Catching Up!

It has been a long time since I posted, so today is all about getting caught up with what is going on.  The most exciting thing since December has been a professional exchange with a high school in Belize.    Four of us from Northside were there from April 4th to the 13th.  We were in San Pedro, on the beautiful island of Ambergris Caye.  It was the first time I had been to Central America!

Above:

Our Belizean teacher friends Miss Giselle, Miss Joy and Miss Conchita working on 

visual journals in my classroom!

I brought about ten student journals with me that students from all over the school had worked on.  I presented them to teachers at SPHS.  While I was there I worked with students during and after school on visual journals. I met some wonderful students and teachers!  We are planning to go back next year. I was invited to paint a mural on the white wall around the school.  I'm hoping to bring two students next year that can help work on the mural and document the experience.

I am hoping to establish contact with a school in England since I will be there in July.  I have written to one and if I don't hear back I have another one I will try!  I would love to visit and talk to an art teacher in England to discuss similarities and differences.  It would be great to raise money and fly someone here to visit, since I know I will be there every summer!  I love collaborative projects, and think the students do as well.

Our last day of exams (and graduation!) is Monday June 10th.  We have a lot to do until then, including an art exhibit that all schools in the county are participating in,  a yearbook party when the yearbooks arrive (sometime in the next two weeks!  YIKES!!) and getting Art III and IV Honors portfolios and exams done.

I also started a Visual Journal Round Robin a few months ago, and am really enjoying that.  It is very rewarding to get something so beautiful in the post, and then work in it and contribute to whatever theme someone picked, and then mail it off the next month to the next contributor.  I will get my book back sometime next February I think.  (I hope!!)

This summer's European trip with students is to Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.  We'll be traveling June 24th to the 1st of July, at which time I will head to beautiful Suffolk!!  I can't wait to see my family again.  You'd think it gets easier and easier each year, being so far away, but it actually gets harder and harder.

One of my pages from my recent journal.  I'll post more pics from Belize later!

Ready to Pack my Bags and GO!

The travel bug is eating away at me.  I am ready to go exploring and see new places, new people, new colors and landscapes.   As a result of what I consider to be lots of hard work and lots of great luck I am going to be traveling to quite a few places in 2013!   My first stop will be an educational trip to Belize with other teachers.  I will be hopefully doing some art workshops with students and teachers at San Pedro High School in Ambergris Caye, Belize.  We will be there for a week in February.   I am really looking forward to visiting Central America.  I want to make some connections between the students at Northside High School and the students at San Pedro High School.  I want to see Mayan Ruins so I can share that with my wonderful AP Art History online students and my spring semester students.  I am also looking forward to documenting the experience with my Canon and iPhone.

In June I will be departing with students and adults on a trip to Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels. 
Click on the link above to see the itinerary and information.  I will be having a meeting in my classroom on Thursday December 13th at 5:00pm.  It is very important that travelers enroll on the trip as soon as possible if you know you will be going.  This is to ensure that when flights are booked, you end up on the same plane as us!  Late travelers sometime end up having to travel on a different itinerary.  This trip will give us some wonderful tours but will also provide us with some wonderful free time to go exploring.  In Amsterdam we will all be going to visit the newly re-opened Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum!   In Paris we will go up to Sacre Coeur to see the city from above, to see the famous artists square and perhaps have some portraits or silhouettes done!

I am looking forward to spending some time in London and with my family in Suffolk in the summer after this trip.