The Barnyard

Well, school has begun and it has gotten off to a great start! I'm pretty busy this year with not only the classes I'm teaching, but also with the classes I'm taking to earn my Art Teacher's Certificate.

This term I am teaching Cartooning I and Cartooning III. I'm not teaching Cartooning II this term for the first time because a couple of our college students are teaching a specialized "Superheroes" Cartooning II class instead.

I'm teaching Cartooning III - Graphic Novel for the first time this term. Since it's a brand new class, and because it's a level 3 advanced class, it puts a bit more pressure on me in coming up with the lesson plans. God helps me with my stress level though...through lots and lots of prayer! I'm having all my students do their first graphic novels on Bible stories. I'm allowing them to choose whichever Bible story they wish and they can either do it biblical times or they can modernize it. Fun stuff and I'm really excited about what they'll come up with!

I'm also teaching Creative Writing. I have to admit, I think I enjoy teaching writing more than I even do Cartooning. I know... I know...that's a shocker even to me! But I just get so much joy from teaching Creative Writing. It's fun to come up with unique and exciting ways to get the kids to be creative. There's some awesome resources all over the internet which helps to take a bit here...a bit there....mix it up/change it up..and come up with my own unique assignments. My students seem to enjoy the lessons and it's fun listening to their creative stories. There's some wonderfully talented writing students at MSOA.

I'm also co-teaching Color Pencil with Lennie this term. This is also the first time I've taught Color Pencil. Lennie is a great teacher and I'm learning a lot just by following her example in this class.

So between Thursday and Friday school, I'm teaching a total of 7 classes. (Phew!) That's a lot of lesson plans to prepare!

I'm also taking 4 classes this term for my college certification. I'm taking Watercolor & Ink from Lennie. Right now I'm working on a rooster, so if it turns out decent enough, I'll post it in my portfolio. This is a class I'm enjoying very much.

I'm taking Cartooning II - Superheroes as well. I'm going to turn Lucy-Goosey into superheroes!!  ....nothing permanent, just trying it out to see if I like it. It's fun to experiment with Lucy-Goosey and try out different things. It's a fun class!

Drawing 301 is probably going to be my hardest class, but I'm still enjoying it very much. Drawing is the solid foundation to all art, in my opinion. It's what I started out doing at a very young age and I'm so thankful to finally be getting a good drawing art education!

And last, but certainly not least, I'm taking a class called Book Illustration. This class is being taught by a published author of a wonderful children's book. I'm currently working on writing and illustrating my own children's book, so this class is going to be so useful in helping me accomplish my book and get it printed and published! What a joy it would be to have my very own published children's book! God willing!!