FLYING SOLO...

This last week I taught our UAY class by myself, I was a little nervous but anxious to see how it all played out. We also had a new student join our group who dove right in and seems to already enjoy the altered book project. I am learning a lot through simple interaction with each student. During class on Thursday afternoon we continued working on our altered books and wrapped up the accordion fold books we had made a few weeks before. That seemed to be a great activity to start class with since a few of the students showed up early.
Kayla our high school student and I worked through some issues with the tree structure she is building out of her book. With a little problem solving and wire we fixed the problem and her book is now turning into her vision she had posed at the start of the class. Haley is really surprising me with her dedication to the project and how in depth she is willing to go with the fantasy theme. She has used found materials as well as pages from the book to create this very beautiful natural setting. We also ran into an obstacle with a certain branch she wanted sticking out of her book. We figured out that drilling into the book was an option so in the end it all worked out. Our new student is very into her work and a little closed off but i am sure with a few more meetings and as we get to know each other it will be a different situation.
Next class we are going to do another demo on a Jacob's ladder book and I hope it goes well compared to our last demo session that ended in a bit of a melt down by one of the students. I think now that we know what pushes her buttons we will make sure to stay clear of that certain issue. I am excited to explore this type of book myself since i have never attempted to create one. I just remember having one as a kid and thinking they were really cool so we will see how it goes come Thursday.