Last week, instead of teaching something specific, I let my upcycling students “shop” from what I’ve collected in the Creative Reuse Center and come up with their own projects. The creativity and chaos that followed drew some attention from students passing by our room on their way to other classes.[Read more]
My first Artist-in-Residence project for the new school year is teaching fourth and fifth graders at Camden Elementary to make their own sketchbooks. In previous years, students have used a composition notebook for this purpose, but the art teacher and I loved the idea of this lesson within a lesson (and it’s[Read more]
Have you ever heard the joke about the man stranded on his rooftop after a horrible flood? Soon, a rescue worker paddles by in a canoe and offers him a ride to safety. The man says, “No thank you. God will save me.” Hours later, his neighbor comes by in[Read more]
Elaborate meals have always overwhelmed me. I’m convinced that getting the main dish, the side dishes, and the rolls to all finish cooking at the same time is nothing short of witchcraft. Something always ends up overcooked or undercooked. What’s intended to be moist and tender is dry and tasteless.[Read more]
This weekend our family embarks on a road trip that will have us seeing and staying with every member of my family of origin – my parents (in southern Illinois), my younger sister (in St. Louis) and my older sister (in Kansas) – and then doing it all in reverse.[Read more]