Residency - Urban Arts Academy - Tamar Ghidali, Rosey Lowe, Imani Vaughn-Jones - Total hours: 7.
I am very excited to begin my placements. I need to do two placements for about 35-40 hours and a shadowing of an artist for 6-10 hours. So far, I've already met with Tamar and the other teaching artists and started early. I started with Rosy, she teaches a mix of 3rd through 5th graders. I was really nervous when the kids came because they were so tiny, energetic, and a bit sassy. I didn't feel prepared. I decided to mainly observe and let Rosy do her thing because I was new and didn't know how she ran her class. I did have fun, after spending time outside and snack, Rosy had the class continue the activity they started the week before. The class had the option of making a bird or some other animal to draw. Most kids enjoyed drawing and some were interested in drawing animal butts. Overall, it was a good day for the kids. I also participated in making my own bird.
In Imani's class, she taught high schoolers. I was able to relate to them a bit more and felt more comfortable around them. There were two other guests that came by. One was an actor and had the kids participate in different acting games, read through a short scene, and write their own. I was so excited because I did theater for many years before college and it was a great way for me to loosen up in with her students. After writing, the other guest who is also an actor talked about the entrepreneurial side of his acting career. How he is able to make a living acting and the different opportunities for actors and how the students can make opportunities for themselves. We also talked about how having an acting background can benefit you in other careers. That helped me add to the discussion since I am in advertising and there is a lot of presenting involved. At the end of the session we all were able to take something away from the discussio. Even the guest artists felt like they learned something from us. It was a good day and I can't wait to go back.
