Adteacher

My birthday is coming up on Monday, so the gift that I am giving to myself is a weekend full of rest and relaxation before the final push to the end of the semester. I have decided that I will try to get some time to spend alone, doing things that I want to do. One of the things that I have decided to do this weekend is spend some time reading. I haven't been sleeping well during the night lately, but for some reason have been able to sleep really well during the late evening hours. (From about 8:00 until I inexplicably wake up around 11 PM and can't get back to sleep until around 3 AM). Weird stuff. Anyway, during the time that I normally spend reading, I have been sleeping, so I have some catching up to do. This was actually a great week, the students were fun and full of energy. My morning group went out and shot some photos that made me laugh, and I would like to share them with you gradually over the next several days. There are too many of them for one entry, so get rea...

In the last few days, I have been thrilled to learn about a great opportunity for one of our seniors, advanced class student from Hebron HS, Cason Hallock. Cason has been asked to be a contributing photographer for the official publication of the American Institute of Architects in Dallas. This publication is a magazine called "Columns" and Cason has been in correspondence with the art director there recently with regard to their publication of the image below. This image was taken a few weeks ago during our Tuesday photography field outing. A small group of photographers goes out on Tuesday afternoons to shoot out in the field, bringing back photos to be checked for their portfolio and matted for our photography exhibition. This one was spotted by Ms. Sparks from AIA Dallas, and this letter was sent to Cason... "I’m always looking for photos for our magazine, Columns. I look for photos that are architectural in nature, considering our publication is largely about t...

Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm. Robert Louis Stevenson said that. I concur. It is during the quiet days that we regain our pacing. If life was in a constant whirlwind, as my life sometimes is, it would be difficult to regain the balance needed to be a successful individual. I find that I am blessed with the occasional quiet day, and this was indeed one of those. I needed it. The students were awesome today. It was individual project day, and so I had a few of them out of the classroom doing photo shoots. I was missing four of my advanced students because they were out on a field trip this afternoon with the Marcus HS Art Club. I missed them, but I was glad they got the chance to go out and visit the museums. I have a field trip coming up soon, and I am looking forward to a day out doing some photography with the students. I am taking the students three places on our field...

Ha. I guess this photo on the right kind of makes me laugh. All the years that I have been a mother, I don't think I have said those words. It seems appropriate on Mother's Day to take a step back and look at myself through the lens of motherhood. I have known many mothers in my life, and I have watched them operate on a daily basis through all kinds of situations. I have watched mothers work through raising kids without a partner, I have seen women taking care of their own children at the same time they are taking care of aging parents... I have watched women struggle as they battled their own illnesses at the same time that they were raising their family. (I've even tasted that experience to some extent myself, with the onset of Epilepsy at the age of 38, now almost 15 years ago - a life altering event.) I think that some moms are superhuman in their ability to deal with life and all of its challenges, and the bounds of their hearts are limitless. I think that as a mom, I...

Today we (the new faculty and staff members) got to see the new Career Center East, and it is fabulous. I am so happy to see how the studio space is shaping up... I was just overwhelmed by anticipation of a new challenge as I walked up those stairs to get to the studio. There is still dust on the floor and the windows are smeared with fingerprints, etc., due to construction, but it is all there! The furniture will be coming in by July, and at that time it will really start to shape up and look like a school. I love the design of the studio. It is 1800 square feet of heaven to me. There were about 10 or so people on this tour today. Mr. Carter, the STARS/GIS program instructor, Mr. Feany, the Engineering teacher who is coming over from Berkner HS in Richardson, Ms. Deaver who will be teaching Criminal Law, Mr. Jackson, who is the Audio/Video Production teacher, Ms. Lewis who is the Cosmetology instructor, plus the newly hired Health Science technology teacher whose name I hav...

This was one of those days that was so full, so rich, it is hard to describe. My students all made me so proud today. We had our annual spring semester hallway event today, where we try to take a product that is slightly difficult to sell and see how well we can do at promoting it. The students have to brainstorm and conceptualize a method of appeal to their peers. The product that we chose to promote this semester was the old favorite canned pork product, SPAM. All day long, the students had to display their talent for marketing and advertising by executing an event in our school's hallways that involved setting up a booth with promotional material and samples. It was great! There were 12 groups in all, and I can honestly say that no groups were failures. Some were much better than others, but no one dropped the ball and just didn't come through. It was a great event, lots of fun for the students and also for us as teachers. The winning group overall was the advanced group...

An automaton is described as the following: a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own power. I've got to define it more narrowly to make you clearly understand the video above. More appropriate definition in this instance is a whimsical kinetic mechanized toy-like device which are made to move via such means as wind, water, or hand-cranking. This toy that my daughter made for her UNT Design class is a mechanical whirligig automaton, which I have recently begun to affectionately refer to as the "Twitterbox". The egg cracks open to reveal a small bird while other birds "fly" around the spiral as the hand crank is turned. The whole toy was handmade from wood and painted. This is an example of the interesting challenges faced in college design classes. Just thought you would be interested in seeing what a 3D design class assignment looks like. In other news, today was a gorgeous spring day in north Texas. I know it won't be too lon...