THE LESSON
By Derick Stephan
	My friend, Wes, and I went to my mom's school to teach her students about art. My mom taught a fourth-fifth grade combination. We were planning to do this for a couple weeks, but when we arrived there we tossed any plans we had made out the door.
	I'm usually not the kind of person to talk in front of a group of people, but this time was different. We went to the door of my mom's classroom and one of her kids let us in. My mom told us that we had arrived at the perfect time. When I walked in I noticed a rather cheerful ambiance about the classroom. I noticed that there was one kid sequestered in the corner of the room; I figured that he was the trouble maker my mom was always talking about. My mom had been telling her class as much as she could about us. We were ready to instruct the class in the ways of art. The class wanted to know more about us, how long we have been drawing, or how we could draw so well. I told them that I hoped to show them the answer to the latter.
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	We started the lesson by showing them our portfolios, needless to say, they were impressed. Eventually we got on to the basic body form. We then moved onto the face. The children followed along with their own paper and pencil that my mom had given them before we started the lesson. Periodically we stopped the lesson to walk around the classroom and look at how the kids were doing, and giving advice when necessary. All in all I would say that the lesson went well.
	The class was over and all of the children had left to go home. As Wes and I were packing our materials one of the students, Janet, came back in to talk with us. She showed us some of her art that she'd done before this class. I was impressed with her skills and I told her so. She appeared to puff up when I told her that. Wes and I gave her criticisms on her artwork, which is the main reason she came back anyway. We talked about what she likes to draw or what our favorite subjects to draw were. That alone made our trip worth while. It felt good to get some positive feedback from one of our students; it made us feel like we have made a difference, small as it may be, but a difference nonetheless. There were some other students who showed an innate interest in what we had to say, and that interest is what teaching all about; finding those pupils who are interested in what they can learn and then exploiting that interest.