Thoughts on co-teaching

I've noticed that, with public schools at least, the idea is to get one teacher and a group of students. Once we Art Ed students get past these team-taught student lessons we will probably never co-teach again. On the one hand it's probably a good thing, since there's never any disagreements between the teachers about what to teach. Also this keeps down the number of students per class. On the other hand, it's a shame because so many great ideas come from your peers, and two teachers teaching together can feed off and fire up one another. Indeed, having a co-teacher would also allow both teachers to get feedback on how to improve their teaching and what they're doing well.

(As an explicatory aside, a co-teacher is not the same as a TA; co-teachers are both equal, whereas a TA is an assistant to the teacher)

Drop Forged (1)

I recently started a project in artistic papermaking. I'm making a series of 100 sheets of 8x10 paper, each with a unique color pattern forged from a selection of various types of paper and drops of colored ink and paint. As the pulp settles into a sheet, the colors converge and create a single paper like no other. Though they all share the same mold, each uses slightly different materials, and the results are never the same.

The series takes its name from a method of metal forging wherein a red-hot ingot is pounded into a series of molds to form it into its final shape. The result is much stronger than a simple metal casting, which is why you'll often see it on tools like wrenches.

I've added a gallery page for it (but haven't added it to the site officially yet) which you can reach here. I'll add more as I produce them - and I can make 5 in a single batch - so keep checking back.