Quotes from Middle School Art

After I praised a kid's drawing:

"I am the Donald Trump of art!"

After I explained that one of the forms in a kid's drawing looks as if it's floating above the table:

"My art defies the laws of physics!"

Harry Wong can shut up.

Let me tell you what. Teaching is hard.

It's not that I don't understand it, or how to do it. It's just that it takes a ridiculous amount of effort to do it RIGHT. Harry Wong can shut up. I can "make my students do all the work" 'til the cows come home, but at the end of the school day there is still work to be done. Heck, at the end of the NIGHT there is still work to be done. The kids can't set up online gradebooks, sit through professional development meetings, and view IED's, Harry.

My poor friends. They care about me. They really do. And I feel bad. Because after coming down with the flu two weeks before school started (wish I was kidding), and then coming down with a bad case of inservice, I have dropped off the planet. For a girl who used to update this blog all the time, you'd think I was dead. I'm not. I'm just a teacher now.

If you think I am exaggerating, let me give you an idea of my daily schedule.

6am - alarm goes off
snooze
snooze
snooze
7am - get out of bed
7:15 - pull my hair back into the same ponytail I had it in yesterday
7:30 - find clothes that Downy Wrinkle Release can fix
7:35 - change shoes because there is no way I can wear heels all day
7:40 - run out the door, late
7:55 - grab coffee and lunch at 7-eleven
8:05 - unlock my classroom, dump everything
8:15 - meet with my mentor teacher
8:30 - check my mailbox, try not to jam the copier so all the other teachers hate me
8:40 - turn on my computer and check my work email. find at least 7 things I must accomplish before day's end
8:45 - 2 periods of HS art classes. as in teaching. as in demonstrations and classroom management. as in no time to even drink that coffee I bought at 7-Eleven
noon - clean up, set up for the next day, potty, grab my lunch and go
12:15 - drive to the middle school
12:25 - check my mailbox, try not to jam the copier so all the other teachers hate me
12:35 - eat lunch by myself in the teacher's lounge because my schedule is different than everyone else's
1:00 - unlock my classroom, dump everything, set up for class
1:15 - turn on my computer and check my work email. find at least 7 more things I must accomplish before day's end
1:23 - 3 periods of MS art classes. as in teaching. as in demonstrations and classroom management. as in no time to even sit down without a kid stabbing another.
3:55 - clean up
4:15 - meet with the other MS art teacher, because this is probably the first time I will have seen her for the day
4:30 (if I'm lucky) - go home

Where's my conference/planning period, you ask? Well, that is supposed to be between noon and 1:23. You know, that time when I am cleaning up my high school room, driving to the middle school, eating lunch, and setting up my middle school room (that is shared with Health.) I hope no parent wants to meet with me during the day unless they're cool seeing me choke down my Subway.

Now, as to not completely bore you, I won't go into all the work I do at home to prepare for the next day. This first week it was mostly just viewing and printing off paperwork until 10pm. I seriously have a 2 inch binder CRAMMED FULL of paperwork. If you think I'm ever going to fail a SPED kid, you're crazy.

Now for week two.

San Franfrisco

Sorry for the blogging sabbatical. I'm off for the summer, so I don't have any good classroom stories to humor the masses. Plus I've been traveling.

I am now officially a Frisconian. Friscoite? Friscan? Not quite sure. Either way I have moved and am preparing for school. I feel like I've been packing and unpacking for a solid two weeks.

My apartment looks like this:

My classroom looks like this:
And school starts in two weeks. Good times.

The Hyatt on Eldorado

"I think I'm gonna like it here!" ~Annie

omg i ♥ hhs

I am sure that there are going to be days that I don't feel this way, but for now I heart HHS! My principal is so passionate about Heritage that he got choked up while speaking to us this morning. The theatre teacher wants to put on a production of "The Wiz." My fellow art teacher is a former illustrator who only has one lung after choking on a corn dog in 4th grade. So essentially, the Heritage Coyotes [ˈkī-ˌōts] are the true-to-life version of "Glee." We rock.

As for the photo, this is the #1 reason I want to teach: logo shirts. Every Friday for the rest of my career I have an outfit already planned thanks to the logo shirt. I ♥ you, logo shirt.

And oh yeah- I signed up for the spirit committee. That means I might even get two logo shirts.

Week Three

The completion of Painting Theory and Development. 15 paintings in 15 days.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

I've been waiting until it's official, and it's official. I've signed a contract.

I'm a teacher.

The Lord is good, people. I will be teaching art at a brand-new (and I mean brand-new, as in opening this Fall) high school in my FAVORITE school district and lil' city north of Dallas: Frisco. Praise Jesus for this opportunity, praise Jesus for my awesome new apartment, and praise Jesus that I will no longer be a financial burden on my parents! They may actually have a retirement now.

Have no fear kiddos, I will still be keeping up the blog and sharing stories of the classroom, just now they will be from MY classroom!

Stay tuned.