Adteacher

Maturity. It means different things depending on what phase of life we are in, I've noticed. I have recently had some interesting "mature" conversations. Some have been with colleagues, as I prepare my classroom for the impending move-out day, I get visits from co-workers and others who ask questions like: "are you counting down the days yet?" I guess they wonder how preoccupied with endings I am. Well-meaning, but that is not how I view this phase of my life. I look at it as a beginning, really! I see the end of my years in Lewisville ISD as the beginning of someone else's chance to shine. I hope that the new teacher understands how badly I hope they are successful and happy in this studio. When you are a high school student, I think it is typical to be routinely thought of as immature just because of a lack of experience in life, but I met with a group of 10 students who will be returning for their senior year with the new teacher here at Career ...

Oh my goodness. Since switching gears from the business world and coming into the world of education 21 years ago, I have accumulated lots of memories, and lots of "stuff". You know, we all have it. It's like the drawer in the kitchen that holds a bit of this, and a bit of that, has suddenly exploded and filled a whole studio! I have been working gradually to prepare to leave my formal public school teaching career and move into a small private creative practice and semi-retirement, and I cannot fit a whole studio's worth of "stuff" into my already bursting at the seams home. So what to do? I have been gradually purging, and I find that it is a very satisfying feeling to give things away to people who can make use of them. For example, my students have been very interested in some of my books and prints. I have a massive collection of books about art and design. Most of my students are just about to enter the world of serious study of these subj...