New school year

Today is the first day of a new experiment. I've been teaching art full time for the last 9 years. This year will be different. I didn't get my contract renewed at the end of the last school year, and I interviewed at a couple of places, but nothing worked out as far as a full time teaching position. This is both fantastic and horrible at the same time. Fantastic because to be quite honest I am getting burned out on teaching full time. I simultaneously love it and hate it. I love seeing what my students make and I love it when they ask me questions that I don't know the answers to or when they ask me to help them to do something that requires me to learn a new skill. Some things I had to learn about last year included moss graffiti, some new photoshop skills, experimenting with screen printing, and I had to learn how to knit on my arms - which is super fun by the way. But sometimes I really hate it. It's harder to put my finger on exactly what it is about it that I hate, but I sometimes find it to be physically and emotionally draining.

So, this year I'm going to try something different. I'm going to grad school at night and working in the studio during the day and I may pick up a part-time job doing some kind of office work or subbing to supplement my income, I'm just not sure yet. It's an experiment.

I sometimes talk to parents and teachers about process vs. product in the art room. Sometimes the projects that crash and burn are the ones where students learned the most - like how to use a new tool and the really fantastic cute things that make it out into the hallway and contests are the ones where they learned the least. I have the feeling I'm going to be learning a lot this year.