My first handmade journal.

I've always wanted to make one of these!

It's made from cardboard, decorative paper, handmade paper inside (made from elephant dung?), and yarn. I used the Japanese stab binding technique. It's the same thing as the lesson plan I used in field experience for middle school; it's a lot of fun!

I'm proud of it and honestly don't want to sell it. I encourage you to try it out!

I passed my PLT by 20+ points more than needed for my state, yay!! I can't believe it, considering I didn't study as much as I should have. That's one down, two more to go.

So glad Christmas break is here, finally! Time to get to work relaxing and doing what I want artistically. :)

The PLT.

I just want to say, the PLT is not easy. Don't think about cramming for it the night before. Many factors play into this test. Studying for it is the main reason I could not post a Friday featurette or anything, sorry.

For those who aren't familiar with the PLT, it is the Practice Learning and Teaching test. It is part of the Praxis II, tests taken by future teachers. The PLT questions depend on which one you take. I just so happened to take K-6, upon hearing from a fellow Art Ed. classmate that it was the easiest. Well, it isn't, really.

The PLT K-6 deals with educational psychology and theories/practices of teaching. The test has four case studies with three response questions for each. Then there are 24 "discrete" multiple-choice questions about theories and so on. The m.c. questions were fine, but it's the case studies that suck. You're expected to finish all of this in only 2 hours! Your answers to the case studies must be thorough and relevant, and well-written. You've technically got 25 minutes for each study and its set of questions. I don't do well when pressured to write nicely under a short time limit. I get nervous and sometimes don't articulate myself well.

For those who are somewhat familiar, the study questions basically consisted of two questions in each question: give TWO ways of doing something better (or two things done wrong, or two ways a teacher did something), and explain those two with strong reasons. The practice books I read in my local store did not have these consistently, so I was surprised by it. I'm.. not too confident, to tell the truth. Hopefully I will have passed my state's standard. I'll find out by December 11th.

For breakfast, I had good ole brain food. If you're preparing to take an important test, consider brain food!! I had wild Alaskan salmon, brown rice, and a Cranery drink. Açai and blueberry drinks or the fruit itself are incredibly good for your brain, along with authentic cacao dark chocolate, 70% or higher. (I hate dark chocolate, unfortunately.) Bananas work, also.

I don't know if I'm really cut out to be an art teacher! :(