Sunday, October 01, 2006

Sunday Thoughts........

Some of you know I am a teacher (and for all of the others-now you know). Yup-long suffering, bladdity blah blah blah. Truth is, even though it is considered "stylish" to dis your job, I LOVE what I do. I have been doing it for 25 years, so I had better like the job. I have taught a real range of things. Kindergarten to Grade 8, Core French (I still have nightmares about some of that), a Grade 9 class (short while), OAC economics (partly in Europe) and university classes (at the Faculty of Education at Queen's University). And I have written a bunch of stuff (believe it or not- I actually AM quite literate!!!!)-like Family Math, and I co-wrote a unit in the Grade 7 science textbook. So I try to expand the job-making it different all the time so that I don't get bored. Now that I am at the end of my career (I still find that hard to swallow), I have decided there must be a way for me to actually make my mark in a physical way. And it all started thanks to my superintendent of education (think-BIG BOSS). Now to backtrack a bit-this superintendent and I were teachers together way back when. While we never taught in the same building together, she and I would get involved in projects together. She is musically gifted-can do amazing things with kids. And, she often needed backdrops and such for her musical presentations. That's where I came in. I used to paint them for her. (Most memorable-the three houses for the pigs-each one done in the style of a different master) Fast forward to the present-this superintendent spoke to my principal about the state of our school-as in "Why wasn't Deb allowed extra time and materials to paint murals to cover up the uglier parts of the building?" So-this has opened up doors for me. Because of this comment, I have been given pretty much free rein (reign?) on this mural. And also opened up the possibility of doing more murals in the school. With kids. I am beyond excited. This is a very cool thing for me to do. I am NOT doing the graffiti like murals that often show up with kids and tend to look pretty much the same as all the other ones. I can't bear those. So-as the job progresses, I will post a photo or two. But if you have any particular expertise in this area-let me know. The other result of all of this is an acknowledgement that I really do know what I am doing in the art area-and that I should be teaching more art classes. Love it.

PS- The mural that I am currently planning is a three panel piece-three monkeys (all dressed up in art deco style clothes)-the first "Hear no Evil"-and you can guess the other two!

1 comment:

Peg-woolinmysoup said...

Deb - what a wonderful project. If you go to www.chemainus.com and click on the murals, it will take you to other sites. This little down was all but down and out when the murals saved the day. They are outdoor murals and they have even painted footprints on the sidewalks to guide you through the town and a little book to tell you what you are viewing. Apparently the artists return regularly to maintain the murals. Hope this helps!