Kistler

Quite awhile back my cousin K reccomended Mark Kistler's Draw squad. I wish I had the dvd's for it as well. However I have been giving a lesson or so for 5 minutes in my 5th grade classes. Some are taking it more seriously than others. Typicall 5th graders. Anyhow the ones that are using it as an opportunity to learn more art concepts are really making some creative drawings. It is fun for me to see what they will come up with. The lessons are brief and teach the very foundations of drawing. Each lesson builds on the previous one though and if the students have been paying attention their skills are growing. I don't know how many will really use what they've learned but it is worth it for me to do for the few :)! I am also doing it in one 4th grade class that has trouble following step by step directions. This has really seemed to make a difference for them. This class is very motivated in all things art.

It has been an interesting week. Someone elses attitude can bring a person down quickly. I have been making a very concious effort to ignore the "nay-sayers" (which are in abundant supply here) and think of how I can accomplish goals and ignore all the reasons why it is "impossible". One way to do this is choose the things that you know you can do and build on them. The nay-sayers will still say "impossible" but if you know it is you can counter all arguments. It is good to have people look at something critically and make sure you have thought of all the problems. However, if all they are capable of is finding problems and not possibilities then one needs to ignore them and move forward. This happens in so many of my meetings here. So I try to find the one person who also sees the possibility. That one person can help you move forward. What I have been noticing here is exclusivity, burnout, lack of sharing, snottiness, and general bad attitude. I know many things that could solve those issues. However, I am not the person who can change it in a big way. In my little corner of the world though I can. I may have made up a couple of words there in my description but I think they apply.