Picasso for Dummies

I'm doing a presentation on Friday for teacher professional development. I've said before that teachers make the worst audience. They already know everything that you're going to say and so feel no hesitance in speaking right over you. They're much worse than teenagers in that respect. A teacher's attention is harder to capture than that of a hormonal middle-schooler. Sad, huh?

A friend of mine made the proposal, and has some medical issues that keep her from participating, so she asked me to step in. I went to see her on Tuesday of last week, and thought that I got everything that I need, but, Whaddaya know? I really didn't. I spent most of today contacting various people to see if they have what I need, and they don't. Teaching an art unit without the main art print doesn't work all that well. I will have to adapt, well, something.

I checked a laptop out of our school library, plus a projector for the laptop, and the librarian gave me attitude because she didn't get all her crap done. It's really not her fault she didn't finish, because the electricity went out. (Not my fault either, but you really don't want to piss off the librarian when you're the art teacher. Or any teacher.) A transformer caught fire and screwed us all. The power went out for at least four hours on a teacher workday.

I'm not sure if I really want to do this thing. Thing is, I get stage fright in front of adults. I've been teaching for seven years now, but I still can't get up on the stage without freaking out. I teach classes, no problem, but there's something different about speaking to grown-ups. It probably helps that I've known most of my kids a long time. The fifth graders since they turned five.

For those of you at all interested, my workshop consists of a PowerPoint presentation, part of an animated video, some worksheets and a production activity. We'll watch some stuff, write some stuff, and make some art. For about four hours. Then the group switches with another after lunch, and I do it all again. I get paid a few hundred, plus continental breakfast and lunch. Not bad for a little over a day's work. Plus, who wouldn't love spending eight hours talking about Picasso, right?