back at it

a few weeks ago i accepted a part time job through Columbia College's Center of Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP for short). basically Columbia College hires teaching artists to develop enriching 14 week art outreach courses that kids sign up for after school.

the start of a brainstorm. 

anyway, i find myself back in the throws of planning and timing projects. this time for a new age group. the internet offers so many ideas, but it's often overwhelming. that's why i start with School Arts magazine. it's a great and inexpensive resource. online format available. it provides a nice idea of what other teachers are doing and being recognized for, even if i rarely use any of the projects i read in them.

here's the blurb i wrote to advertise the class to 6th-8th graders. the title will be one of the 3. i'm partial to the first, but i'm leaving it up to the director to decide.

"Mixed Messages" or "Mixed Media Messages" or "Message Sent"  

Make artwork to express your own unique ideas that you think are important to communicate to the world. We will paint, draw, cut, write, stamp, sew, post, update, decode and send our ideas out in fun ways. We will dig deep into what it means to communicate with others as an artist while making some beautiful artwork you can take home to keep or keep on sharing. It's art and design with a message sent.

i still have "mixed" feelings about the job. not CCAP, which seems just fine, but teaching in general. me doing this job is emotionally conflicting to me. but i'm committed now. and just the fear of being unprepared and embarrassing myself in front of a group of people, no matter what age, is enough to make me do anything to the best of my ability! so i know my class projects will come together. i might enjoy it. i really hope the kids do.

i'm wondering if this experience can lead into something new. i'd like to try being on the administration side of things soon.