Every year I have tried to come up with a creative challenge… some years are better than others. I’ve made a pinewood derby car completely by hand- meaning using only a pocket knife & sandpaper. Developed an educational card game that never made it past the initial testing phase. I’ve drawn a monkey day for an entire year… and in the process miscounted & also did the same monkey twice- different drawings, but the same character. I even have said I’d produce a comic strip/book… some challenges have been successes, others… epic fails (don’t ask me about knitting).
With everything that went on in 2018* my only creative challenge was to stay sane through it all- another epic failure.
So 2019 is just around the corner & my goal for this year is to post something each week. Lame, I know it, but hopefully habit forming. This could be pretty much anything. It might be a drawing, maybe random thoughts on the state of public education, something cool that happened at school, STEM/STEAM lessons & units, classroom MacGuffins, reviews of stuff- LEGO sets, educational toys, cat toys, comics, movies, games…
I’m giving myself a lot of room, because I know sometime I’m going to need it. I have a bunch of stuff I’ve acquired recently, so I’ll probably start there- a few new bots, a vinyl cutter, giving me a reason to push myself into trying new things instead of looking at pretty boxes and wondering what I should do with the contents.
So the big question is what’s YOUR creative goal for 2019? Not just a silly resolution or making sure you write 2019 instead of 2018 starting tomorrow.
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*What happened in 2018?
- We can start off with me actually becoming an adult- when there isn’t anyone alive anymore to call you that annoying childhood nickname- you realize you aren’t a child anymore. The passing of my mom changed my perspective on the world & my place in it. I’ll be dealing with those ramifications for a very long time. I spent a lot of 2018 just keeping busy to avoid thinking about it.
- The “finishing” of the school renovation (which still isn’t completely finished) has been draining both physically & emotionally. It has tried my patience and I just hope that the 2019-20 school year starts with everything finally being in place.
- Most recently, managing two robotics tournaments in the space of a month… two different robotics programs. Pushed this fiercely independent introvert way out of his comfort zone & even closer to the breaking point.
Those were a few of the big rocks… put on top of that the entire climate in the US and it’s amazing we all haven’t gone crazy- then again, crazy seems to be the new normal.