Off the grid, unintentionally.

During both undergrad and grad school I was never one to use the campus library to do my studying. I was mostly a homebody ("dormbody"?), and enjoyed the comfort of my little room(s) for studying, reading, and artmaking (and snacking, a lot). But lately, due to a number of factors, I have been finding myself piggybacking off of N.'s study habits and have been following him to the law school library with my own work in tow. This actually works out great-- although we try to remain silent and distract each other as little as possible, we get to spend some time together, which is so precious and rare. We also motivate one another-- either of us is less likely to call it quits early if the other person (appears to be) working hard on their stuff. I also love pretending to be a student again :) And because I bring only the work I need to do, the opportunities for distractions are limited.

So what have I been working on so diligently in the law school library?

Isolated No More: Blogging as an Alternative Community for Art Educators

On October 19th, I presented at the the MAEA 2012 Fall Conference for the first time ever! I was all kinds of nervous about the public speaking component, but as with most things that I freak out over, it went very, very well. Only five people attended my session. On one hand, that was awesome because my nerves were soothed and it became less of a presentation and more of a conversation. On the other hand, I was a little sad because my topic had a limited audience. But one attendee was a fellow MICA grad and friend, whose awesome work can be seen here (hi Amanda! START YOUR BLOG!), and another attendee was the awesome Lauren Brownlie whose blog can be found here.

For the record, here's my presentation description:

Team meetings can feel like a “meeting of one”, particularly for elementary art teachers, who are often the only art content-area specialist in a school. There is a rich community of art educators, both new to the field and seasoned pros, merely a click away. Online blogging communities offer a wealth of insight, camaraderie, and humor-- providing support across the miles via technology in the comfort of your home or classroom. This session will highlight choice blogs, blogger interviews, blogging benefits, blogging etiquette, and how to dive right in by finding your voice and starting your own blog.

Huge thank you to Phyl from There's a Dragon in My Art Room, Painting with Brains, and Patty from Deep Space Sparkle for the interviews! You can find the Prezi I used to present here. If you're not familiar with Prezi, it's presentation software like PowerPoint, but more dynamic and versatile. Check it out today! I taught myself how to use it through trial and error to create this presentation, but in the end was pretty happy with what I created and will certainly continue to use it in the future. I think my students will love the zooming capabilities.

And after the stresses of presenting were over, it was (is) time to focus on...

National Board Certification

Yes, I think with the start of my second year of teaching I took a healthy dose of crazy somewhere along the way because... I think this decision might be crazy. I am only doing the Take One! option, so it's not as rigorous as going out for full-on certification (and you need to have three years of teaching under your belt for that, anyway). I've been having a hard time balancing normal teaching responsibilities with NBPTS responsibilities. For example, I spent four hours reading and taking notes on the standards for NBPTS in the library today (and finished reading them hurrah!)... but have had a hard time buckling down and working on my lessons for this upcoming week since returning from the library. Sigh, it's all about the balance. I'm working on it.

Wedding Planning

...is coming along! Although I've been working on this from home, not the law school library. We met with a caterer this weekend, and we stuffed ourselves silly. We loved the vibe, we loved the food, so it's a go! Next weekend we meet with a potential photographer, and then we'll take a little planning hiatus for the holidays. But come January I already have an appointment scheduled to look at wedding dresses lined up, so planning will be back in full swing!

And in parting, here's some pics of me dressed up as a kindergartener for Halloween :)