Monday, July 7, 2014

Mixed Media Word Search

This page is doing double duty.  The challenge last week for The Documented Life Project was a puzzle and the Summer of Color challenge for this week is red, blue and bit of light blue. I think this covers all my bases.  This page brought several things to mind for me. 

The first being that when I taught school in the dark ages (ie before the Personal Computer was invented) I would not have been able to make this puzzle for my students without hours of work. I made this with the puzzle maker at A to Z Teacher Stuff in about 10 minutes. 

Second, it reminded me that if I was in school today, I would probably be diagnosed with a slight learning disability. I have comprehension issues and I can't remember more than 3 numbers in a row.  Sometimes remembering 3 is difficult for me.  As an adult I went to Occupational Therapy for a while and Word Search was one on the things I was told to use to improve my memory skills. I do pretty well with the Word Search puzzles.  If you want to torture me, give me a number search puzzle.  Coming from a teaching background, I can see where using Word Search would be a great way to reinforce vocabulary and spelling skills.

Third, I didn't teach for long. I was a good teacher but had no patience for discipline. I'd still be teaching today if I could have found someone to take care of behavior issues while I made learning fun. 

I'm here to tell you, teacher don't get enough credit for what they do on a daily basis.  A good teacher is worth more than gold.  Do you have a teacher that comes to mind, when I ask, "Who was your favorite teacher?"  I have a few: Sister Mary Gabriele, Mrs Barrasso, Dr. Woodard and Dr. Stedman come to mind for me.  What did all these teachers had is common? They all cared about us and wanted us to succeed. They made learning interesting. They all presented the material in more than one way.  I've been out of school for over 30 years and I can still name those four teachers.


* When I went to the Summer of Color page to copy the url I realized that once again, my comprehension is not up to par.  I thought the challenge was red and blue... it was red and royal blue.  Sigh... I used denim blue.  As you can see, I still have a little trouble on occasion.  This is why I did not become a brain surgeon... can't have an ooops in brain surgery.

15 comments:

  1. What a delightful post!! Full of humour, self deprecation without maudlin and a healthy amount of art talk. I didn't know I could have done my word search online?! See you know more than you think you do (sound familiar?), I spent hours creating an art related one, and never even thought to see if I could get it done online - for free! Doh! (slaps forehead) :/
    I like your idea here for your DLP and linked it with SoC. Clever Boo. Have you seen the sock monkey yet? hehe

    ReplyDelete
  2. Enjoyed your post and you are a funny person. I like humor. Nice job on this weeks colors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Hey, I think we need to laugh at our self from time to time.

      Delete
  3. I have several friends who are or were teachers. They agree that the behavioral problem is getting worse by the year, especially with the advent of social media spawning bullying and cheating. I really enjoyed your take on teaching, and laughed at your willingness to laugh at yourself. Loved your SOC entry, too, especially since I'd never heard of the puzzle maker before.

    ReplyDelete
  4. great post-and art for the soc challenge! I never heard of a puzzle maker. I couldn't agree more about good teachers not getting enough credit, and I too after MANY years out of school can remember those who inspired me most. It's why I became an assistant at my son's elementary school while he was there and for several years after.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmmmm I must check out the puzzle maker you mentioned. Just retired last year from elementary school library.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great idea for this week's colours and I don't think there is enough difference between denim blue and royal blue to worry about. In face I would never have guessed since everyone's scanners pick up the colours differently. What a cool online resource to make your own word search!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Cindy. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

      Delete
  7. this is a neat interpretation of the soc colours!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gorgeous mixed media work of art!!! What a creative way to use this week's SOC colors!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! When someone comments it makes my day!!

      Delete
  9. Liked your story. Yes I can remember my teachers. They were the best. My friend I visited yesterday she is a teacher her hubby is a principal. And we were just talking about what you are saying. He has retired but three years she has been a sub teacher in our area. She did say the kids are sure different. Allot of teen attitude problems so young. Even lower grades.

    My entry is on my page if you care to look. Thanks for your guidance to a newbie here for summer art of color. .

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is so much fun! I love the colours that you used! My colours were a bit weird as I used pencils! My mum used to love word searches so this made me smile :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking your time to tell me what your think.
I appreciate your comments more than I can ever say.