Come Stitch With Me

Why are we, as adults, so afraid to ask for what we want?  My 2nd – 5th grade students have absolutely NO problem in this area.  They are absolutely fearless in asking for anything and it doesn’t phase most of them in the least if I say, “No.”  They just carry on.

I need to be more like my kids.

The school district’s HR department will soon be sending out forms asking what we intend to do employment-wise for the 2019-20 school year.  I will checking the TRANSFER box. If I weren’t so close to meeting my years of service goal for retirement purposes, I’d be checking the RESIGNATION box.  (Sad to say, many teachers I know feel the same way.) So, at the last librarian meet-up, I put my name out there as a candidate for any anticipated middle school vacancies.  Hormones I can handle. I also find that I actually prefer teaching 5th-8th grade students in my sewing classes. They are much more independent and have the stamina to stick with the project at hand.

I will be asking for a change in work assignment for the upcoming school year.  I’ve finally realized that things are not going to change at my current school. My supervisors choose not to utilize my talents, respond to requests in a timely fashion or appreciate my efforts. It’s like I’m invisible. I’m damned good at what I do as a librarian, library teacher, media specialist, learning commons coordinator – whatever you want to call it. I still enjoy matching my readers with great books and teaching them how to research the $%^& out of a topic. Until this changes, my sewing business will always be a side hustle. Nothing wrong with that.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at my phone to see a text from the quilt shop asking about October Kid’s Club. There wasn’t supposed to be a Kid’s Club at the quilt shop in October because both classrooms were needed for a major event scheduled for that same weekend.  Seems the event was rescheduled and they had a free Saturday.  Could I think of a project AND get the sample to them in a couple of days?

Well, yes. The class was sew much fun!

Since we have to share the library space with another club, I decided to limit fall semester club projects to weekly make & takes. Near the end of the session, we’ll pull out the sewing machines for a very basic project that can be completed in a single session.  Our spring rotation will be strictly sewing with the goal to have each student create a 16-1/2″ block for the East Cobb Quilt Guild Show.

My mission is two-fold:  (1) to divest myself of my rather oversized craft supply inventory at school and (2) make things easier for my club co-sponsor and me.  I plan to move on to other things next year, so several machines will also be “re-homed” at the end of May.

What kinds of projects to we make in clubs?

Pom-poms, Perler beads, Slime 3 ways, papercrafts (bookmarks/origami), photography (digital & instant), Felt stuffies and mail art postcards (machine project).

My total investment for this round of clubs was less than $50, including snacks.

These types of projects lend themselves very well into a library makerspace or crafternoon type of activity for elementary and middle school students.  Normally, I have all girls in my club. This time, it’s about half girls and half boys.  The girls want to make kitty ear headbands. The boys didn’t look too pleased with that idea. Hopefully, the duct tape wallet kit I found will be an acceptable substitute.