Identifying Yourself

Understanding your self-identity and thereby self-value is probably the most important and significant step in maturity. Being comfortable with who you are begins by understanding who you are. You are not: your parents, your friends, your teachers, your religion, your career, your looks, your wealth/poverty, your fashion, your education, or your culture (to name a few). These things influence who you are but they are not what make you - YOU. I believe you are more a product of the choices you make then your external influences. Your decisions are the only things you truly have any control over. Once you come to that conclusion is when I think you can identify yourself. I believe as teachers we need to help students to that realization. We all have different circumstances to overcome. Some may seem to have it easier than others but that is not within our control and so should be set aside. What we do with those challenges we are given is how determine who we are.

Collaborative Art Project

We started a project last semester that I thought was a great idea for a collaborative project. The students would be given a topic to base their project around. Once that was decided the students would create an image on cardboard that explored that topic and how it represented themselves. The cardboard images were painted and cut-out. Next all of them were arranged and attached as a single installation piece. the pieces would overlap and fit together. I think it helps the students see themselves as pieces to a puzzle and how each piece can bring it's own unique impact to the work. The idea that they are all made of the same material reinforces the similarity that we all have as well as helping to unify the work.

James Van Der Zee

Art and the Community

Creating art in our community is a two-edged sword. The community needs art whether they know it or not. But many in the community might feel it is a waste of resources depending on the community. I also believe that the community can be unified and divided at the same time. It is difficult to please everyone so that can promote division. However, those that are involved will feel like a closer community as most community efforts do. Developing an appreciation for art takes time....that effort is, however, rewarded by an understanding of of symbolism and critically thinking about the world around us. Visual art is a language and any language takes time to learn.

Disabilities

At first I wasn't sure how much I had been around kids with disabilities but after awhile quite a few came to mind. At first recollection I was thinking of my friends and thought there were none but then slowly they came back to me. First it was, "oh yeah, he had a prosthetic foot" but we still had races, rode bikes and played football... I guess he had a disability but I never thought of him like that. Another had epilepsy, another was in special ed classes for reading, another guy's left arm was "disabled" but he still could play catch one-handed even with a mit. He could slip it on and off very fast for catching then throwing. One after another came back to me but I never really thought of any of them as disabled. We would play pretty much all the same games. I guess I had quite a few friends that technically had disabilities while I was growing-up but I wouldn't have called them disabled.

I think maybe that is the lesson that will help me the most. People with disabilities are no more "different" then we all are. Some of us are better at some things then others but we all have our strengths and weaknesses. We help each other overcome our weaknesses and find our strengths. I understand some disabilities are very restrictive but I think we need to look for ways to help students use their strengths. If we focus on our strengths then our weaknesses won't seem so bad.

Bizarro Alter Ego (Anti-me)

Nit-pick, "nit" and "pick" nit-pick. I love that word. I nit-pick over details. I love to find a single word that someone says and twist it around and make them feel foolish. I don't care what you intend to say I care about how you say it. Give me a quick, open and honest revelation and watch the fun begin... I can take your very own words and deliberately find the darkest interpretation and berate you with them. Students will despair when they get into my class. I intend to have weak repetitive lessons that require no thought, no inspiration and no fun. My own family can't even stand me but I can't help it if I intimidate them with my perfection. I care for myself. No one else is worth a first thought let alone a second. Honestly, I'm in teaching for the money, the fame and the glory. Students really are a bother. I hate to work. If you take the students out of my classroom it would be a perfect job.

Safe environment

It is important for students to know that your classroom is a place where they can explore any ideas and address many of the questions that arise in life. It is difficult for many students to feel this way but that should not preclude us from putting every effort into ensuring that they can bring any problems or concerns to us by continually asserting that fact. Demonstrating it at every opportunity that presents itself.
Currently, there is an element of "cool" to being gay or bi. Many kids are proclaiming it because of all the emphasis that the media and Hollywood is putting on individuals that are coming out and the efforts toward gay marriage. The shock effect is also a component that teens find enticing. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percent_of_the_world_is_gay provides references that support the actual percentage of people that are gay is somewhere between 0.6 - 5%. http://gaylife.about.com/od/comingout/a/population.htm believes 5% is an accurate figure. While most other sites I found hold around 1%.
If a child tells us they are gay then my concern is that we don't push them into making a declaration to the world based upon what may be a curiosity or worse a childish act for attention. I think it is important for them to research and discuss this with family and counselors. So my advice to them would be to start there when they are ready.
As teachers, we are there to teach children how to cope with issues by using their minds to think things through. Learning from both history and the ability to envision the results and consequences of their actions. Ultimately, the important thing is the child feels and is safe in their classroom environment. We need to let them know we care about them no matter who they are or what they do. We need to believe in them and support them and they will reciprocate. We are their training wheels. Whatever the choices they make in life are inevitably up to them.