My art lessons focus on artwork from another culture...which I really didn't know enough about! So, like everything I do (it seems), I spent endless hours researching background and looking in depth at the subject instead of getting to it and writing lesson plans. I'm not sure, but this might be a case of an easy-to-justify form of procrastination..."I'm not procrastinating, I'm researching!". Oh the hours I will never get back! I can't help it though...I feel like if I'm going to teach something then I have to know it really, really well! (Do I though? didn't I just learn from Jana-Rae, Cheyenne, and Milana in their presentation that we can all just learn together through inquiry?) Unfortunately, it's what I did...it's what I do. This time-engulfing process means my lesson plans aren't done yet!
Looking back, I wish I had picked a simpler art project...one that has less background and less history, not because I am not happy with the project itself (I'm super excited about it!) but because I don't feel like I have the time right now to invest in all this research...
This has got me thinking about how easy it would be for teachers to burn themselves out when they spend too much time on just one art project when there are so many other subjects to plan for each day/week/month/year!
I can see why once teachers have a repertoire of art projects they use them over again year after year (or else beg, borrow, and steal ideas from colleagues...hmmm...maybe next time that wouldn't be a bad idea!)
The bottom line is this...as teachers of art, or any subject, we must find a balance between creating the "amazing" lessons and having time for ourselves. OK...I guess that just qualified as "me time"...back to the lesson planning!!
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Hahahaha! I hear ya sister! I think many of us feel the same way. I think we'd need at least 3 lifetimes to actually be the best teachers we wish to be. It's pretty much like saying (and I have said this before), I just want to know everything about everything! I could be in school for the next 100 years learning all the things I want to learn. Alas, life is short, and we just have to do and be the best we can with the time we have. Being wise to that fact no matter how much we know, we really know nothing at all. Modelling humbleness is also very valuable.
ReplyDeleteTotally true...and nice expression of the balance idea in the painting! Being a lifelong learner is both energizing and draining...it is all about the balance. Now that your lessons are done and have provided such an excellent memory, I think you will be glad that you invested so much. And yes, it is good to build a repertoire of quality lessons so that everything does not take so much time- and yet there may be time each year for a few new things, to keep you intellectually engaged and to keep the excitement of your own learning flowing to your students! I call this a kaleidoscope approach to change; you have the elements that are the same, and you shift just a bit to give a new perspective.
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