Urban Arts - Katie - 3 hours
I was in the same class as usual with Katie this Wednesday. After the students came in we have snack time, in which some of the children were running around. Katie gave them a time deadline and said, "when the big 1 the clock sits at 6 you should be calmed down because we are going to a class in the next room." The children gave mixed actions while listening to the thought of going to a different class. Then we told them that someone was going to make paper lanterns with them. Then one of the students said, "Oh, that's boring." So the other said that too. I don't think they actually thought it was boring but they were just saying it because everyone was. Eventually we learned that there weren't enough materials to make paper lanterns for all so we are just going to stay in the class.
I helped a student with his homework. It was interesting to direct him to the right answer without actually giving out the answer. Now that I think about it, that would be such a challenge for any teacher including art instructors. I was just trying to explain the concept to him. As that was going on, one of the students wanted to listen to the radio. So we turned the radio on and the class turned into a dance party! It was SO much fun!! I was so surprised to see this first grade kid, who knew all of the songs on the radio that were played. He would sing them out loud. Then Katie decided that we are going to make our own paper lanterns. She started preparation and slowly two students got excited. We started figuring out the right kind of glue and paper etc. It was super fun to get out hands dirty. She encouraged other students to participate in that activity, and if not lantern making they could do other activities like puppet making.
Urban Arts have a art exhibition for their parents and community coming up pretty soon, so the class is aiming to make little finger puppets. They all showed me a small stage they made last week with light passing though it. It was super fun, and I'm excited to see what other awesome art projects they are going to make!
It was also interesting to see a school environment, and an after school environment together in the same week. I am starting to understand and question why each are structured the way they are.