Adteacher

I got to that point today - that strange moment when you realize you have placed your "world of work" into boxes on a tabletop in a few square feet of one room...when I turned the lights off this afternoon to leave until tomorrow morning, I realized how little the room really matters. The life is brought to any space by the occupants. I am never as happy as when I see the students' faces and see them working in the studio. That's what it is ALL about. Otherwise, it's just an empty black void.

So I have been thinking about change a lot lately. There is something kind of exciting about change isn't there? I love when the seasons change, I love when a new year comes along, I like it when people walk in with a new color of hair - I can't even keep the same wallpaper on my computer for longer than about a day before I am ready for... you guessed it... a change. He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson I believe that change is good, generally. Granted, at my age I have witnessed some changes that didn't end up being for the better, but if we did not have change in the first place we would have no basis for comparison. We would just idle along in the same way forever, and that doesn't seem productive or even rational. I am undergoing a big series of changes right now in my life. My kids are all grown and essentially they are all adults and on their own. I am changing my at...

PM Advanced Class AM Ad Design 1 (with 3 advanced students thrown in!) So... with graduations over and everyone recovering from a weekend of celebration, I think it is a great time to say it once and for all. Farewell to all of my students - especially to the seniors - and I know it won't be long till we see each other again. My kids know they can always come see me and I will be there for all of them even though they will have to look in a new place to find me now! I will be asking all of the seniors to join the alumni group and we will keep meeting about every nine weeks. (New studio, same vibe. It is about the people, not the location!) Career Center East is located on FM 544 (Parker Road) behind Killian Middle School and next to Independence Elementary School. This is just north of Castle Hills and close to Highway 121, Hebron High School, and The Colony High School. If you need a map to know where to find me from now on, here it is! I won't be there on a regular basis...

Today has been quite a day for all of us here at good old DJCC. This was the last official day of classes for our seniors from Marcus, The Colony and Lewisville HS. They have graduation practice in the morning, and so we won't see them again until our "Bon Voyage" party for the studio on Thursday. It will be hard for all of us to see the studio doors close for the last time, but it still continues on (at a smaller scale) next spring with a new teacher who will bring great things to DJCC. I know it won't take too long for the numbers to get built back up to the point where they were in recent times. I feel confident in my ability to keep students involved next year and to identify the right kids for the program at the high schools. I'm very excited to get going at the new school and to break in the new studio space, and it shouldn't be too long now till I get a key to get into the new school. I think the principal over there, Mr. Moreno, gets in on the 14th. I...

I always love the day of the Media Arts Review because I end up seeing lots of people that I haven't seen for so long. I love to reaquaint myself with former students in particular. It's so much fun to hear what they have all been up to. It's nearly 1:30 and our first showing is in an hour and a half. Things are so well organized that I have time to do a quick post. I guess the unfortunate thing is that this is the date for a lot of graduations and also for a big comic convention that a lot of our kids are interested in attending - so we may have a more sparse crowd than in some years. We hope for the best! It is a gorgeous day in north central Texas, and everyone should be involved in something. It is a bad day to have nothing to do! Get out there and enjoy!

Tomorrow is sure to be a very busy and fun day. It is the yearly Media Arts Review for our students. We are going to have a show at our center that will highlight the accomplishments of our young adults over the course of this past semester, in particular. There will be a few students included from last semester too, but we try to concentrate most of the show on the spring semester advanced classes and their work.This year, it is also a last glance in the rearview mirror for my hubby and me before we relocate to the new career center across the district. It has been an excellent time for us here at Dale Jackson, but it is time for us to move on and do something new and to allow fresh ideas to come to DJCC too. It will be good for all! I always enjoy sitting in the Media Tech lab and watching the students' work go by. I enjoy the buzz of the crowd as the show is ending, and as they walk away talking about things that they saw. (I guess I have a little bit of Hollywood in me after al...

I'm lucky. I get to see love a lot. I see it in my family, I see it in my friends, I even see it in my students. They are such a great bunch of young people, and even though it obviously isn't the same kind of love that I have for my own family, it is still that same warm feeling of familial happiness and care. We all care about each other. That brings me to the topic of the day - how wonderful it is to have love in your life, and how sad it is when love is missing. The funny thing is, we all have to find it for ourselves in our own time. Love is out there, floating around in the atmosphere - search hard enough, and you will be allowed to find it. I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone or who will be the person for you, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might not b...