The Word is Out!

Word has gotten out how great of a teacher I am and how awesome drawing is. I just found out yesterday that they are going to have to add another drawing 1 class to my schedule because the wait list for drawing is so long! They are going to combine my currently three advanced drawings into two classes and make my seventh hour another drawing 1. To which I said, "I love having freshmen seventh hour!" A little joke always throws my principal off, but I think I'm pretty funny.

So my classes will be full, but I think I'm off to a good start to my goal of building up the art department!

Now my room is a mess from my first semester. Debating on cleaning now or coming in later.

Tacky Sweater Day

This past week it was Tacky Sweater Day at school. Although I was lacking in the sweater department Carol Ann came through and provided one for me to wear. As a department we looked great! This is one of Tim's many tacky creations of the season. And if you ask he will be sure to tell you about how he lost out on prizes at two different Tacky Christmas parties he went to over the weekend.

Here's the art gang. (me, Tim, Carol Ann, and Trish.)

Pandora vs Grooveshark

Now that I'm teaching high school I listen to a lot of music during the day. At first I only knew of Pandora for online music. The problem with Pandora is you only get 40 hours worth of listening time and then they kick you off for the month. Even with careful planning I was maxing out with a week go each month.

There is an account tab that will tell you how many hours you have left to listen. This month I'm doing really well and have 17 hours left! That is because I discovered the joys of grooveshark.

Grooveshark has many wonders. At first I thought you could only search the music and make a playlist. Which is pretty cool, but annoying if you just want to listen to music all day. My first hour advanced drawing does enjoy this feature because then they can all request songs and they just line them up in the playlist. When I thought this was all grooveshark could do I didn't use it very much. But then I discovered the stations.

Of course there are not as many options as Pandora where you can choose an artist and it finds like artists, but I really do enjoy it. My favorite station is the Indie station. It has great music that is mellow and the students can draw to it. We did listen to electronica once but it really just made everyone want to dance.

And the final feature that I have found is that you can search other people's playlists. You just search and instead of looking under the songs tab you search playlists. Kind of fun to see what other people are listening to. So go check out grooveshark. It is my new favorite!

Good Trade

I stopped by Tom and Tara's this weekend because Tom told me he had gourds that he grew and I should make the students draw. But I got even more than homegrown gourds. Tom took me into the garage, which apparently Tara doesn't ever go and saw the fruit of Tom's hunting. He has several different deer skulls. I was really excited. Skulls are pretty fun to include in a drawing. I have drawn several drawings of bones from college. Then Tom got excited and ran out to the yard to pull another rotting skull from a leaf pile. (Which is where you let them rot according to Tom) That one is not quite ready for the classroom but I'm hoping it will come my way eventually.

After visiting Tom and Tara I walked away with one deer skull, four gourds, and a few magazines for a collage project. All I had to give in return was one vitamin water to Tom. Thanks Tara and Tom! I love me new still life items!

High School Halloween

Today is the first day I really miss elementary school. I looked forward to elementary school Halloween all year. Sarah and I would always coordinate our costumes and keep it a surprise until the parade. All afternoon was devoted to getting dressed, parading around the school, and parties!

Halloween at high school is not nearly that cool. It's just a normal day! So I borrowed my mom's awesome headband and wore my Halloween shirt. In my first hour Cooper was worried that I was trying to be cool with a feathery headband and then realized it was a Halloween headband. I guess I'm right on the edge of strange and cool.

Because I knew I would be a little sad I'm throwing myself a Halloween party so I have an excuse to wear a costume. More on that later.

Happy Halloween!

Parent Teacher Conferences

In high school everyone treats you like a real teacher. And with this new status comes real conferences. I got lined up just like every other teacher in the commons with a little table, two chairs for parents, and a sign with my name on it. Parents stopped by and I pulled out their grades and talked about their kids. Mostly, these went really well, because most kids do really well in drawing. But there were a few special conferences. Here are a few of the highlights.

After showing her son's failing grade due to the fact that he just choose not to turn in half of the assignments, his mom said, 'Oh he is so grounded for like a month!'

One student was doing really well but ended up getting a C because he didn't turn in a big project. To which his mom says, 'You mean he just threw away an A?' I told her he could do extra credit by visiting different museums around town. Her response, 'Oh, I've been wanting to go to the Nelson. There is going to be some forced, family, museum time!'.

Another mom asked my to let her know if I discovered the vitamin to motivate. So if anyone if out there who knows if this exists, let me know.

Other than that the conferences went a little like this, ' I really like your student. They are doing really well. Is he/she signed up for drawing 2 or painting?' I've got to keep building my program and one way to do that is to put the bug in parents' ears about signing up for more of my classes.

I believe conferences were a success. I guess we'll see next year when I see who enrolls in my classes.

Completed Still Life

The first still life project is complete. With the exception of a few special friends I think they turned out pretty good. Here is the wall outside my classroom. And below are a few gems.

The next project is already underway. We are practicing three different ways of shading and using ballpoint pens instead of pencils. I have great hopes for these drawings and will keep you posted on how they turn out.

Mail Call!

Today I got two great envelope surprises in my mailbox today. The first was from Mary and some pictures from fun times together. Look at how small Olivia is in that picture with Pierce and me in the foreground! So fun! Thanks Mary!

The next package was laugh out loud funny. Here is an overview of everything included.

Halloween bags, plastic spiders, a spider ring,funny wreath magnet, crayola paper, a red mask, a whole bags of white plastic baskets, and some strange doll heads on sticks. Here is a close up of the doll heads.

I got an email asking what I was planning with the heads, but I had already put them to good use.

Here she is taped to an easel keeping an eye on one of my sixth hour students, Charlie. Kay said it looked like it had a secret nanny cam. (Maybe it does, and Lisa is watching every move we make!)

Surprise!

My friend Sarah is pregnant and due in January. On Monday she went to the doctor to find out what she is having. She asked if I would like to find out via text or interschool mail. Which one did I choose? Interschool mail of course! I had to avoid facebook and talking with friends who already knew, but it was worth it. Today during third hour I walked down the halls wondering if the mail had arrived. It had! I opened the envelope with anticipation and found this...

Can you guess? She even had his name written on the cup. I think the fact that I could wait for this surprise gives me confidence that when I decide to have a baby I can wait until he/she arrives. I love a good surprise!

Congratulations Sarah! You will be a great mom!

My First Still Life!

As an elementary art teacher there wasn't much to a still life. In fact, as in depth as it got was setting real sunflowers on the table. Even then, most of the time I just had the students look at pictures. (so much easier when you have 2o+ classes all doing different projects.)

But in high school it is different. So here is my first attempt at putting together a still life for drawing 1. I have all the easels arranged around the still life so everyone gets a good view. Some of you may see things that used to belong to you.

We'll see how it goes. Some of the students were really concerned yesterday when they walked in, but then I informed them I don't want them to draw the WHOLE thing, but just a few items. This made them feel better until I pulled out the large paper and they realized this was going to be a big drawing. I think they'll get over it.

Interschool Mail

This envelope may not look like much to you, but I LOVE them! These are the interschool mail envelopes. That is free mail that is sent between schools. Because I switched schools this year I'm really going to need these since some of my best school friends work at other schools. But I have used the interschool mail system for a long time. There is nothing better than going to your mailbox in the middle of the day and getting something funny. I once was told that I am the only person who laughs when they check their mail. I hope I make some people laugh later this week because I just put some gems through the mail today!

Here are just a few funny/great things I have received through interschool mail; fake cheese, t-shirts, stuffed animal cat, and school pictures of teacher friends. I'm hoping to add to that list this year!

Still Life Items

Part of being an art teacher is collecting funny things. I'm getting ready to set up my first official still life as a high school teacher. Here are some things I pulled down to have students pick from when doing a preliminary drawings. Then I will hopefully put together a great still life for them to draw from. (If only my tables would show back up after they were hidden from the long term sub!)

As it is my first year in high school my shelves are not looking quite full of things to draw. So as you clean up around the house and get ready to send bags of stuff to charity, ask yourself, "Would Abbey's students enjoy drawing this?" If the answer is yes, I'd be happy to take those things off of your hands, if you live relatively close by.

Thanks Barbara for already giving me a box of great still life materials!

First Day Jitters!

The day started out with a pulled fire alarm. This took me back to my high school days when someone continually pulled the fire alarm for the whole semester. I think we had about 9 fire drills that semester. But that was before high schools had cameras everywhere. I'm sure my principal is already dealing with the culprit.

In other news, first hour could use a little work. Couldn't get my sounds on my computer to work! Bummer! Had the students fill out a survey about themselves and drawing. Some of them are really funny!

Writing reads, "I can draw better than this but it'll work for now:)"

(Independent study student)

This girl thought I was crazy for asking her to draw a self protrait without a mirror. I think she did just fine

And then...there is drawing I

I had this kid for almost two hours today because they extended lunch for the first day. Apparently I made an impression because I made it onto the drawing truck! Was a little worried about having the same class for this long, but they were my favorite part of the day!

New Classroom!

As much as I hate to admit it summer is slowly coming to an end. That means I have to get back to the classroom. And this year that means a little more work than last year because I have a new room. Here it is!

Obviously not ready for students, but I'll get it there. It's a great room, but I have to move everything around to make it feel like home.

I think I'm getting close to start putting posters on the walls. I'll keep you posted on my progress.