To buy or not to buy...

I have recently been hooked on shopping for old cameras. Note that I distinguish between "shopping" and "buying." One involves releasing money, one does not. So I like to collect old items, and now I am onto cameras. I have a few that have been generously donated to me via the "Boutique de Mandy" but I am now looking at others. And the Second Sunday Camera Show is coming up. Yikes! And worst of all, I will have to go sans father, which will give those misogynist dealers a lot to deal with if it is just lil ole me. Oh boy...

And then, I foolishly looked at the prices for digital SLR's. And the Canon's are on sale! And B&H has a kit for a super price!! And my own students are starting to get DSLR's and the teacher doesn't have one!!! What to do? Do I really need one? My Nikon is GREAT but what about other applications? They are two different cameras. I always had a film point-and-shoot and a film biggie. Oh boy. And if I talk about this with anyone who knows me, they will say "Buy it!" because I NEVER spend money on myself.

Now if I buy it to educate myself and use it to apply in the classroom, can I write that off as a work expense? Time to ask an accountant!!!

Catch up time...or else

Today is the first day of vacation! Yea! But if I wrote a to-do list it may be discouraging, because I do not think I will have the time to do all I want. The past couple of weeks - month and a half, actually - have been really draining. To top it all off, work has been jam packed with things to do. My yearbook gals, though a better bunch than last year, have not been able to get the colour pages done. Major nail-biter on my part - I have yet to miss a deadline. But, whether they are done or not, I finish the pages and submit by that dl.

It's funny how it seems to be that all planning and submitting for student shows happen at the same time. Because of family things, Scholastic submissions put together at the last minute. I have wanted to do this since I first saw the exhibit at the Cororan before I even came to PV. Now I have students doing work I think is worthy! Hooray! Then there is a new one some of us are doing and of course, Pingry. Whew!

New printer is in and running. I am so excited. Demsey checked it out and we are like kids on Christmas morn. This will just make the students' work look that much better.

Now I have to think of the order in which to tackle things for myself. I thought I had the supports for my sculptures all set - and I do - but now I am thinking of alternative materials. I will make molds of my hands, cast plaster in them and try that. But then I thought of casting them in resin - major money - or even trying heavy duty paper with major stiffener. Then I have to work on a secret project I am working on. Lost of research. And I have to send my paper off to a women's publication my mentor mentioned to me. And I have to finish more felting. And I have to make more prints. And I have a few clothing and household projects.

I do want to make time to get into Chelsea to the galleries. You cannot beat the prices. And of course I will have to get to the market to get some goodies.

I think I may just have enough time to do all this!

Student show!

Tomorrow night is the first student show of the season. I am excited to go. Two other teachers submitted student work, so we will carpool. Of course, for environmentally conscious me, that works. Last year one of my students received second place and the first year of the invitational, another teacher had someone get honorable mention. I do hope one of the other teachers has a student who gets something. But it is no big deal if that doesn't happen. It is just fun to go see what other schools are doing. And it is nice for the students.

I have been swamped this week and getting frazzled. First yearbook deadline, budgets due, sports shoots, faculty meeting, GSA meeting, the show, trying to enter my work into a show with a Monday deadline, Main Street events this weekend and my Dad is getting surgery - stage I cancer in kidney. I really have a hard time when students complain about inconsequential things. If they only knew about what I and some of their classmates are going through, I think they would realize that wearing an ID or getting to class on time are really not much to ask for and not worth complaining about. But, that seems to be in the culture... However, the majority of my students are so great, they make me forget all the bad stuff, temporarily...

Update on the teacher...

I find myself so busy, I even forget to take a much needed nap when I get home. I was actually excited today when I found out we had a delayed opening. Not because I could go into work later - oh the traffic - but because I would be able to get more done in the classroom! Yay! Scrub the walls - I wish the kids would stop shaking their prints and hands - fix a few broken things, mix new chemistry, look up some information the classes might like, search for prices on classroom chairs, work on the budget, and decorate the room. Tomorrow I have to clean all the dust off the enlargers, again. I wish I could get one of those allergy dust collection machines. They are so expensive!

I found out over the weekend that another photo of mine will be in an art show. I will have two in Continuum, a national juried exhibit at Montclair State through Studio Montclair and now I will have one in Paper In Particular, national show at Columbia College in Missouri. So exciting. I would like some students to go to the one in Montclair in the spring. Not in a conceited way, but because I think it is important for them to see what other people are doing and to realize that many teachers are also working artists - time permitting, of course. I had two girls try to go to see something of mine in Chelsea last year and I was so happy. It just made my day!

I also have to get some student work ready for a show this week. One student who I really wanted to include cannot go in now because I just know I can't get the print in time. This really breaks my heart, but I know I have a couple of others to use. And, we will be getting a nice Epson printer for the digital stuff. The kids' work will look so good! I can't wait!

On journaling...

I have given my Photo II students an new weekly assignment - they are to keep a visual journal. The requirements are loose - images, words, sketches, thoughts, dreams, inspirations. Yet, they are having trouble with this! Some were so excited when I assigned it, I knew I was doing something right. However, for an age group that has NO trouble expressing itself, teenagers just don't want to commit something to paper! The funny thing is that when someone does begin to think about their work and do the journal, I am so pleased with the insights and ideas expressed. I do not want to just assign a topic a week - that will only be done occasionally - because I feel that will be too restrictive. But I want them to THINK about the images they compose. They know how to take the pictures and print them. Now they need to focus on technical expertise and refined subject.

Catching up on the year...

I know I said I would track my day's goings-on. However, I have been too busy to do that. So I will try to sum it up. The hour-by-hour information will come some other time.

Here goes:

• arrive shortly after 6.00 am. Disappointed to be beaten to work by a student from period 5. But I know he will always beat me because of the time his father has to drop him off.
  
• sign in in the main office and pick up mail. Looks like a senior packet came in for the yearbook. They are due this week and I hope they do not all come in on Friday, because I will not leave the building unless all money has been prepared and logged ready for deposit.
• set up the darkroom and mix new chemistry.
• complete progress reports.
• check work e-mail.
• call physical therapist (not long distance) to let them know that insurance won't allow any more visits but will continue the exercises at home; still have pain in my right knee.
• sift through recycling because the students have been throwing the garbage in it. Find a rechargeable battery.
  
• student drops off her books so she doesn't have to carry them around before class period 1.
  
• co-worker comes in; we don't get much time to talk usually, so I show her my photos from this summer's trip to England; discuss differences between US and England & Ireland regarding history, architecture, and behaviour of the residents.
• students begin arriving.
• realize that the GSA meeting on Wednesday should be rescheduled for Thursday so both advisors can be there.
  
• Period 1 begins at 8.04. Take attendance and make sure all students are wearing id's. One kid is out. Lecture the class on the importance of keeping their filter sets in order. At least half the students present - today 17 - have questions. Some still don't understand how to read the meter, two took the night shots and got nothing. One exposed his film in light, one underexposed when shooting. Sign out cameras and mark film usage for all those needing to shoot again. Assist those developing their film. Cut photo paper when test strips run out. Remind class that tomorrow is 30 minutes longer due to testing. Hooray! More time in the darkroom.
  
• Period 2 - same questions but this class has only one girl out and that makes 19 students today. This class has a different dynamic than period 1. This class is quieter and has a different work ethic. They are more type A personalities, whereas period 1 are more type B. Finish washing film for those running out of time from period 1 and write passes for their period 2. Remind this class that period 2 will be shorter tomorrow. Sadness all around. Need to deal with two students assigned to the same printing station who are no longer friends. 20 students, 12 stations. Ooof.
• Period 3 - make sure I am all packed and walk quickly up three floors and across the building. I have a nasty cough right now and normally have trouble making it because of my exercise induced asthma. I take it slower today. See principal and ask if I can meet with him regarding yearbook finances Thursday morning at 7.00 am. 1/3 of the class is out for college conferences. There is only one other senior packet. So I show the remainder how to use the scanner we have and how to upload. I also answer questions about how they can upload images from home to the yearbook website. Business editors are out so I log in the payments and prepare the deposit.
  
• Period 4 - lunch in the art office. Eat and talk about elections, getting the kids all to make sure they are registered, and discussion of yearbook finances with the senior class advisor extraordinaire! Bathroom break! Many times I forget. I head over to do that but get sidetracked to talk to people about school business.
  
• Period 5 - Photo 2. Less kids but more work. Rather than having the whole class doing the same thing, they have their choice of medium. This means there can be three or four different things happening at the same time. Lost of questions, but so much fun seeing the fantastic things they are doing. They are so talented! Remind a couple of them about college deadlines.
  
• Period 6 - Study Hall/20 minute lunch. Three floors up. Trudge up there...Some kids in for study hall, some in because they are excused form PE, some in because they have been in trouble. This is my third time in 7 years doing this. The duties are supposed to be rotated but...This is my least favourite duty. They kids in 20 minute lunch are mad they they are being punished and take it out on you, the kids in PE don't want to do the work, and the study hall kids, well, some are good, some just want to fool around. Happy when it is over.
• Period 7 - Photo 2. See period 5. Lovely work from the kids.
  
• Period 8 - Prep. Bathroom break. Drop off yearbook deposit. Check mail. Answer secretaries' questions about senior re-takes. Catch up with an art department person I rarely see. Respond to parental e-mails. Submit the remainder of the progress reports. E-mail photo company about senior re-takes. E-mail supervisor about GSA's Ally Week. Clean up darkroom.
• Student stays after to shoot. Can't shoot his subject so he signs the camera out. Talk to class advisor about finances. Leave after 3.00. Say bye to students I see on the way to the car.

Once I get home I check out mail to see if any of it pertains to stuff I can use at work. I have the art school stuff mailed to my house because I wasn't getting it at work. Check work e-mail. Once I make dinner, I will check my work e-mail again in case any students e-mailed me with questions.

Whew! Busy enough? But it is so much fun. Except for the yearbook and study hall, I love my job. When I am in the classroom with my photography students, I am in heaven. Even when things are not going smoothly in the classroom, I love it.

Been awhile....

Sometimes I get so caught up in projects, I forget to do things, like this...

I loved the "Teachers Have It Easy" book so much, I made my husband read it, just so he could really get a feel for my work. Not that the underpaid social worker who acknowledges that he doesn't see me 10 months out of the year doesn't already know that. But, he plowed through it then asked for reassurance that I would not teach until I am old enough to retire! Well, I have always said that once it stops being fun watching the students learn and grow, that's when I leave. I will NEVER let myself become the teacher who just shows up to get the paycheck, no matter how small that paycheck is.

So I will also be doing a neat little thing once the school year gets going. In the book, there is a multi-page feature comparing the days of a teacher and a pharmaceutical salesman, hour by hour. Depressing is a good word. So I will be doing a couple of hour-by-hour blogs - a play-by-play of sorts. Not to be a martyr, but more so I can see for myself what I do during the day. Just self-examination. A neat little side benefit would be if some of the many people who think teachers are lazy or have it easy with summers off, week vacations, blah, blah, blah will actually see that is not the case. I have a relative who is very nice except she has that "teachers have it great with all their time off" and I had to hear it again last night. Most of us do not sit on our tails sunning ourselves at the beach all summer. And if I did, I would say that is a fair reward for all the time I give during the year. How about teachers get the same respect as doctors and police? Just wait for the September play-by-play...

The final stretch...

Well, I had to go in to work today. It was quick, but I just wanted to go home. It was a dark and stormy day, I just finished physical therapy, and I guess I didn't want to bump into anyone I don't want to see. But that didn't happen. Phew!

I have been reading this GREAT book and that is probably the main reason I didn't want to go in. It is "Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers" and it is by Daniel Moulthrop, Ninive Clements Calegari and Dave Eggers. The only name I knew was Eggers and I never read his stuff. I saw the book in Bluestockings in the L.E.S. but was hesitant to buy it. Trusty inter-library-loan works for me in those cases. Let me just say that every truly hard-working teacher needs to read this book to know s/he is not alone. Every lazy teacher who is just coasting until retirement needs to read this to find out why we do not respect you and just want you out. And everyone else in America - students, parents, common citizens - needs to read this to realize what our lives are really about. Over the past 10 years I have gone back and forth between wanting to leave teaching and wanting to stay. This book makes me realize that all my feelings are valid. I just want to know why the world didn't know about this book when it came out. Why wasn't there more of a commotion? Or maybe there was. See, I don't have cable and no antenna on the house, so I miss a lot of stuff. But at least is saves me money! And the next time someone gives me attitude for not having kids, I will just advise them to read this book. So nice to know you are not alone, but still immensely frustrating.

Enough for now...

York, Manchester, and fabulousness

So I just arranged my 170 digital pictures in my England album. Sigh... I can't wait to get back to England. I just can't believe I was finally there. My lifelong dream had been to get to England. Being around all that history is just mind-boggling. Here in America it seems almost like a manufactured heritage since there is not much. But I actually sat in buildings from the 1400's! Oh, if only I could travel back and find out that in a former life I lived there hundreds of years ago. I guess if this trip I am planning to take students on in April doesn't happen, then I can zip on to London then. If not, we'll be going right after the school year ends. Some friends gave us London stuff for our birthdays so I guess we just have to go there. Shoot....We just know it will be very different than our experience in the North. Hubby will probably immediately think it doesn't compare...I will probably be overwhelmed...If only we could bring Millie so we could stay for more than a week...

I am really enjoying the summer life right now - except for a couple of annoyances (later...). I even managed to get some soft sculptures and glass and cap pins done. I am also finally listening to some records I have bought over the last year. Vinyl is sooo much better than plastic! I just can't get myself to set up the basement for darkroom yet. I can't bear the thought of working without open windows when it is so nice out. That's okay. The jewelry and sculptures keep me busy. Gardening, swimming, creating, reading, napping with Millie...

Oh yeah, and our psycho neighbour was arrested for assault today. Finally. Every week I have to hear him screaming at his wife. I just hope she presses charges and he can't come back, but we know how well the law protects the victims right? I'm not holding my breath. This creep dented a ledge on our pool, throws his cigarette butts in our yard, probably is responsible for our melted siding, and scares the heck out of me. I usually just duck out of sight when he's out. It sure was nice seeing him in cuffs. Scary fight, nice ending.

The wrists are hurting - need to get one of those squishy wrist rests...

Summer, Phase Two

Back from England and a few thoughts...
Smaller cars... polite, well-behaved children... great food and options for veggies...reasonably sized homes...individuality is key...a job is not your life...

So maybe the things I observed the first time in Manchester were a result of being somewhere so new and different. However, upon returning there, my impressions are the same. The public transportation is spot on - despite the British tendency to grumble about it. Try using NJ Transit to get anywhere but NYC and you see what I mean. There also seems to be an emphasis on going out, any night of the week! What fun! The work doesn't take over their lives. Too bad most of our employers here do not believe that. And how nice it is to see smaller cars and houses. I get sick when I see how many SUVs and McMansions are still being purchased here. But I loved the smaller, economical way of living there. I would fit right in! Dare to dream.

And the food! Every restaurant and pub had veggie options. And they are so good. Put on a couple of pounds while there! Yoghurts, meuslis, pastas, curries, noodless, the list goes on.

Took hundreds of pictures while there of course. I was working three cameras at once while in York. Without looking like a tourist 'cos they were small and indiscreet - Nikon coolpix - or fashionably retro - Diana and Yashica 35. Now I just need to buckle down and get some developed. I need to get motivated to get back to doing the art too. Its hard when the pool and garden beckon in this heat. Then, after a hard morning in the garden and the pool, a nap with super cat Millie is needed of course! Motivation needed!!! Pictures will be posted soon...

Until next time...

Summer, phase one

Ok, so I have been off for not yet a week and I still feel like I have to go to work and check my work e-mail frequently. I am excited for my return to Merrie Old England next week...getting the cameras, film and batteries set. Don't need much else, right?

May 2, 2007

I PASSED MY THESIS! :) NOW I CAN GET MY LIFE BACK!! WOO HOO!