Balance

The beginning of this school year is throwing me curve ball after curve ball (my only excuse for not showing up here very often). I hope I learn how to hit these balls soon. At least I'm showing up every day for practice-- whether it is at work or at the kitchen table for homework each night. I love a challenge, but I haven't quite figured out how to master this school year yet.

Balance is the mantra I try to hold in my mind, and I hope that I am helping my children learn how to balance their interests and obligations, too. My son has three new endeavors: cello, after-school choir, and Taekwando. My daughter is adding Taekwando to her art, piano, and the increasing academic demands of fifth grade. Their schedules impact my schedule and vice-versa.

While I want my children to be academically successful, I also think the expectations of today's schools are sometimes unrealistic and just too much. I don't want my children sacrificing their creativity for worksheets, busy work, or multiple choice tests. I ask myself: "Do I have computers with bodies, or do I have children?" My vocal inflection on asking the previous question might equal Patrick Henry's cry: "Give me liberty or give me death!"

I remind myself that balance is important when I need to check off items on my "to-do list," but I also need to exercise. I may not have photographed or blogged about my newly formed knitting club at school, but I promise photos and a blog post after all twenty plus students get the hang of the basic knit stitch. I may not have a perfectly clean house, but I have found a few creative minutes here and there by sewing some needed p.j. pants, dyeing curtains with turmeric, and making journal covers and pillowcases for gifts.

And, I'm diligently searching for some writing time with that idea that keeps popping into my mind during moments of silence on my way to work and late at night before falling sleep. I have so much to say about education.

Painting (and Sewing) I: Lavender

I haven't been around the blog in a few days because I've been busy painting two bedrooms and sewing for one. My 10-year-old daughter needed an update. I had promised to re-do her room at the beginning of the summer, and since I return to work next Tuesday, I had to get busy!

Gone are the green walls, curtains, and rug that we inherited when we moved into this house about 5 years ago. Instead, we painted lavender walls and made curtains and a duvet cover based on patterns and instructions in Meg McElwee's book, Sew Liberated. We still have a few finishing touches-- organizing stuff, cleaning the closet, sewing a new sham & a seat cover for the desk hair, making fabric covered bulletin boards, and re-hanging some artwork.

We love the new look-- perfect for a tween and her dolls.

Next post: Painting II: Sky Blue Walls

Making Fib Accordion Books

Third graders at St. Therese Catholic School made their Fib accordion books on Wednesday and Thursday as part of a special project with visiting author/photographer, Sarah Campbell. We had already met Sarah during an author visit and reading of her new book, Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature, on March 31, 2010 (see our posts here and here). The next morning, Sarah returned to St. Therese for an outdoor photography session (posts here and here) with students on the playground.

Book-making was very hard work that involved measuring, folding, cutting, taping, and stapling. While the third graders were familiar with measurement, applying this skill required concentration and attention to details. I had thought we could make the books in one class period, but it actually took two, 30 minute sessions for all 13 students to complete the book-making from start to finish (along with returning and checking out new library books). Three students were able to complete the book in one session after watching me construct a book in a start-to-finish demonstration. Other students needed one-on-one assistance to complete the process.

Photos of a student-made, but empty, Fib accordion book are below. Sarah and I plan to create a step-by-step tutorial to share for making these books. Next week, the students will write their photography-inspired Fib poems in these bare books. The Fib books will not be blank for long!

Growing Patterns Photo Selection

In individual conferences, I met with third grade students to review their photos taken last Thursday on the school grounds of St. Therese Catholic School. I used Flickr to organize each student's photos into a set so that I could show them their photos as slide shows at my desk computer. Then, we looked at a few photos that stood out to each student from the slide show so that we could narrow down each set to one photo for the poem writing and book making. I remained neutral during the photo selection, and the students did a wonderful job picking out their better photos.

I recorded what the students said about their photo choices in the comments field of each photo. They chose photos for many different reasons. For some, colors or contrasting color combinations were important factors. For others, the image in the photo reminded them of something else. In some cases, students chose photos because they were "pretty" or because they remembered taking the photo.

When a photo was not in focus, the student was disappointed that he or she had not captured the photo desired. I reminded them that they took their photos with a camera that they used for the first time and that we did not have a lot of time to take our photos and review how photos were turning out on the playground.

Since I don't want to spoil the surprise of the students' final poems and books, I won't show you any of their final selections now. Instead, I'll let you see a peek of some of their other photos that almost made it into the final selection. Tomorrow, we will make our accordion books with measurements based upon the first few numbers in the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8. You can find good instructions for making a simple accordion book here. Can you guess how we will construct our Fibonacci accordion book? Check back soon to find out!

T. H. took this photo of pansies that her class planted around a tree outside their classroom. Her class also watches birds feeding at a bird feeder hung outside their classroom windows.

J. P. liked this photo of ants spilling out over the recycled rubber tire pieces that surround the playground equipment. He "loves ants."

Not every student looked towards the ground; some looked up at the large trees budding and shedding pollen. This was one of C. R.'s photos.

While less glamorous and colorful than some of the many flower photos the students took, I liked the textures of the lichen, tree branch, and grass in this photo by K. C.

Growing Patterns Classroom Project

Author and photographer, Sarah Campbell, visited my third grade literature connection class at St. Therese Catholic School on Wednesday, March 31st. She shared her new book, Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Patterns in Nature. You can read an interview I did with Sarah during the book's launch week, and you can read Sarah's blog post about yesterday here.

Even though Fibonacci numbers are not usually introduced in math curriculum until higher grades, patterns are very familiar to students even as young as three and four. Sarah's book and engaging persona help even math-challenged people like me understand the Fibonacci sequence and how to find this pattern in the natural world through the numbers of petals on flowers, spirals, and in nautilus shells. With the beautiful photo illustrations taken by Sarah and her husband, Richard, to explain the Fibonacci sequence, the book has appeal for mathematicians, naturalists, scientists, and artists of all ages.

Here, Sarah taught the students how to make a frame using scissors, rulers, pencils, and construction paper. This will help them practice framing photographs. Just as Sarah's book inspired good questions from the students, we believe that allowing them to take their own photographs of the natural world will inspire their writing. On April 1st, Sarah and I will lead students out on the pollen-covered playground (the yellow-green dusting happened overnight) to take photographs. We have 4 digital cameras to share between 13 students in roughly 35 minutes. Students waiting their turn for a real camera will practice and pretend with their paper frames.

After students have selected their best photograph, they will write a Fib poem based on their photograph. The home for this poem will be an accordion-style book also made using the first few numbers of the Fibonacci sequence. We believe these activities involving writing, construction, and measurement will reinforce the pattern of the Fibonacci sequence for the students, and it will also be fun!

Sarah answered a question from a student about how to take photos of animals or insects such as a wasp. "Very carefully!" she said. We discussed being very quiet, very still, and very patient. She asked students to think about what they might want to photograph by closing their eyes and imagining their playground and school campus for homework.

The third graders and I are very excited about this special project. I can't wait to see what happens today on the playground. Stay tuned for more!

Education Photography : Negotiation

Third through sixth grade students in literature connection classes completed their puppet creation for student-written commercials (in the style of early Jim Henson commercials) featuring Mississippi companies. This "group" project has already seen several class times of planning, playing, and putting together (more alliteration). Now, it is time to really hone in on the script, action, and personalities of the puppets. We are moving on to the production phase! All along, we have tested and developed our negotiating skills. Can you see students negotiating in the above photos?

Negotiating with materials was also a feature of the project. Students has to work with the "stuff" we had or that they brought from home. No new materials were purchased. We had bins and bags of felt, yarn, old socks, and lots of recycled objects such as bottle caps, boxes, and old craft supplies from past projects. Sometimes an idea worked, and sometimes it was back to the drawing board. It was always a little loud "down in the basement" because negotiating in small groups is not a silent activity. It was always messy because creativity with children demands a willingness for organized chaos. The results, even while the process may have been frustrating or challenging at times, are amazing. Light bulbs went off along the way, and I see some pride in accomplishment in the photos below. Negotiating with classmates and with materials was successful and made for some invigorating days of learning and teaching.




P.S. Sixth graders are not too old to play with puppets.

Binding Work

I have a portable and manageable project for today to take along and work on in little stitches of time in between my daughter's piano competition and my son's history project for school. Can you tell what my "Saturday" project is from the photo above?

I finished machine quilting this baby quilt yesterday. It is my second machine quilting project-- a little larger than the first. Others could probably have made one or more of these in one day, but I have worked on it in small blocks of time over several weeks. Last night, I cut out the strips of fabric for the binding, prepared it, and rolled it up to be ready for some sewing with my morning tea.

I have surmised from reading quilt/crafting blogs that there is division among quilters between those who loathe the binding work and those who love it. After only two small projects, I think I belong to the second category. The binding work is like a leave-taking ceremony or a vesper service at the close of the day. If I am able to make a large quilt, I can imagine that the binding work will be much more difficult, maybe laborious, but also more meaningful.

For those quilts that have been pieced and/or quilted by hand from fabrics gathered and scraps saved over years of daily life. . . I can't even imagine. . .

Education Photography: Challenge

The creative process can be both frustrating and invigorating. These are photos of my daughter working on her sketchbook assignment for visual arts: look, hold, draw. . . look, hold, draw. . . erase or restate. . . look, hold, draw. Each assignment provides challenges as she learns new skills, solves problems, practices techniques, and makes both mistakes and improvements day by day. It is hard work-- sometimes involving tears, furrowed brows, and crumpled paper balls thrown on the floor. It is sometimes an emotional roller coaster until she arrives at the finished product (on the other side of the challenge) and considers the results of the hard work that took her to a new place and a new sketch.

Creating Space

The breaking water lines in this fair city gave my children and me an entire week of time off from school. Yes, some of it will have to be made up later, but I found the extra time just what I needed when I needed it. It allowed me to do some organizing and cleaning out. The cleaning out, in turn, helped me conceive this little corner of space as a spot just for me to work on some special projects-- a room of my own-- a corner of my own.

Above is the view from behind my corner-- the foyer space.

Below is the view from the chair (wearing my recently made pajamas). I can sit with my notebook or my netbook and look out of the nearby window.

On my little table, I have the things nearby that I need: a place for some hot tea, pencils, paper, books to read and consult, and a lamp.

Probably even more difficult than creating a physical space, however, is finding the creative space and time needed to work. It is so easy to let almost everything else get in the way. Thankfully, bi-weekly meetings with a critique partner are helping me construct blocks of time in which to work. This week, I might not have even made one hour for my project except that I knew I had a meeting scheduled on the calendar. Time is available even when it seems scarce, if I take hold of it, shape it, and sit with it.

Now I have everything I need. . . some ideas, a corner for reading, working, writing, and thinking, and time. Wait a minute! A corner of my own? Well, except for those two gray cats (looking out the window), and their company is welcome.

Tearing Down the House

I haven't blogged in a few days because, frankly, I've been avoiding the new year. I haven't been ready to make resolutions. I haven't been ready to return to work and school. I haven't been ready to let go of Christmas and the wonderful freedom this holiday has given me to spend time with my family and work on fun, creative projects like sewing doll clothes and pajamas (also wearing those pajamas a lot).

Yesterday, we took down the tree. This morning, I let the children dismantle and partake of the beautiful gingerbread house that was a gift from their grandparents. We are burning down the candles from the advent wreath until nothing is left. The children rehearsed for the Epiphany play today after church. Just as we eased into Christmas, we will ease out of it a little at a time.

I'm easing into 2010, too. My resolutions have come to me gradually in little epiphany moments here and there over the last few days. On a cold, afternoon walk with my daughter on New Year's Day, I realized that I need to let go of her endeavors a little so that she can assume more responsibility for her own work and dreams. Practically, this means I won't suggest to her that she should be practicing piano or start working on her sketch assignment for the week. She will need to budget her time and find out what works for her. In the last few years, I've given her sufficient examples of planning, process, and steady work. At 10, I think she is ready to manage her own activities and school work.

On this same walk, I had a strong memory of taking a New Year's walk with my mother over 20 years ago. We had walked out of town into the country down a road that changed from pavement to dirt. A cold front hit when we were several miles from home, and we were not prepared with adequate clothing. Sleet came down on our unprotected hands, ears, and faces. We had to stop every few minutes to warm our hands under our shirts. I'm not sure why someone didn't come to rescue us, but we did make it home and were able to laugh about our misfortunes and adventures.

In the new year, I would like to spend some time with memories like this-- maybe writing some of them down. I also have two other writing projects that I need to make some slow and steady progress on. Thank goodness I have a writing partner and mentor to help keep me accountable. To free up some time and energy, I may blog a little less and write a little more.

The "tearing down the house" metaphor for this post also applies to some cleaning out around this house. Needing attention are drawers, files, closets, and boxes still unpacked from the last move.

Finally, I want to finish some sewing and knitting projects that are in limbo land, and I want to work on a real quilt!

Happy New Year. It is time to start building a new one.