Tuesday, June 2, 2009

SOLC- Sometimes art is brief!

Today was Fine Arts Day at my school. This is the third year I've been in the school and I believe the third year for FAD. It's changed a little each year due to feedback from the classroom teachers, which is good. Basically the visual arts teacher, the theater teacher, and the music teacher get together and plan a day of activities for the entire school. The student body is divided up so that each classroom teacher has a mix of all the grades in their classroom. Last year we did a Jackson Pollock style painting - the canvases still hang in the stairway. It was really cool. We also had to try to build a structure out of cake. That was not so cool. The kids were obviously more interested in eating the candy and cake than building with it.

This year we had a central theme- which I thought was a great idea, even though I was not thrilled about having little kids (might I mention really HIGH maintainance little kids) in my room all day that I had to entertain, referee, and generally deal with (there are many, many reasons why I am a middle school English teacher!) Our tasks for the day were to lead a devotional on one of Jesus' parable (that we got that morning), lead the children in making a fabric art wall hanging that depicted the message of the parable, oversee them making mosaics on cookies with frosting, Nerd candies, and Twizzlers, and inspire them to create a skit or song that taught the parable.

We had made it through the wall hanging and were in the middle of the mosaic creating when the office announced that we had a call from the town saying the water was going to be turned off because of a water main break. No water. No bathrooms. No school. All the parents had been called and the students were being sent home.

Three words to describe what happened next: barely controlled chaos.

And that was the end of Fine Arts Day. I can't say that I'm sorry. I know that our Fine Arts Team put in a lot of hard work planning and preparing the day. But there are many reasons why I teach middle school English.

3 comments:

  1. How did the kids feel with this emergency change? Did they get candy? Will they get to finish? I can imagine how the art teachers are feeling.
    Bonnie

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  2. Ah, yes ... and there are many reasons why I taught high school English ... and why I teach adults now! I loved your slice, and I'm sorry about the sudden end of Fine Arts Day (a lovely idea, I have to say).

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  3. Most of the kids did pretty well with the change. Some were disappointed, some were relieved. This afternoon they canceled the afternoon electives and staff meeting so that the performances could take place.

    What a relieve to finally have it be truly over!

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