How it works.

So let me tell you how it works in my world. It is Sunday night and I am online, poking around on Pinterest.com, trying to come up with a plan for tomorrow. I simultaneously have my lesson planner open and a sticky note and I'm praying my infant doesn't wake up while I try and work. Husband just got home with pizza (I'd say 9 nights out of 10 we do actually cook) . . . the  clock is ticking! I am finishing one lesson with 5th grade and all the rest are open slots. I have no idea what I am doing. And there is no manual to guide me, which is wonderful and horrible at the same time. The sky is the limit!
When I first started teaching, my lesson plans were pretty much just like you'd do in your college classes every time. Every year they seem to deteriorate a little bit, leaving out some content here and there. I have found that the BEST lessons are planned well, have lots of support material and are really thought-through and planned the way you are taught to do them in college. That is the reality! The unfortunate thing is that most of the time, there is just not enough time to plan that way. It was not until this year that I EVER EVER EVER dared to type 3 word plans into our online planner, even though I've been told by our admin that we don't have to be quite so detailed in our plans.
A great lesson has a reason to be taught. The districts will give you a variety of jumping-off points, I always return to critical thinking. The kids should be tackling a question or a problem. They should be exploring something new. A great lesson has some history in it. A great lesson allows kids an opportunity for a thoughtful opinion. A great lesson looks as such that a kid feels really proud of it and a kid sees herself in it. I was trained in DBAE - so I always want to include history, criticism, aesthetics and production. Now, do I ALWAYS do that? No. And I tend to believe that those points can be hit over the course of weeks as a lesson meets completion. I know that there have come to pass a lot of different theoretical frameworks and that "DBAE" is kind of "old school" now. You have to kind of decide what you want to go with. I know that I am not a teacher who can handle choice-based instruction on a longterm or pervasive basis. We do choice here and there, but I will not have an open studio for my classroom. I also know that I am not going to go with a classroom that is hinged intensely on "material culture." As much as I do earnestly believe that we should have classes that are relevant and meaningful and connected to what goes on in the world, I think that opening it up to "material culture" so widely kind of waters down the special thing that is an art room and an art class. And all of that is my opinion and you are free to disagree passionately and I will think that is GREAT!
So anyway. This is all to say that I don't know what I am teaching tomorrow and I'm panicking, and that is kind of how I roll. I do not plan 3 weeks ahead, maybe you will! I love that in my room I have the freedom and flexibility to make choices last minute, on the spot, and even to change my mind mid-stream if something isn't working out. But that is all not to say that I don't hold myself to a certain level of integrity. I have really high standards for myself as an art teacher, and I almost never meet them, even on my best days. So let's see what we come up with as I try to juggle all my roles! Teaching is super hard for me as a mom. I want to be so great at everything, and the fact of the matter is, you can't be fabulous at it all. So on different days, different areas will suffer. We do our best, right?!
:)