Art is Not Sequential

It's like being a juggler - choice-based art. As the teacher/mentor/artist-in-residence/lackey in our studio-classroom, I have a lot of balls in the air. I love this part of the job.

Flip book artist's scrap pile, discovered by me after the class exited the room

 My favorite thing is when students are off and running in pursuit of their own ideas, directions, interests, needs and talents. That's when I can really go to work.

My response to finding the above flip book scrap pile - get down my flip book collection and make a note to either share these resources with the one or two students who initiated flip book art yesterday or design a "Five Minute Demo" for the whole class. This topic introduced in a whole class demo will bump what I had originally planned to introduce Monday. Is flip book art "whole-class-worthy?"

The one problem is, while observing and interacting with students helps me to generate ideas in my mind for what to introduce or what to respond to, it can be difficult to decide which of these to address "next."

Given the web-like, rhizomic nature of our lively learner-directed program, there are many "things" (directions, ideas, concepts, materials, opportunities) competing for "next." 

As I jot down notes and start to make plans for next week, I rely a bit on an old Vermont expression: "let's see how it all sugars out."