Where Did the Summer Go?

August is almost upon us. How did that happen? I'm spending the last week of July finishing up a two week professional development course at my county office of education. We're learning about the Common Core State Standards in Language Arts which charge non-English teachers (such as math or art, and even PE teachers) to also teach readin' and writin'. I think it's a great move. I also applaud the move toward a set of National Standards, although no one wants to call them this, hence the ackward addition of the descriptor 'state' in referring to these standards now adopted by 48 of the states.
We are in so many ways still separate colonies. Remember that colonial era drawing of the cut up snake "Join or Die?" I've always really liked that illustration. Public school teachers' state organizations may want to consider this message. We are being harassed from so many directions. In Michigan, not only do individual schools and districts have their own curriculum, teachers within a building often do not teach to the same set of standards or with the same materials. I welcome a move toward a more defined set of expectations for both students and teachers, but let's not forget the role of parents in this effort.

During my lunch breaks I step away from the computer screen, curriculum issues, and politics, for an hour and relax while I explore the possibilities of pen and ink. I've been playing with an antique fountain pen my mother gave me. Fun, fun, fun! I tend to be waaay too uptight when I draw. My own art studies revolved far more around craft as I was always intimidated by the drawing and painting classes. I took haven in the ceramics and fibers studios. So, I tasked myself with completing three to four very quick drawings each day this week, maybe two to five minutes each. Here are a few.