This month, I agreed to run two art clubs after school. I suspect I am insane for agreeing to this. Because I am still in grad school full time, and am trying to also tutor a student twice a week after school. And I have my practicum this term, at another school in the district, which is going to take every moment of time I have in order to complete the myriad requirements the professor has decided upon. I think I am supposed to squeeze some sleep in there, too, but that is unlikely in the next 30 days.
When I showed up for today's art club (now differentiated on my own calendar as Art Club 1), I was overwhelmed with excited children. 30 of them, in fact. Thirty. 3-0. Because I ended up with extra jars from the luminary project in the fall, I had decided this group would do one with a spring theme, and use up the rest of the jars (and Modge Podge). So I carefully counted out 24 jars, 24 paint brushes, and measured out 2 containers of colored Modge Podge for my 24 students. Now, I haven't always been the very best at math, but my subtraction told me I was going to have 6 very unhappy, brand new to the class, what on earth are they here for today, children. I ran down to the office, brought another adult back with me, and I kept my original, they were supposed to be there today, students. And she took the remainder down to the office.
Bless the office staff. Truly. Because they faced the parents who were angry because their teacher had mistakenly called them to tell them their kids would be in Art Club, not realizing there was a second one scheduled for the following day. And the young man who has been organizing these clubs? His car had broken down and his cell phone had died and no one knew what the plans were exactly. Turns out he is kind of a last minute planner, and that doesn't always work out for everyone else. Lesson learned - he is young, this is his first time trying to handle this, and I am sure he - and we - have all learned a great lesson out of this debacle.
So I took my kiddos into the staff lounge and settled them in, gave them directions and jars and flowers I had punched out over Spring Break, and they made luminaries. There are several boys in this class who believe the purpose is to be done as soon as possible, and one student refused to put any flowers onto his luminary. So it is just painted green. I will have to rethink my approach, since the idea is to spend some time really creating your best work, not being the first one done. This wasn't an issue the first time around. Hmmm.
On the other hand, I had a student who thanked me for the project "It was really fun!"
So why did I call this post "Calling Retired Art Teachers"? Because it is clear from the huge numbers of kids who want to be in this club, that kids are really eager to have some art in their lives. So retired art teachers, I have found a terrific volunteer position for you to pursue. Check with your local school, and see if they run after school programs. Offer to run a once a week (or more, if you desire) class on art for a group of students. Seriously. These kids need the exposure, they want to be creative, and some of the worst behaved kids enjoy these activities because they aren't based on standards, they don't have to read or add or find x. They just get to be kids playing with paint and glue and paper.
Pictures to follow once everything has dried.
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