in general

Here are some of the photos mentioned in my last post. (Hard to believe I'm actually getting around to posting them, let alone so soon! We'll see how long this lasts.)

Getting ready for the Oregon Trail - the supplies:

Getting everything laid out and organized. Placemats served as rugs, cake tins as pots and pans. Then of course you have your dishes, blankets, and toys (though I doubt the pioneers had hot pink jump ropes).

The baskets, all packed up and ready to be brought to school, where everything was set out at the "General Store" for the kids to gather and (re)pack themselves.

Each group received a "tool box" and a "water barrel" (empty 9.5 liter plastic container), so they all started with two essentials and the same amount of weight.

And now for my life outside of school - art:

Working on the designs...

...then cutting them out after making a template. (I'm officially in love with my light box, by the way.)

Ta-Da! The final product. Er, one of them anyway. This is from a set of four, called "Natura." (The other glasses each have a different design - branches with leaves, berries, and a floral motif.)

And then of course, there's my alter-ego. For all those times I sat around thinking, "Man, I wish I had a drinking glass with Harriet the Spy etched on it. That's the only thing standing between me and happiness!" (Not. But it does make me pretty happy.)

So there you have it: A brief and fascinating summary of my life these past few months. Ish. School and art. And of course there have been books, always books. Actually, that sounds more like the story of my life in general, not just recently. So goes it.

the best laid plans....

So much for getting back into blogging! Na ja, please excuse me. I actually began posts here and there, mostly about the third grade class I was working in all spring as part of my social studies and science methods courses (never posted any of them though!). I even have some pictures of the first lesson I taught, which was on the Oregon Trail. The students were divided into groups and had to pack their own "wagons" (giant plastic bins) after making a list of supplies. They also had a weight requirement (of course), along with a couple, shall we say, difficult fates: two groups just had babies, and two groups had oxen die. These fates changed the types of supplies needed and weight limitations, respectively.

All in all, the lesson went over really well. The kids had been learning about the trail for a few weeks, and this activity gave them an opportunity to use their knowledge in a concrete way. One girl asked me if we were "going to play this game tomorrow," while I overheard two other students talking about how much fun they had. A few others said, "Can't you teach us all the time?" And another teacher even asked me for a copy of the lesson. So yeah, I'd say it was a success :)

Anyway, one more day of finals, and then.....

SUMMER CLASSES!!

Which actually started last week. Yep, I've been taking classes at two different places for the past two weeks. Gotta love trimesters. Oy.

Meh, the summer is looking more and more school-driven - I also plan to finish up my student teaching application in the next few weeks. (Slightly more complex than it might be normally, seeing as I want to go abroad to student teach.) And I'm gonna try and figure out a research project to do next summer (if you could study anything, anywhere, what would you choose? SUCH a dilemma!)

It's not all so exhaustingly academic, though. Just took my first Bikram yoga class today, and I plan to continue. Good stuff. Hard, but good (especially when it's over, haha). I'm also planning to take some ceramics classes at this local studio. And then there's a possible road trip to North Carolina and another to Michigan, plus a weekend at Lake Geneva come August. Ugh, and believe me, I am more than ready to hit the road. More than ready to enjoy myself and have a break here and there! (What a novel concept, eh? But then again, in the future I'll have summers free...that whole teaching thing :) )

I'll try and post the pictures from my lesson in the future. They're basically just the supplies we used, but still. Kinda interesting, depending on, uh, your interests, I guess. Also have photos of some art projects I've been working on (mainly glass etching), so maybe I'll share those, too. We'll see. Until then....

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well...

Let's hope so.