"Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer and clearer still, until your eyes ache." ~David Hockney
I love to write. That may be unusual for Art teachers, but it led me to a discovery about drawing which I think we would all do well to adopt if only to advocate for our subject.
Participating in the Iowa Writing Project one Summer, my professors challenged us to see that writing is a thinking tool. In other words, the process is an end inn itself, regardless of how the product turns out let alone whether or not there is an audience for the final product.
The same is true for drawing. It is in and of itself an inestimably powerful thinking and learning tool and it is valuable and accessible for ALL learners, not just those who excell in it. Everyone can learn to do it and EVERYONE should because EVERYONE can benefit from the process of observing and recording their observations and from visualizing their thoughts and ideas.
Students were introduced to and encouraged to explore a variety of display fonts in Google docs and encouraged to either choose one which they felt reflected their personality or make up their own free-hand.
You're right, teachers should be addressed by "Mr., Mrs.,Miss or Ms." and their last name. It's respectful, it's convention and it's polite. Some administrators even make it policy. But ya know what?
I don't know who started calling me this or how long ago, but I've been called a lot worse. I've been called things much more annoying. Then there's this legacy; when I was a student in high school, our journalism (Newspaper, Yearbook, Public Relations) advisor Ray Slye got nicknamed "Slye-Dog," even though our mascot was the matadors. Of course, it worked with sly and Slye too. He was a consummate professional for whom I still have the utmost respect and admiration.
Then, when I was a young teacher at LA Lutheran, the patriarch of the faculty, Al Ludtke, who taught German and Religion and coached Cross Country was known as "Luddog," even though we were the lions. He'd been there for at least 30 years and students considered him and institution unto himself.
So now after some 25 years in the education biz, 18 of them at Boyer Valley, I can live with being pegged "Maldog." After all, at least we are the bulldogs. In Spanish, "malo" means "bad," so in a way that makes this nickname even cooler.
That's the embroidered 'M' on the back of my phone case in Michigan colors (my folks are from there), an old English calligraphy 'A' for my ancestor Sir. Thomas Malory who wrote the King Arthur stories, the "loser" 'L' because I was suck a geek in junior high and high school myself, the 'D' is a railroad sign- take it for Detroit or Dunlap or Denison or wherever you like, the purple paw print in place of an 'O' is a bulldog of course, and the 'g' used to be for google (I don't like their new logo as much).