In the Beginning

Day one.

I am spending a week in Calgary attending ACAD’s summer institute, offering educators 24 different two full day sessions. We participate in six hours of studio sessions each day. I spent today slipping into the comfortable space with line & shadow, the space where I am safe, the space where I enter through sketch(book).

I like storying this way.

I am comfortable here. Here is where I longed to spend the afternoon days of summer.

And this is my professional learning. What joy!

Our studio work was slow. We rejoiced in our failures. Our instructor called our process ‘learning to see.’

There were nine educators registered for our small studio session. Seven educators showed up. Each of us admitted that we knew and had taught a set of rigid rules to this same process. We shared that we had been taught the rules and that we had grown up trusting in these rules.

However, by noon today the seven of us were questioning the rules. By the end of the day we knew we never again wanted creative ‘rules’ to govern our classrooms.

Tomorrow, we shift our stations. Tomorrow, we continue to create.

Tomorrow, we continue our process of leaning to see.