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A New Adventure: Teaching Art!

10/12/2013

Comments

 
Picture
Mr. Weir-Wolf (above) is progressing well.
There are only a few details to finish now,
like his hands (nails and such) and his feet. These
need to be increased in size and include
some fur and long toenails.

It has been, as I've mentioned before, an amazing week this week. What has transpired is that I have become an art teacher. I am very excited and humbled to be accepted by St. Aidan's Christian School as a volunteer art teacher. St. Aidan's is located in the north end, operating out of the Inner City Youth Alive building on Salter and Aberdeen Ave.

I will be teaching children from grades 5 - 9. There will be two classes per week. One will be grades 5-8 (14 students) and the other the grade 9's. (15 students.)

I have now taught one class, the grade 5-9 class. It was mostly good except things kind of fell apart at the end. I did not plan for the short attention span reality and will be prepared of that in the future.

These children by in large are from the "north end" of our fair city. They are dealing with things most of us would never understand. There is of course the poverty, and all that comes with it. Several children who came to my class exhibited emotional stress of one sort or another as the arrived. One of the boys went into a corner crumbled down and wept. A teacher sat with him, talking with him and in an hour he was at the table participating.

Regardless of who we are, we are made by the great "creator" who made all things. All these things were "good". We were also created, but more than that, created in the "Image of God!" That means we also have the ability to be creative and create just as God is a very creative God. This is naturally proven is us in how we are creative in life. We groom ourselves to look a certain way. We chose our wardrobe creatively. Our whole life is a "creative venture" wherever we go and whatever we do. It's our nature to be creative. We cannot fight it, it's us, we were made this way.

I'm honored to be part of these students lives to encourage and give direction to their amazing creativity. I have no idea where this will all go, but I am also learning and growing and being "creative" in the process. That's a winning combination.

Naturally, I am now busy preparing lessons. I went to a "Teacher's Store" and discovered something very disconcerting. The store had resources for every class but art. There was course information and helps for math, science, literature and the like, but nothing, and I do mean "nothing" for the arts. There was art materials in abundance, but no lesson or curriculum resources at all. Zippo! That is a bit weird. Possibly there is something I'm not understanding here but it seems strange to me. There are art teachers out there in the educational system...right???

Wishing you all an amazing Thanksgiving weekend.
Picture
English Garden, Winnipeg MB
Photo by Cliff Derksen
Sept. 2013
Comments

    Cliff's Creations...

    Hi, my name is Cliff, welcome to my website where I share my life as an art teacher, ceramic artist, photographer, father, businessman, leader and disciple. Basically I'm just trying to keep up with an exciting creative life. Thank you for coming along for the ride. You know, that your reading my blogs will make me a better artist so thank you in advance.
    Later, Cliff

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