Jumping into the Unknown.

You know the first scene in the movie La La Land? There is an entire freeway of backed up traffic with lots of horn honking, gradually developing a rhythm that leads into the first introductory song of the picture. The cars are full of dreamers, each with their own idea of their goal for coming to Los Angeles. These dreamers are, both literally and metaphorically, waiting in line for their big shot. I felt like that today, as I finally made my way into San Antonio to meet a friend for brunch. I am in a place where this is a new world and I am learning new routines, new job, new people, new community, new church. It is something that is a little bit unsettling at times, but is mostly exciting. Even though I don't quite know what I'm doing yet, I think I can eventually find my niche.

“Newness” All Around.

There are many things that I am getting used to here, even as far as finding new restauraunts, coffee shops, and--of course!--bookstores. I just found a "new" used bookstore only about a five minute drive from my house, so I think I will be very occupied on future Saturday outings. As the school year continues, I am doing my best to spend the weekend just relaxing, writing, and drawing, as I think this will make me a better teacher during the week. I have sufficient time during my planning periods to prepare for future lessons, though I definitely still have the teacher brain that is hard to turn off. During the evenings I have become very good at jotting down ideas and future research opportunities because I don't want to spend hours working on classwork. The hard thing with this is that I equally don't want to forget my grand idea. I usually send myself an email to check the following morning...

Pushing, not Pushy.

I found out solid moments this week where I overreached on what students are currently able to accomplish, but I try not to let this discourage me. That won’t do any good, for myself or my students. Sometimes my vision works and sometimes it doesn't, but even if I overstretch what my students are capable of doing, I know eventually, we will figure out together what we need to do to get the learning completed!

Along the lines of learning, I discovered the *awesome!* library that we have in my little town and I have dropped by a couple times, both to browse for myself and to use the colored printer. A lot of the art that the students work on should be completed by them, in my opinion, but I also want to find ways to inspire them, such as giving them good examples of famous artists' works.

So far (at this time of writing) we have covered Mary Cassatt and M.C. Escher. Then next week we will look at Wilson Homer's seascapes and touch on still life painting with fruit. Once again, this might be a bit beyond some of my students, but I would like to challenge them and see what they are able to do. We have built a gallery wall with students' artworks put up as a collage. I will have the students add to this wall every couple of weeks so that they can watch as their art builds on itself. This is another new concept I am trying, but so far it seems to be going well.

A Balancing Act.

One of the things that I am attempting to find in this new place is balancing my time to discover new areas within the town and to just take time to settle and enjoy my "new normal" life right now. That includes taking time on the weekend, such as I've done today, to just relax, read a book, shop a little, and play with the chapters on my current novel. I've hung up a few things on my bare apartment walls and still need to find some extra shelves for art supplies and, of course, books! In the future I would love to show off an art desk that I've had my eye on. If all goes well, this will make an appearance just in time for NaNoWriMo in November!

*Till next time!* - HM