A Confession.

Okay, I'll admit something - very often, most of the time actually, I haven't got the slightest idea what's going to happen in my classes.

Oh, I go in there with an intention, a theme, even a project - but it's hanging out with the kids and seeing what's on their minds that really makes things go.

For example: The other day, I brought in a book on Disney animation because we had been trying to remember what Tinkerbell's hair looked like. But as soon as I got there, one of the kids pulled out his binder which had a picture of a bunny character on it that he called "Happy Bunny." So, we drew Happy Bunny for the rest of the hour. We colored him. We put outfits on him. I didn't even know the bunny existed before that.

I find teaching art is as much about being willing to receive ideas as being ready to give them. Because artistic expression is about getting heard and understood. So, I do a lot of hearing and understanding, and then I offer ways to get stuff down on paper. Or cut out. Or glued. Or whatever.

So, the most important thing I take with me to any drawing class isn't materials or a lesson plan, it's readiness to hear about what's interesting, and then turn that into ideas for projects. It might be a movie that just came out, or a picture on someone's binder, or even a t-shirt someone wore to school that day or a book they brought. But the result is something totally unique and spontaneous. So I guess I don't really teach creative material as much as creative thinking. Even though I show up with a project that we're not going to do.