The downside of being a Teaching Artist

Artist BZTAT at workWorking with kids is very rewarding. They are so eager, and they have such gratitude when you open up new creative ideas for them. They are adventurous and free in exploring their creativity, and they are so excited when they accomplish a goal.

“I did it!!!” are my three favorite words.

As I shared in a previous post, I have been working with children in a number of schools lately as a Teaching Artist, bringing Arts Integration programming to local schools. Arts Integration  uses creative activities to enhance learning in other academic disciplines such as math, science, social studies, language arts, and other subjects.

I enjoy the interaction with the students and I love the use of creativity as a means of helping education come alive for them.

I don’t enjoy being exposed to all of their germs, however.

Don’t get me wrong. I am no germaphobe. I don’t obsess about germs. I have, however, had 3 major head colds in the last 4 months. That can’t be a coincidence.

Last week I missed out on seeing all of my young eager artists, as a I had a severe case of laryngitis on top of the stuffy nose and cough. I am not much better 6 days into it. I am not seriously ill, but it can be quite debilitating, as my voice is kind of important for teaching. It generally takes me 10-14 days to shake a cold, so I have 4-8 days left of this nastiness.

I also had to postpone my Pet Portrait Painting Mini-Retreat for yesterday as I was in no shape to spend 6 hours teaching my pet portrait techniques. I have rescheduled it for March 28, 2015. There is space available, so you can still register.

There is downside to working with kids, I guess. Lets hope that my immunity gets a bit stronger from all of this. I am not liking this part of the adventure!

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT