A Christmas Carol - Update

Only two weeks until DaVinci Academy's production of "A Christmas Carol." My students and I have been working hard creating "the Ghosts" and I'm looking forward to seeing them perform.

Mr. Slee (drama teacher) and I wanted Marley and the Christmas ghosts to be different than the rest of the performers, so we decided to explore puppetry and audio effects. I think we have come up with some very creative results. Here's some photos of a couple of the ghosts in progress.

A Christmas Carol

So, while at the Shakespeare Competition in Cedar City, Utah, Adam Slee (DaVinci Academy's drama teacher) and I decided to try an interesting take on "A Christmas Carol." I will be working with my Design Team at DaVinci Academy to create four larger-than-life puppets/costumes for the ghosts in the production.  Mr. Slee is taking a fun, non-traditional approach to the sound effects and staging.  It should be a very enjoyable production.  I'll post more information soon.

Struggles

Today a student of mine was really struggling with school and life.  He came to the art studio looking to get away from things and I asked him to draw a picture of the current still-life at the front of the room.  He decided to give it a shot.  About fifteen minutes later, he was frustrated, hated the drawing, and stood holding it over the garbage can.  I told him he was giving up too soon and that he needed to keep on working.  I could tell he didn't want to bother with it any more, but he consented and returned to his drawing board.  At the end of class, he came up to me with a big smile, holding the drawing proudly.  With a little more time and effort, he was able to create a wonderful drawing.  I pointed out that it was a good thing he didn't quit earlier.  He nodded agreement.

Too often, we get frustrated and want to quit when things don't go our way, but if there is one lesson I hope my students can get from the visual arts, it will be to not give up.  In so many ways, drawing is the process of working through mistakes.  It takes persistence to succeed at drawing, painting, and life.

And now . . .

It's been a very busy summer.  I decided I was going to bite the bullet and complete my coursework for Utah's Alternative Routes to Licensure program.  This is a great program that let's people like me, with a bachelors degree but not a teaching certificate, become qualified to teach.  I entered the program in 2009.  They gave me three years to complete the program, but I decided I wanted it done now.  I took four classes through Salt Lake Community College and University of Phoenix this summer, and I completed the last class this past Monday.  I keep telling myself it's nice to be done, that maybe next summer, I'll actually get to enjoy it . . . but the truth is, I kind of feel lost.  At the time the classes seemed over-whelming, but now that they are over, I miss them.  I like learning.  I like sitting in a classroom filled with teachers because I'm guaranteed to learn something interesting about pretty much everything.  And A.R.L. teachers are amazing.  Almost all of us have worked professionally in our fields and so we bring with us some really in-depth knowledge about the subjects we teach.  It makes for really fascinating discussions.  Anyway, I've started looking at Masters programs, but I've promised my wife I will wait for a year or two.  In the mean time, it will be nice to be able to draw and paint more, read more (something besides textbooks), and actually blog a bit more I suppose.

What is your opinion on Creativity?

I'm taking a course this week on teaching literacy.  As part of the class, we were asked to create an "Anticipation Guide",  which is a series of statements about a text that students are about to read.  I didn't have a particular text in mind at the time, but derived the following statements from several books and discussions on the topic.  They are designed to foster thought and discussion.   And I wouldn't mind sparking a little discussion right now, so here is my anticipation guide.  I hope you'll take a few minutes to respond and leave a comment.  Thanks.

Anticipation Guide

Directions:

·         -Read the following statements about Creativity

·         -Consider whether you agree or disagree with these statements.

·         -Please share your response to some or all of these in the comments section.

1.  Some people are not born with creative ability.

2.  Creativity is a skill that can be learned through knowledge and practice.

3.  Creativity is predominantly an attribute of the arts.

4.  Creativity is the culmination of choice.  Freedom and skill permit greater opportunities for choice and therefore foster greater creativity.

5.  Creativity is the same thing as self-expression.