Wow, the summer has flown by! What was the highlight of YOUR summer? Mine? I am glad you asked. The highlight of my summer came just as it was ending at the Burlington Fly-In on Sunday, August 25. We had worked from 6:30 – 1:30 (or so) helping the B*Jazzled group from BHS raise money for the upcoming Show Choir year and I met the son of my favorite author Richard Bach (Illusions, Johnathon Livingston Seagull, One, Stranger to the Ground… among others) Rob Bach. In addition to being related to the author of life changing books, he himself was a fantastic new friend to have made. We had great conversations throughout the afternoon and I hope to make some artistic plans later on down the road with him and his family.
After that wonderful meeting, Abby and I took an opportunity that doesn’t happen too often in life (although, in Burlington, WI it DOES happen once a year…) and we went up in an open seated Biplane with the Gypsy Air Tours (1930 Waco Taperwing). What an experience. The air, the wind, the sights, the smell… almost too much to remember. It was truly the end (almost) to a great day with my family. We ended with a great dinner of Gino’s Pizza, a bit of back to school shopping, and great tasting frozen yogurt as we enjoyed the final summer days of Lake Geneva, WI.
The school year begins for me today and my students next week. While I am always a bit sad that summer ends quickly, I am also happy to be back to the best job in the world – Art Teacher at Waterford Union High School. A lot of changes are coming our way this year – an old face back in a new administration seat – welcome back Dan Foster, an old and familiar face gone on to new adventures south of the boarder (Illinois, not Mexico…) – good bye Eric Blake. Technology initiatives, character development initiatives, new gallery fundraising initiatives… so much to do in such a short amount of time… and a new approach to GOALS in my classroom. While I will still be focusing on the National Visual Arts Standards and the National Educational Technology Standards – no kid gets excited about standards and goals… not in the classroom at least. I will be focusing my efforts in the first 3 minutes of class on breaking these goals down into ones that are understood by the kids – so that they REALLY process the meaning and ideas behind them… TEAMWORK and COLLABORATION!
Until next week –
Frank
Art With Korb 