Saturday, April 21, 2012

facing the facs

It's April. 4th quarter. I have nearly made it through a full year of teaching. It feels good to see a light at the end of the tunnel and now that it is Spring Break I actually have time to blog. It's been a tough year, but a year of growth here in Boston. Teaching has a way of exposing your weaknesses and strengths. Heaven knows I have many. It has also taught me important, refining lessons. I have learned to stretch and push my character in ways I never imagined. Education evolves, and naturally we must evolve along with it. I feel it a privilege to teach what I love. I can't get enough of Child Development, I am wildly passionate about cooking, and Fashion Design has surprised me. I knew nothing about it when I was asked to teach it. I can say it has been a delightful class and I am impressed with the creativity and innovation of my students. We are about to begin sewing. This scares me to death. My good mother tried and tried to get me to take sewing lessons as a child. Her efforts to mold me into a domestic, often were defeated as I rather have been outside, forming mud pies, and make believing I was a Star Wars character with my friends down the street. It's payback time. I am a Family and Consumer Science Teacher. Not only must I know the skill, I must teach the skill. This keeps me up at night. In less than a week, I will be pulling out the 15 Bernina's, threading bobbins, and my world will be filled with pins, and irons, and fabric everywhere. And I thought getting through the Flour Baby project in Child Development was rough! However, let me say this. I am proud of my students. A few weeks back, we completed a unit on beauty and the media. My students gave presentations on what true beauty was to them. As it turns out, high school students do recognize that beauty comes from the inside out and I was touched by their compassion. This provoked some discussion as to what we would do as a Fashion class to help the world. We chose an organization that we can sew for and give away the clothing. The organization is called, "Little Dresses for Africa". The students chose this, although you know as their teacher I am proud. Africa is a part of my heart, and I know these little ladies will love their dresses. The best part, the dresses are made from standard pillow cases! I can do this. Operation teach my fashion students how to sew is officially under way. To find out more about this organization click here.

buon appetito

As it turns out, I have a lot of foodie friends in Boston. We decided to get together for a fun fiasco of homemade pasta, ravioli, and tapas. It was a delicious night!