives.”

Such is not the case with me, outside of a home fellowship Bible Study I attend every other Thursday night (the other Thursdays I’m in class).

My best intention to update this blog ran into the reality of a hectic study schedule, as I spend most of my waking hours trying to plan for the next day of teaching. Fortunately, this coming week is a break they call, “ski-week” so I have this week to get caught up on studying to teach, as well as studying for the class I take at National University which is the final preparation for my credential.

This past week I have almost completely taken over Mr. Opstad’s 2nd & 3rd period classes. To say it’s a grueling process is an understatement. My respect for every teacher I ever had is growing exponentially, as I had no idea how much time it takes to prepare and maintain this schedule.

While I’m certain that experienced teachers can do most of their functions on a sort of auto-pilot, it’s going to take quite a while for me to even earn my wings.

On Thursday I did my first demonstration of a technique in cross-hatching with graphite (#2 pencil). I practiced the technique modelled by Mr. Opstad twice before class that day and still got really nervous about half-way through. With 30 pair of eyes staring at you it can get pretty anxious.

I’m not sure if it was proof that my lecture demo was well received but several of the students did a better job at rendering the Value Scale than I did. One thing is certain: my skills are going to improve right alongside theirs, as long as I can continue to put in the practice time.

If you don’t hear from me for awhile, please be patient. I’m likely sequestered somewhere, studying for class or writing lesson plans.

Best day so far

Yesterday I took the plunge and taught an entire class. My first.
The result was pretty successful.

I’ve been observing Keith Opstad’s class for the past three weeks (has it only been three weeks?) and am learning — and attempting to process — a ton of information. Yesterday I put all the information to the test and was actually as pleased with the result as Mr. Opstad. (And I have his written, informal critique to prove it).

A significant part of the success was just jumping in. I did a dry run on the lesson with Mr. Opstad before class began and then just ran with it, based on the immediate critique received, literally 10 minutes before class began. It was exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at once.

I would apologize for not updating this blog more often, but the preparation for teaching is intense, and my third biggest priority, next to getting regular visits with my daughter Alexa and daily communion with my Lord and Savior. I thank God that He’s been preparing me and patiently waiting for me to realize this life-long goal of becoming a teacher.

The lesson I taught yesterday was nothing less than an affirmation to all of you who knew I should’ve done this twenty years ago.

Thanks for your continuing support.

Might’ve been a bit ambitious…

To think I was going to be able to keep up the pace of adding to this blog every work-day.

Even though the days are easing a bit, I’m still not getting as much done as I’d like. I know I need to spend a lot more time planning and a lot less time tv-viewing. I just get so exhausted by the end of the day I just need to wind down and relax. I’ve actually gotten accustomed to taking a quick nap as soon as I get home, then fixing dinner and getting to work on the next day’s planning. If the tube comes on at any point, the rest of the evening’s shot.

Update on the paid substitute teaching for my master-teacher when he’s out; unfortunately there’s a seminar required before I qualify and the next available one isn’t until March, unless someone drops out and a space opens up for the February seminar.

It’s pretty weird that the substitute hired for today and Monday is getting paid, but I’m essentially running the class, taking attendance, helping the students with their projects etc.

It’s kind of cool that Ann-Marie, the secretary in the office is more upset than I am about the situation, but I’m actually o.k. with it. I had an interesting scenario develop today, as one of the other teachers needed someone to substitute on the spot for him and they came to Mr. Opstad’s class because he has first period prep. The sub wasn’t here yet so I actually filled in for Mr. Spiess, as he went home sick. It’s also unfortunate, but policy nonetheless that even if I’d gone to the seminar for substitutes, I wouldn’t have gotten paid because the only paid substituting I can get paid for is in my master-teacher’s room.

I was blessed that Thursday was a “lite” day. I dropped off Alexa and got to school by 8:30, set up my laptop and got ready for Keith when he got in.

A light bulb went on between Period 2, Art 1 & 2: As Mr. Opstad was adding to the vocabulary list, and then mentioning the next two assignments to the class: #9 & 10, “Full body animateI ald character,” and “Animated Character Head w/constructions lines,” I noticed how the sequential building of the vocabulary was tied to the assignments. Keith likely mentioned this before, but there’s been so much information thrown at me in a limited amount of time that when I saw the connection I got excited. It made sense. 

It’s also getting to be painfully obvious that it may take a few weeks for me to get to the point where I can actually produce the assignments myself. that had me a little worried, because I’ve always thought that I needed to be able to do, or at least have attempted an assignment before I could teach it.

Keith just sort of smiled and said that was a little ambitious along with learning how to teach.So rather than come up with all my own assignments after I take over, he’s going to share all his with me to teach.

As you might imagine, that’s another huge burden lifted off my shoulders.

At the end of my second week, I’m feeling pretty weary, but am still excited. I’m getting really good feedback not only from Mr. Opstad but also from the students. I think the cartoon ties really help (actually an understatement, as several comment every day that they can’t wait for the next day to see what I’ll come to school wearing.

When Mr. Opstad gets back from his 4-day weekend he and are are going to get together and plan the next few weeks. I may be taking over sooner than I originally thought so I’m excited and a little scared at the same time. I’ve got a lot of planning to do so ttfn (ta ta for now)!

Speed Bump Cartoon

I won't be telling my students this

Was checking my email this morning and thought this cartoon was appropriately related to a potential future blog about something one of my students may do in class. I’m sure I’ll be tempted, so I’ll have to make sure I don’t use any of their actual names.

the mirrror’s gettin’ clearer

Though it was not mandatory, as I’m a student teacher, I attended the professional growth day at Westview. I got a chance to see all the teachers and there was a brief moment where Mr. Opstad introduced me to the whole ensemble. Thankfully I was able to leave at a breaking point and go back to the classroom to work on Lesson Plans.

Later in the day I sat in on a meeting between all the master teachers and National University’s Student Teacher Supervisor, Buddy Kelsey. She spoke to the master teachers about how National works with them, what to expect, and arranged when she would come in to observe the student teachers in action.

Her first observation of me will be in two weeks, so I’ve got a bit of preparation before then.

After all meetings were over I sat with Keith and he explained how we’re going to progress. Beginning tomorrow I’ll be co-teaching, adding any comments to his instruction. Then by next week I’ll do a lesson or two and he’ll comment. Before February is over I may be doing all the lessons with his help, and by March I will likely be in charge of the whole ball of wax.

One exciting development is that I was told by the administration that if I renewed my 30-day Emergency Credential, I could substitute for Mr. Opstad, should he be sick or take days off. As it happens, he’s taking this Friday and next Monday off, as it’s his birthday on Monday.

After school I scooted down to the District Office and tried to get a renewal, but as luck would have it, the website was acting up, so I wasn’t able to get it taken care of until this evening. I’ll be heading back down there tomorrow to get the paperwork filed.

I’ll be on the payroll!

I made an off-the-cuff remark to one of the vice principals during the professional growth meeting that is worth mentioning, as it speaks to the blessing I’m feeling about my assignment; when she asked how things were going I said, “It’s been more than a bit overwhelming, but thankfully I’m in good hands with Keith. In fact, were it not for him, I would likely not still be here.”

It’s been one of the most stressful, but also the most exhilarating things I’ve done in a long time. So here’s to more of the same!

Forgot to mention last night, why the mirror cleared up: during last night’s studying it occurred to me that the reason I was feeling overwhelmed is because I was trying to do 100 things at once. Had to remember I’ll only be accountable for 2 lessons a day and that most of them will be merely presenting existing lessons from Keith’s repertoire.

I keep forgetting the axiom: Keep It Simple, Student. One day at a time, two lessons (my new mantra).

the best laid plans…

…of mice and student teachers, often go awry.

Good news? I’m getting better at getting to bed at a decent hour.

Bad news? The firewall/filtering software won’t allow me to do my reflection from school yet. And I haven’t developed my evening habit of getting to a computer to do my reflection. But I’m still working on it.

As the quarter is settling into more of a normal workday, on Friday the students worked more autonomously, so I was able to get a little more time with Mr. Opstad during the day to ask some of the questions that’ve been germinating for a few days. No surprise, but one thing I learned was that the budget the school gives him is so miniscule that the lab fee donation really supports the program. If he had to rely solely on the budget, there’d be no program to speak of, beyond paper and pencils, and a few bottles of paint. Next week Keith is going to show me exactly how he invests the fees into the supplies used in class.

Another key ingredient that I’m getting a feel for is pacing, that is, how long does he give the students to complete the assignments. Though a few of them have finished these early projects in a day, he’s introduced three so far and I haven’t been able to keep up. It was my intention from the beginning to do all the assignments, as a student, but it’s becoming apparent that, due to my observations and getting acquainted with the students, that’s not going to be possible during the school day.

Solution? Start my day earlier and stay later to do the assignments before and after school on site. One benefit will be that I can get uninterrupted time, the other is, and this will be more beneficial at the end of the quarter, is that I can keep the lab open after school for any of the students who want to come in and work. So I’ll get the work done and get acquainted with the students more quickly.

Though technically I don’t have to be onsite before 2nd period (which varies from day-to-day, but never earlier than 10:00 a.m.), there’s a lot that I want to accomplish, and even more that I need to learn. I’ve joked about it, but if I could figure out a way, it would be great to be able to bring in a cot and be there 24/7 — there’s that much information to soak up in the next 18 weeks.

How pacing is working so far is that, having several projects going on simultaneously frees up the instructor to work with students at their pace, while still having deadlines so the pressure to work every day still exists. So far, the expectation to complete projects on deadline only seems to be a hindrance to the students who either procrastinate or talk to their peers too much during class.

The biggest surprise that eased my mind yesterday is that most student teachers are given their assignments a month in advance of the new quarter beginning. Mr. Opstad let me know that the learning curve I’m experiencing is intense because I didn’t have that month of observation and Q&A time in his class to prepare to take over the class eventually. I forgot to ask him if he had that month when he student taught, so that when his master teacher gave him the reins he at least had some notion of what was what.

Monday is going to be a really interesting day, as it’s a professional development day. While I’m not required to be there, as I’m developing the habit of doing more than is necessary, I’m definitely going. Though I’ve eaten lunch in the teachers lounge twice so far and met a few of the other teachers, I’ll be introduced to all of them at once during the potluck they have at the beginning of the training.

Another thing I have in common with my master-teacher is a love of good resource material; he has suggested and loaned me a book called, “Art: Images and Ideas.” His library, though less extensive than mine (of course I haven’t seen what he has at home), is more focused on gleaning potential lesson and unit plans, and he’s let me know that I may borrow as many of them as I’d like, as long as he knows when i take them.

To quote the one word any who spend time with him hear regularly, “awesome!”

That pretty much caps this week’s experience. “Awesome.”

(not necessarily) bad habits are hard to break

Instead, I’m going to have to double my efforts at creating new habits.

I’m talking about the fact that my weakly (misspelled on purpose, of course) habits, though not necessarily bad, need a drastic improvement. Like, now. It’s 6 am and I’ve already broken two of the resolutions I set for myself: a.) to do my daily reflection at night before going to bed, and b.) to get to bed at a decent hour so I can get up by 4:30 to start my day.

Even though it’s Friday, and my mentor/master-teacher tells me he “runs over the ‘kiddos’ on his way out the door on Fridays,”  the way I’ve decided to nip at least a.) in the bud will be by staying after school and doing the reflection, before it has a chance to leave my short-term memory.

Of course, as a student teacher, I’m so far down on the school district’s food-chain that I can’t even get a logon to the internet system, iPrism, that plan might not work well. iPrism is the filtering system at the school that students need to log into, to keep them from porn, etc., and as I found out yesterday when trying to get an account with their learningPoint software, it takes an act of God to get access for even full-time contract teachers. So I’m not hopeful that I will be able to logon and do this (you’ll know if you’re able to read the update before 4:00 p.m. today).

The biggest news from yesterday was that I am not required to take over every class. Mr. Opstad teaches 3 periods, and has a morning prep period to get everything together for the day. 1st period is prep, 2nd is Drawing and Painting 1 & 2, 3rd is Drawing and Painting 3 & 4, and 4th period is AP students and Studio Art. I’m only responsible for teaching two class periods at two levels (so, whew!).

The second biggest relief is that Keith is allowing me to ease into the control/planning/implementing of the classroom slowly, so I don’t get as overwhelmed as I felt that first day, trying to imagine how I was going to tackle all the objectives of running his classroom. He shared with me that when he did his student teaching, his master-teacher essentially said, “Have at it,” and he was responsible from day one for the class.

You can’t imagine my relief when he shared with me how unfair it was and that he’d never do such a thing.

The most exciting news of the day, however (and you’ll have to excuse my over-use of the word, as it will likely work it’s way into every blog — at least hopefully it will), is that Keith is essentially opening up his entire resources to me. He says I can access and teach all of the lessons he’s developed, or create my own. 

This is huge.

As if, while I was going through the credential process (from July 2003 – September 2005) wasn’t difficult enough (I was never a stellar student in my teens and early twenties, let alone in my late 40s), being a Graphic Artist, Designer and Project Manager in the Graphics field for the past 25 years, it’s been 31+ years since I’ve studied the basic elements of Drawing and Painting. Add to that the fact that the first exercise I did on Wednesday, the pre-assessment drawing, was the first time I’ve attempted such in all these years means my skills have atrophied as well.

So, as an older acquaintance at Sea World used to tell me (daily, sometimes multiple times daily), “You gotta lot to learn, Jay.”

I’m starting to learn that teaching has other costs: I had my cell phone in my pocket and must have leaned too hard against the side of the desk, while cutting up matte-board for a project yesterday, as, when I pulled my phone out of my pocket, I was surprised to find the screen cracked in half, under the protective plastic shield.

Thankfully the insurance will cover the cost of replacement, minus the deductible. And thankfully my phone will still work until I get the replacement phone either Monday or Tuesday. But I can’t see anything on the touch-screen, so if you’re texting me (which I’ve now been made aware how much more of that I do than actually calling), don’t be surprised if I don’t respond.

I can, however, receive calls, so feel free to do so, and I’ll be back in text mode when the replacement phone comes in.

So begins another day of excitement, eh, elation (gotta find better synonyms for that word)…

the morning after

Didn’t quite hit the mark last evening (adding to my daily reflections on my student teaching assignment); instead I played racquetball right after work, picked up my daughter from her theatre rehearsal, brought her home and had dinner, watched a little tube and went to bed. 

Not what I’d call a productive evening. So I’m doing it this morning. 

When I woke up this morning (an hour ahead of my alarm), I debated whether or not to get up. After doing so, and while doing  my daily devotional, I had a flashback to my last year in college at CSULB (1983), when I discovered my peak performance time to be from 4 a.m. to noon, so I decided this morning to rise and get back into that habit, so here begins what I would have likely written last evening:

Keith Opstad is the kind of teacher I want to be “when I grow up.”

To say I was overwhelmed my first day would be a gross understatement. Granted it was the first day of a new term and there was a lot to take in, but Keith’s style made it look easy. Of course he has 15 years of experience, and, being one of the first teachers chosen to begin the program — not to mention having a hand at designing the architectural layout at Westview — definitely models confidence, not to mention excellence in our field.

Like an old friend of mine used to say to me, “You got a lot to learn, Jay.” Another understatement. Not only the process of teaching, but I also the necessity to re-learn the basic theories and practices of a beginning artist.

It didn’t help my confidence yesterday that several of the advanced students at Westview have talent that exceed mine; that’s kind of a new experience for me, at least in a high school setting. From the samples on the wall, to a first “pre-assessment” drawing I did alongside one of the students yesterday, I’m not only a little jealous of the opportunity these “kiddos” (as Keith calls them) have, but am excited to re-experience the learning process, as well as advance my own abilities. My intention is to do all the exercises/lessons in advance of the students at home, as a preparation for class, as well as alongside them in class.

My greatest task will be to discipline myself with a schedule of study and preparation; I am blessed to be learning from the best. The greatest benefit I realize this morning is that I could not have hoped/prayed for a better mentor-master teacher. Just another example of how the Lord answers a prayer in advance of the prayer being requested.

I’m excited and scared out of my wits at the same time.

Life is good.

Jay Wing’s Student Teaching blog

This blog will be primarily used to reflect on my Student Teaching experience and beyond, beginning 1/21/2009

I will be mentored by Keith Opstad at Westveiw High School, in San Diego, California. This and other links will be updated as time permits, from my main site, HISwork.com as well as my cartoon site, WingNutz.com (when I get an opportunity to update that one as well).

Thanks for visiting

Jay