Chronicles of a Tormented Teacher: Tests.

Chronicles of a Tormented Teacher

Tests

     Lately, I've been designing tests that are like a serene field until the unprepared wander carelessly not knowing that it's all a minefield. Last week a few students blew up. While it served as a rude awakening for them, my suspicions were confirmed. We are cultivating a corrupt society. Sorrow crept inside me, yet I wielded the lesson like a sledgehammer. Better to die in my war than to live in a land where real terror dwells.  
     Consequences must be real. I know this, yet I did not push for suspension. Instead, I found solace in arranging a silent, quiet torment. I hand out rewards to those worthy of receiving them. For this semester, the wounded will lose out on that privilege. 
     Amazingly, the kids have noticed something different about me this year. Some don't like it. Perhaps they see an emptiness in my eyes, or an intolerance built by time. I'm trying to do my best. I learned many years ago from one of my great teachers that I should always do my best and let God do the rest.  While I try to walk in the light, I gravitate to darkness. It's who I've always been. Such a delicate dance between dark and light, fire and ice. 
     Ah well, I must rest. Maybe tomorrow the light will win. Maybe...maybe not.    



~ Nomar

Do You Dare Lose Yourself?

Do You Dare Lose Yourself?

The phrase is stuck in my head and yes, Eminem’s voice is singing it.  Perhaps I’ll react to his song with a poem on another occasion, but for now; I rather concentrate on the opening line.

“Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you’ve ever wanted with one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”

How many times do we let opportunities slip away either because we fail to recognize the golden moment, or we’re too scared to try? 

I’m grateful when doors open for me and I’ve improved with the things I love doing most.  Writing is my passion, but I’m also a teacher.  The best part about teaching for me is basking in my students’ accomplishments.  This semester I have two students who have joined the ranks of published poets.  The strange thing is that one of them I don’t impact directly in that she’s not officially my student.  Sure, she takes classes with another teacher, but her stalking me has paid off.  She shows me something she’s written, I politely tell her it sucks.  She throws her notebook on the floor in anger.  I pick it up, tell her she’s telling and not showing.  She gets it.  Rewrites it and suddenly, publishable poetry oozes out of her.  (Beams with pride).

Yes, it feels good to go after what you want and get it.  I recently completed my novella, Burning Love and tomorrow I’ll post the final scene here.  While Knight Chills readers won’t be getting another taste of Candy and her escapades in this blog, a novel will be in the works after I complete the manuscript for my supernatural thriller, Darkness Roams.    

Well, it’s time for me to get back for both sides of who I am are screaming for me to get back to work.  It’s time to lose myself in the moment. 

Do you dare lose yourself?

        Catch you on the side of success, no matter how many times we try and how long it takes us. Peace!

            Nomar Knight

© Copyright Nomar Knight 2011. All rights reserved. 

A Knight Chills presentation.

Free Art Lessons For All

Free Art Lessons For All

     Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be able to draw your own stuff? Perhaps you were like me and kept putting off improving your amateur art standing until you work up the courage to make some time.  I've always admired the many talented artists who manage to capture with pictures, sketches and paintings what I can only seem to do with words. Sure, I've tried and while my efforts aren't exactly laughable with pencil and paper, my computer generated sketches make me cringe. I know that drawing is like anything else that's worth pursuing.  Practice leads to improvement and more time spent learning to get better usually leads to surpassing our goals.  
     Well, thanks to Adam Park and his super cool blog at Bachelor's Degree Online, all of us who read Knight Chills and are closet artists can finally take a step in the right direction.  With his permission I'm posting the beginning of the article 100 Awesome Art Lessons on YouTube.  When you're through perusing through this list, feel free to visit his blog.  The link is provided at the bottom. 
     I know what you're thinking... how can a blog with a name like Bachelor's Degree Online be interesting enough to maintain my interests.  Well, just like the different degrees offered, the series of fantastic articles posted on the site's blog will keep you busy for many a night to come.  
     Feel free to enjoy.  I promise I'll feature more articles in the future from that super duper blog.   Here's an excerpt of the article:

100 Awesome Art Lessons on YouTube


Whether you're getting your bachelor's degree in painting, graphic design or sculpture, there's so much to learn about art — from its lush history to materials — that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Yet art students shouldn't fret. There's a whole lifetime ahead to learn and numerous resources both in the classroom and outside of it for expanding your knowledge. One great place to seek out help with becoming a better artist is on YouTube. There, other artists, teachers and experts share their lessons on just about everything you could want to know. Here are a just a few of the thousands of art-related videos on YouTube to get you started with your creative education. Drawing
From how to sketch parts of the body to the best materials to use, these videos will help educate you on all things drawing-related.

1. How to Draw a Realistic Eye: Eyes have been called the window to the soul, and if you want to create a realistic portrait you have to get them just right to give your drawing the emotion it needs. This lesson can help you learn the basics of eye sketching.
2. Hatching & Blending Techniques: Hatching and blending are two ways to shade your drawings and give them depth. Learn the basics from this video.
3. Learn to Draw Portraits: This video will show you some of the fundamentals that you'll need to know when it comes to drawing accurate portraits.
4. Drawing heads/faces from different angles Part 1: Apply the skills learned in this video to any kind of figure drawing, whether realistic or not.
5. Drawing Environment: It's all well and good to know how to draw people, but they will just be floating in space unless you know how to give them a setting. This video can help.
6. How To Draw Two-Point Perspective, with Karl Gude: This video will help you learn to perfect your use of perspective, making any buildings, rooms or landscapes you draw more realistic.
7. Gesture Drawing Tutorial: Sometimes gesture drawing can be a great way to quickly get the spirit of a model or subject. Learn from the work of this artist through his video.
8. Drawing Bodies: Bodies are some of the hardest things to draw, so you can use all the help you can get. This video is a good place to start.
9. Drawing Board Basics: Check out this video to learn how to set up a drawing board so that it's most conducive to creating great works.
10. Types of Art Pencils for Drawing: If you need to learn a bit about art supplies, this video will help to point you in the right direction when it comes to drawing materials.

The article includes links to painting, illustration, photography (one of my favorites), graphic design, sculpture, printmaking, comics, textiles, and more. 


To read the rest of the article follow the link here


Have fun!


Catch you on the dark side


Nomar Knight

© Copyright Bachelor's Degree Online 2011. All rights reserved. 

Bachelor's Degree Online has granted Knight Chills non-exclusive rights to display this work.

 

Student Becomes the Teacher

Thirst for Knowledge

The Student Becomes the Teacher

            As a teacher, I seldom discover if what I do on a daily basis has any kind of positive impact on my students.  Imagine my surprise yesterday when two students visited me, both filled with a hunger for answers.  They were intrigued with my teaching style since they want to be English teachers.  They were on a quest to discover if diversity actually existed. 

Yes, by day I teach English to second language learners and by night I roam the dark corridors of horror.  I was impressed by the two high school seniors’ command of the language as they both were native speakers of English.  While trying to satiate their thirst for knowledge, we discovered similarities in spite of our obvious generation gap.  When approached by students with a real interest in learning, the passion for what I do oozes out of my pores.  A great benefit for me is that I am a published author so I can really help these students. 

So while I had fun giving them a glimpse into some of my past classes, I never expected one of them would go the extra mile.  It turns out they both are avid readers, but one young lady actually has her own blog.  http://yaniiluxuria.blogspot.com/2011/03/escaping-reality.html  (Yep! Follow this young talent! You won’t regret it.)

Yanii surprised me big time with the sheer talent she possesses.  Read her poem titled “A Piece of Her” and you’ll see for yourself how much promise this young lady shows. 

I’d like to officially take this time to thank her for her kind words.  We teachers tend to get taken for granted and sometimes our jobs can be stressful since we’d like all of our students to succeed.  This year I’d say 25 % of my students take their studies seriously.  That’s why their visit not only brightened my day, but my whole school year as well.  While I regret not being able to teach them this year for fate had other plans, I am grateful for having met these two young ladies.  Although I haven’t taught them, Yanii managed to teach me that being a writer and a teacher is one of the coolest things I can be.  I see it clearly now because she’s a writer and a student.  She’s a 4.0 student with a vast array of talents in music and art as well.  Yep, she’s a pretty cool cat herself.  I’d say her future students will be in good hands when she becomes the teacher. 

Thank you ladies for reigniting my spark to keep doing what I do. 

Catch you around school life and the dark corridors of writing.

Nomar Knight