Adteacher

Wow, I unearthed a dusty, inactive blog and have decided to reactivate and write more now that I've just let it rest since the 2012-13 school year. I have been experiencing many hearty, rich years of active teaching recently, including having the honor of being selected to the Top 5 finalists for Lewisville ISD Teacher of the Year in the 2016 school year. I didn't "win"- that honor goes to Rhonda Shelton, an awesome English teacher at Lewisville High School - but being chosen in a grouping of five high school teachers out of many thousands in LISD put a nice bow on the whole experience of teaching high school in Texas for over 20 years and still felt like a giant win to me. Thanks to everyone who has inspired me over the years. I hope you all know who you are. The aforementioned honor is not all that matters about these recent years, that is for sure. I think the most important part of these years by far have been the numerous students that have made their way ...

The studio reopens on Monday! After not posting since springtime, I have decided it is time to create regular posts again now that the 2012-13 school year is here! I feel so excited when I get the new roster of students every semester: I'm not only happy to see the number of students returning for the second or even the third time, but I am also very happy to see the number of young first year students that we get every semester. This year is appearing to be another capacity year with every seat full and not just for the fall semester, but also for the spring. Lots of people continue to want to learn about design and art and especially how to incorporate technology to help them start a career in college in the field. This year, it appears that we have a record number of sophomore students who have signed up to take the course, so in a few years' time, we should have an outstanding crop of very experienced looking portfolios to send to the National Portfolio Days. (This year...

I've been kind of looking forward to this day for awhile, because I always make the most of my summers...but by the same token, I've been kind of dreading this day too. I always look forward to traveling and spending time doing things at home. I love having these few months off work, and it gives me a chance to re-charge for a new school year (2012-13 is just around the corner!) It's very interesting to feel that familiar lump in my throat for about the 15th year in a row, as my students walk out the door for the "theoretical" last time though. I know that when (and if) they come back, it will be to visit, not to learn and to create here in the studio. I have had my time with them, and now it is someone else's turn to influence and help them. I always feel a little bit funny about that. Some of these people I have known since they were in middle school, so it's weird to see them grow up and fly away! But the cool places that they will get to go! We...

Filling our younger students with hope... As we work our way closer to another outstanding year, with a total calculated estimate of over a million dollars in scholarship awards to this year's outstanding seniors in my classroom here at Career Center East alone, it is helpful to take stock of how we are helping students at a much younger age as well. We at Career Center East had a group of young students from the 5th grade tour through here today after school. One of the things that their teacher shared with me is that they are a group of students who are currently not hopeful that they have college in their future, that the ultimate goal is completion of high school. She is trying to change their vision. Bless her and lots more like her who try to give our youngest students a new way of looking at their lives, beyond the vision that they have been given by families or others. Sometimes it is difficult to look past obstacles, and there are people in education th...

I have a theory. Even though we have a designated week for appreciating teachers (and it happens to be this particular week) I really feel that you just can't really appreciate your teachers fully until a little later in life. If even then... I love the fact that we are getting treated nicely this week, with a whole slate of treats and events from various people in our school. Who doesn't like to feel appreciated, honestly? One of the things I know is that one of the teachers I really appreciated the most after getting older and gaining perspective was one of the ones that was labeled the most demanding ("meanest") in the school as an elementary school student. She happened to "like" me as a student, but she was very hard on many of my classmates. I was a student who was naturally motivated to make A's and B's in school, so she really never gave me a "hard time", but she saw the potential that some of my friends had who were not do...

On my other blog, (the class assignment blog which is at ccedesign.blogspot.com), you can plainly see that there is still a lot going on around school. We have multiple assignments going on, and we are preparing for the Media Arts Review in mid-May, which is our year-ending capstone experience around here. I have been writing a lot about our seniors. While I know it is impossible to build a great department without great seniors - I am also aware that you have to have an "up and coming" group of great underclassmen to lead in the future. When it gets "down to brass tacks" it takes everyone doing their job on a daily basis. The students, teachers and administrators have to have the best interests of the students at heart on a day to day basis. I have found that we here at CCE are fortunate to have intelligent motivated people in all of those roles. I feel very lucky to have some really strong people in place as sophomores and juniors. I feel that some of them are...

100% of all CCE Graphic Design and Illustration seniors this semester are college bound: Out of 43 seniors who attended CCE this year, 13 plan to attend a local community college first, and the other 30 are going directly to university programs or design colleges. Collin College is the first most attended community college, and Northlake is second. The highest attended university is the University of North Texas, and others include Texas Christian University, Texas State University, University of Texas, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida State, Stephen F. Austin, and Texas State Technical College. Most of these students received academic or artistic scholarships. Some major accolades for our seniors this year: Kade O'Casey -accepted to multiple major art schools: Maryland Institute College of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Ringling College of Art and Design. Total scholarships offered by all schools: over $136,000 Kade ...