Tag Archives: lesson

“Paint by Number”

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These last few weeks I have been teaching “Paint by Number,” a lesson I created to promote success in student behavior. When someone feels you are vested in their successfulness, then they happily produce quality work. The project details history of the hobbyist kits from the 1960s sold to let anyone without artistic talent produce a realist painting. This kits are considered crude by anyone with talent. An interesting turn of events, these are now coveted by collectors. To me they are kitsch, humorous and remind me of my childhood when I painted sets of ballet dancers, clowns and horses.

I took this concept and had students photograph themselves, tweak them in Photoshop using hue, saturation and cut/paste filters to get the monochromatic out lined composition. Using an opaque projector these images are enlarged and traced on canvas. The novice student with no drawing or painting ability will have a wonderful rendition of themselves upon completion. Students love this assignment because when completed it looks like them and creates a feeling of success. Afterward, I will teach drawing skills and paint mixing. Their positive experience with the first piece has instilled a trust that will lead them into more complex ideas and projects.

Isn’t life about being successful and appreciated for what you do? Teaching is a wonderful way to not only teach history, media and techniques but trust, worthiness and success.

Dharma Wheel again?

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Trauma, memories! You think they are gone, but no they don’t go away. Hidden in the recesseses of your mind, until one day another incident happens. Wham! They reappear and you see them as clearly as when they first happened, like a big screen movie. There was the day Trevor had a seizure in my classroom and quit breathing, the awful day Andy died, and then last week finding Ross passed out by the coy pond, head hit, bloody lip and not breathing. Why? Why me? Why am I the one in these situations? What is God trying to say to me? Life is just one foot in and one foot out, fragile like a fine imported crystal wine glass, drop it, the shattering pieces go everywhere. My life is like glass, it shatters over and over, pieces here and there. Why in one instance our lives seem fine and the next there is a dreadful rush of adrenaline, quick decisions to make and frenzy to save a life? It just spins all around and suddenly I find I am in the middle again.

Life replays, different actors but same story. It seems to me incidences are repeatedly happening again, the drama, the trauma, the unbelievable exhaustion. The running, yes the running, I am running away from it all mentally and physically. Dharma? Karma? Double dipped dose of doing it over and over!

Barbara Myss wrote a book on “Contracts” — something I partially read years ago. But one thing did stick and that is we are here for a reason, a lesson so to speak with people we already knew before we incarnated. All of us intermingle with each other teaching lessons to one another. Each lesson is one step to further our soul’s enlightenment. So what is the lesson, why do it again and again? Haven’t I got it right, can I move on or am I on the constant dharma wheel?

What is a healthy relationship?

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As many of you know, a healthy relationship is something I have really never had with a mate. A co-dependent to alcoholics, a person always trying to fix the other is my M.O. My wonderful friend Ann in Colorado sent me a book entitled “Women Who Love Too Much.” I put off reading the book until last week, and have found it to be amazingly like a case study of my life. Growing up in a dysfunctional family is your first clue. My mom was a cleanaholic, among a few other things. These obsessive tendencies are what causes us to be unhealthy. I too have been a workaholic and a clean freak, just ask my friends and family. On top of that I can fix anything.

The move last year to China was the best thing I could do to get out of my co-dependent behaviors and start living a life of just caring for me. One of the steps in the book to recovery is learning to be “selfish.” A word I could never describe as me, I saw myself as never selfish always giving. That is unhealthy according to my book. Learning to honestly say how you feel is a lesson my wise Texan friend Judy taught me this summer. She is a workshop leader of “BePeace.” BePeace® is a practice that combines a scientifically proven method for “feeling peace” with a clear path for “speaking peace” that creates an authentic, compassionate connection. As we learn this practice, we are empowered to pass it on, to “teach peace”. Basically she teaches children and adults how to say what you feel, what you need and how to empathize. A great lesson for me, something we practiced this summer.

Having been isolated for a year in China, than a quick summer back to dysfunctional America I realize how sick I had been. Sorry America but you are dysfunctional! I learned quickly that my family had expectations for me that I no longer cared to fill or be. I had changed and it was difficult for others to accept the new me. I may have less family members speaking to me due to standing up for myself.

Learning to say what you need is so important. I am healthy and on my road to recovery. I found a man that is healthy too and we can talk about these things. It is a work in progress, always tweaking to make it healthy. Nice thing is he will talk to me and say how he feels too. We allow each other to be who we are. It is a nice start in a good relationship. Yes, it is going slow. I am not going to dive in head first and get married again. I will probably do a “Carriage” relationship. (see http://www.susantadlock.com/2011/04/a-carriage-relationship/ ) It is a contract we write how we want to be treated.

Those of you that are married, have you ever done that? I would challenge you to sit with your partner and create a list of ways you want your relationship to be. Ross and I are in the process of that now. It is a give and take contract, each looking for different ways to be treated and treat the other. We will sign it when we feel ready to commit to one another. We will make it renewable in six months to be rewritten, or discarded. It is up to us. Healthy is nice and not chaotic.

Autumn Moon Festival at Confucius Temple

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September 22nd was the Autumn Moon Festival, celebrated by eating moon cakes.   A moon cake is given to friends and is a pastry with a variety of fillings.  I’ve tried a few and some have lotus or bean paste inside.  One had a honey, brown sugar gummy bear texture.   They taste somewhat like a Fig Newton.  Cute as a button, they have Chinese characters stamped on top.

The Moon Festival is a myth about Chang’e the goddess of the moon, and once a year she can come down from the moon to visit her husband and family.  The Chinese regard this day as a national holiday and to see the reflection of the moon in the lake is a good omen.  We went to Confucius Temple (pronounced Foo Zi Meow!) last night to view the moonlight, but alais the mist and rain clouded our vision of the moon.  The temple was an education in Confucius (Kong Zi) philosophy from 500BC.  The book I purchased discusses his personal and governmental morality along with justice and social relationships.  He is a leader in the teaching of benevolence.  As stated in my book;  “If the emperor is fond of benevolence, he will be unconquerable all over the world.   Now some princes want to be unconquerable in the world, but do not implement benevolence.  That’s just as someone feels extremely hot but is unwilling to take a bath.”   The lesson goes on to state if a person has the desire to help others, he will be kindly looked upon.  Is this not a lesson we should be teaching our children?  What a peaceful world it would be to have kind feelings or express goodwill toward one another.  Have I become a student of Master Confucius or maybe I was a student in a past life?

The temple was full of interesting legends, history, sculptures, stelai, one large drum, a gong bell and different presentations.  It was a plethora of information.

I so enjoyed the musical presentation by a Chinese singing, bell ringing and instrument playing team of Chinese ritually dressed young people.  The music was typically old style Chinese and I wanted a CD, where upon Alice said I could find this kind of music in the disc stores around town.  We also saw a stick puppet presentation by puppiters behind a sheet illuminating the figures  through it.  Now this was clever to watch as the wolf  attacked the man and the tree spoke philosophy with a mouth.   I believe this is for children, but the adults were mesmerized including Alice and me.  Sawyer smiled and laughed.  If you saw the movie  “Karate Kid”  released this summer, you will remember the puppet drama is the same.

We walked up and down the streets by the temple where vendors sold trinkets, which I bought many of.  The brightly lit stores lined the street full of people with umbrellas and wet feet.  It was a delight to behold.

A lesson in math for Texas 5th graders!

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Nan Shu Foo Zong is the name of the school I teach at.  This is the IB area.  The hallways are open air and we are up 100 stairs!  No elevator.

My colleagues at their desks working, or napping.  Lunch is one and half hours, so a “siesta” is accepted at lunch time.  My Tex-Mex language seems to pop up when I am trying to speak in Chinese.  the other day I asked for water and said “Agua Por favor!”  and someone commented was that a dialect of English, yeah if you are in Texas!  No it is Spanish and I am speaking it here and no one understands Spanish, nor my choppy Chinese.

My desk is right behind Peter, my Aussie colleague.  Looking out the window from our office you can see a wonderful highrise, that is my apartment complex.  I will be moving soon, this makes me very excited.  It will be a short walk to and from  school, no more taxi’s and city buses to school.  It will cut down on expense, the bus is 2 RMB and taxi is 14RMB.  How much is that in dollars?   A lesson on money:

The yuan (sign: 元; code: CNY) is, in the Chinese language, the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The distinction between yuan and renminbi (RMB) is analogous to that between the pound and sterling; the pound (yuan) is the unit of account while sterling (renminbi) is the actual currency.

A yuán (元) is also known colloquially as a kuài (块 – “piece”). One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo (角) or colloquially máo (毛 – “feather”). One jiǎois divided into 10 fēn (分).

This is what I had in my purse.  If 6.7 yuan = 1 US dollars.  Can some one tell me how much yuan I have?  The large coins are 1 yuan each, the gold is .5 yuan and the tiny coin is .10 yuan.  IF you can add it up correctly I will send you a Chinese post card!  Why am I giving you a math lesson, because my friend Linda in Friendswood told me she has given my blog site to her friend who teaches 5th grade.  These students are reading my blog and learning about the culture for their English class.  I thought to keep them interested I would do some teaching from across the world to them!

Yesterday I taught the Chinese IB faculty about my life through a power point presentation.  I gave a show about my family, Thanksgiving and how we pray and eat, Christmas, a craw fish boil in Austin, going on vacation to Taos and the Native American Pueblo, Tahoe, Galveston, Wimberly, San Fransisco, and Durango.  I had pictures of pets, snow, my backyard and art studio.  Many of this was very foreign to my new colleagues.  The comments that I received in my email from the TOK teacher are this:

Susan,

Thanks a lot for the presentation, nice. What I found most amazing is :

1.  the muddy houses    very very simlar to the ones where people in Shan Xi province used to live. The only difference is ours are cave-like houses. But mud.

2. the claw fish   that’s almost the answer why you like Nanjing without knowing it. People in Nanjing are crazy about claw fish and it’s almost a scence in summer.
One table with a big bowl of claw fish, some people sitting around the table…

3. Budda

I can’t believe it.

One thing I am learning is we are all the same, but different.  The next thing I am learning is a good teacher is always a student.  This student (art teacher) is learning more than her little Rolodex brain can hold.  I feel like it is spinning and information cards are flying out.  Anyone still have a Rolodex?  Does this tell how old I am or just that I have an antique vocabulary.

Speaking of antiques, I made mention to Jonathan (British colleague that has lived here six years) I can’t find very many old architectural buildings or antiques shops.  He told me the Chinese government had the people destroy all the old artifacts years ago and much of the old architecture is destroyed for newer buildings.  I’ve seen more Asian jade art in the Crow Museum in Dallas than I have found here.  I will keep looking, it has to be here.  Religion is non existent.  I have seen the Buddhist temple, no Buddhist tho and one Catholic church.  In Texas there is a Baptist church on every corner like McDonald’s!  My new Chinese friends don’t practice religion, that I can tell.  School will meet this and next Sunday for regular classes. (Remember we have a funky holiday next week and we work weekends for the weekdays off)  I will have to Google my church in Dallas to read what is going on, and listen to the podcast to get my religion fix or go to the Buddhist temple and light incense and say a prayer.  That is a nice way to pray.  I will let the wind carry my prayers in the smoke from my incense to God.  Like I said all the same, but different.