As a creative sometimes I need clear parameters in which to work.  I also feel the need for some heart centering.  For those two reasons {and a few more} I will be writing a poem and creating a piece of mixed media art for each day in April.

They will be posted right here at Brave Teachers.  And I feel like most teachers can really use a good dose of heart centering during this month, too.  So I'm inviting you to peek in on this little journey and share my creative process.

I'm looking forward to sharing this with YOU!

Rushing, hurrying, running late, just one more thing.  

That is the story of life, or it's the one we have been conditioned to accept.  It doesn't have to be that way!  This is really good news for a person like me.

It is a conscious and intentional choice to slow down, to get present in our own lives, to notice and see and observe.  Just like any change in life it takes effort and practice.  

This year I have been in the midst of changing so much.  It is crazy how difficult it is to break old habits, patterns, and ways of thinking.  We all have a setting of auto pilot.  It just looks different in different people. My automatic setting is different in daily life than it is in highly stressful settings.  Just noticing these things has required my slowing down enough to see and observe.  I feel like I'm peeling layers away in my mind and heart.


If you're ready to try it out, here are some tips:

• Be gentle with yourself.  This is a process.  You are learning.  There is no perfection.
• Start by seeing and observing in the natural world.  Do you see signs of spring around where you live?  
• Walk in your neighborhood or in the woods.  Notice colors and textures.
• After walking or at the end of the day sit still, close your eyes, and just be for a few minutes.  Gently let yourself review your observations.  Does anything stand out?  Take notice!

This practice will benefit us at both a personal and professional level.  I am generally calmer and more patient.  I am keenly aware of situations and relationships that leave me uncomfortable.  I notice when my stress is rising.  What a difference that makes in how I'm navigating this journey of life.

If you want a little encouragement, grab a free twenty minute coaching call HERE!

What's Teach Like An Artist all about?
It's a movement to re-engage your heart and creativity into your daily work.  I want teaching to be something you enjoy doing.  I want it to be creative, playful, and strategic!  Did you catch THIS POST?

What's the catch to the FREE Coaching Call?
There really is NO CATCH!  You pick a time.  We talk.  You walk away with an idea or strategy or tool that restores you.  I will send you emails in the future, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

How does this benefit students?
When teachers are working and living from a place of authenticity they will invite their students to learn and live with more authenticity and enthusiasm.

How long does this offer last?
I have posted 24 hours of coaching time HERE.  If you miss out, email me, and we can work something out

SIGN UP TODAY!  What do you have to lose?

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend who said he did his day job like he made art.  This got me to thinking.  This is true of me, too.  I teach like I make art.

Here is my process for making art:

1.  I pull in all the inspiration I can from my life and the world around me--past and present.
2.  I hatch the idea and I learn everything I can about it.
3.  I create a plan for how I think it will work, with a picture of the end product in my mind or loosely interpreted in a sketch.
4.  I start to create.  It's usually messy and the process is never exactly what I predicted.  It is trial and error as I try out different materials and resources.  The process is never ever identical to any previous experience.  I work at trusting my intuition.
5.  I usually stop because it feels like it is time to stop.  
6.  I let it rest.
7.  I might come back and tweak it or just launch it out into the world.  Sometimes the launch is big--like a juried show, and sometimes it is smaller--just hanging it on the wall in my house or studio.

SO HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO TEACHING?
My process for teaching is very similar:
1.  I pull in inspiration from the world around me, my current students, and all my years of past experience.
2.  I hatch and idea because I am always evolving as a teacher, and then I try to learn everything I can about that idea via books, the internet, workshops, etc.
3.  I am a huge planner.  I loosely plan out each year over the summer.  I write it down.  This is rarely where I end up, but I feel like the planning is an important part of the process.
4.  I start to teach.  Sometimes it looks messy and chaotic, because I don't think kids learn in a straight path.  I never do exactly the same thing two times, because I'm never working in exactly the same situation two times.
5.  I push the students to do their best work, but I try to trust my intuition about when it is time to stop.  {This is different for most students, and this is an easy step to overlook, but oh, so important.}
6.  I let the content simmer and settle in them.  Sometimes we take a break before revisiting something.
7.  I try to launch students out into the world to show what they know.  It might be with a comment from me or it might be in a larger presentation arena.

I'm not a fan of coloring inside the lines, and I'm not a fan of teaching to tests of following scripts.  I think the world deserves more imaginative art, and students deserve more creative teachers.

I'm inviting you to join me in Teaching Like An Artist!
I would like to offer you a FREE 20 minute coaching session about what your next step or microstep will be in this journey toward more creative and intuitive teaching and living will be.  This is a no strings attached offer.  I'm not trying to sell you some other product.  I genuinely just want to encourage you at this moment.   {You don't need to be a formal "teacher" to take advantage--it's open to everyone.}  I want to extend a special invitation to school administrators.  SIGN UP HERE.