On Saturday, May 19, I attended the annual instructor’s meeting at Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California. I was very impressed with the theme of that meeting — “Making A Difference” — which drew in part from John C. Maxwell’s book pictured above. I haven’t read the book in its entirety yet, but after our meeting, I’m anxious to do so. (I actually bought the book a few years back when I heard Dr. Maxwell speak at FPU, and was lucky enough to get my copy signed by the author.)

As I’ve been thinking about this book and the theme of our meeting, one thing is clear: teachers are difference makers. One of the things that makes us do what we do every day is the fact that we are driven to make a difference in our students’ lives. No matter how big our class sizes get… or how many tests they say we must give… or how many subjects they take away (art!)… or any number of other challenges that get set down before us… we want to make a difference.

A great example of this drive to make a difference is the story of a very good friend of mine who is also a teacher. She and I began our teaching careers the same year, so we have shared the ups and downs of teaching right from the start. Two years ago though, my friend had her first child, and this has made going to work each day even more challenging for her. More than once this school year she has talked to me about how much she is looking forward to being able to spend more time with her son over the summer. Yet this week, she told me that she is seriously considering tutoring a boy from her class this year for several hours per week during this summer break. Why? Because he is profoundly struggling and could benefit from the extra help. The bottom line: She knows that by working with this boy one-on-one over the summer, she can MAKE A DIFFERENCE for him in a way that is simply not possible for a teacher to do during the school year while teaching a whole class. I was blown away. I know how important this break is to her, and yet she feels compelled to help this student. She could just recommend that he get help, but she told me, “I know right where he is, so we can get straight to work on his areas of weakness.” She recognizes how critical it is that this student get help NOW, and she is more than willing to be the one to give it.

My point is… this is who we are as teachers. We are difference makers. So as another school year comes to a frenzied close, don’t forget to take a moment to reflect on what a difference you’ve made in your students’ lives this year. You may not ever directly know the impact you’ve had, but rest assured that you have made a difference. Because you were part of a child’s life, the quality of that life is somehow better now than it would have otherwise been. What greater reward can there be than that?

Today I thought I’d share a story that I love.

This happened to my Dad — Ralph Gomas, a life-long art educator — when he was visiting elementary school classrooms while serving as Art Coordinator for the Fresno Unified School District many years ago.

The young students had been asked by their teacher to draw their families and the place they called home. All of the students were happily drawing away, and all was well. The teacher then became franic after one little boy picked up a black crayon and proceeded to very intentionally color over every inch of the picture he had carefully drawn of his family and home only moments before. Certain this boy was trying to communicate some sort of terrible emotional/physical/psychological trauma, she grabbed the picture away from the boy, and thrust it into my Dad’s hands for his interpretation. After studying it for a few moments he said to the distraught teacher, “Did you ask the boy about it?” She admitted that no, she hadn’t, but she was just sure something awful had happened to him at home and/or at the hands of a family member. Dad convinced her that they should simply “ask the child” about it first.

Full of fear and trepidation, the teacher walked with my Dad back over to the boy who’d blacked out his drawing.

“Tell me about your drawing,” my Dad said. “What’s going on here… why did you color over the drawing you did of your home and family?” Without skipping a beat, the little boy looked up at my Dad and said, “Well… it was night.”

Of course! How simple! During the day you could see his home and family, but then it got dark… because it was night!

As a teacher I keep this story close and try to remember to always ask my students about their thought processes when I’m concerned about, or don’t understand something, that they’ve done. What I’ve learned by doing this, is that they often have some keen insights that I wouldn’t have known about had I not asked them.

I’m sending you my best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year! I look forward to teaching and sharing more ideas on my blog in 2012 about how you can easily incorporate art into your daily curriculum. Lots of exciting topics are planned, so be sure to check back in… you won’t want to miss out on the fun!

See you next year!  🙂

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving and were able to celebrate in a way that was meaningful to you. My husband and I drove down to Central California to spend a few days with family — which was a treat since we don’t get down there that often.

With instructional time very tight prior to the winter break, I’ll be brief but wanted to wrap up this series about using Art Journals in your classroom. My goal in this post is to inspire you to begin thinking of all the ways having your students use an Art Journal will fit naturally into lessons you are already teaching. I’ll touch on two curricular areas, but I know that when you take a look at your own specific lesson plans, you will begin to see many, many ways you can immediately begin to incorporate them. Your students will be motivated and excited to work in their Art Journals because they’ll have a sense of ownership in them. Though the questions, prompts, and guidelines for their use might originate in your curriculum, the observations and ideas that your students explore in their journals will be uniquely their own and therefore profoundly meaningful.

Language Arts: What about using the journals to reflect on what your students are reading independently — or perhaps having read to them — or both? You can provide specific prompts to match curricular benchmarks… write/draw about the main idea of the story… your favorite character… the main conflict… retell the beginning, middle, and end of the story, etc. I would let your students begin where they are comfortable — if that’s drawing, so be it. Let them draw their ideas first, and then write. This will build confidence in those who lack it in their writing, enabling them to communicate their ideas “on paper” to their “reader”. It can also be used as a creative writing/thinking tool, becoming a place where students are encouraged to explore ideas for stories, characters, settings, creatures, you name it. Look at your specific Language Arts curriculum and lessons, and see how many ways you can come up with to make the Art Journals work for you. You’ll be amazed!

Science: With scientific observation being the cornerstone of scientific study, using a journal to capture what is being studied makes sense. You can use the Art Journals here as a way to check for understanding — perhaps as an alternative to filling out some sort of worksheet. (Have your students draw the object being studied, and then label their own drawing.) The journal might also be a place where students can record their existing knowledge about a topic, as well as ideas or questions about things that they’d like to find out more about. Encouraging them to think critically and deeply, you could also suggest that they draw and make notes about any invention ideas they might have.

Depending on how involved you want to be, you might want to talk about the fact that artists, scientists, writers and others use journals all the time in their daily lives. While this real world connection would be interesting, I don’t think it’s necessary at all for Art Journal use in your classroom to be successful. One final point that might not be obvious, is that because journals are sequential — as bound books or single sheets in order — they will, by their very nature, show growth and progress over time. This will be instructive for you as a form of assessment, and encouraging for the child.

As always, please click on Fresno Pacific University at the top of this page if you’re interested in learning more about the courses I teach. Thanks for reading.