I had been anxious and apprehensive about the students coming on Thursday, mainly because I was worried about not being prepared enough, but it all turned out great! I was surprised at the few number of male students enrolled, and then surprised that that I had expected more males than females, I do not know where that assumption came from.
Actually meeting the students alleviated a lot of my fears, they were a lot younger than I remembered high school students to be, and while talented, they are not the experts I had been worried about impressing. I am no longer terrified of knowing less (about art, anyway) than a student.
Watching them mingle and figure out their own social order at the beginning was pretty hilarious. I talked to a few students that were lingering on the edges and tried to draw them into a crowd or encourage them to sit with some other students. They seemed to appreciate the invitation to be included and I saw some relief on a few of their faces.
As we were explaining our project to our group I think our students became a little overwhelmed and didn't necessarily fully grasp what we had laid out for them, but their enthusiasm didn't fail! They seem excited for the project and I think they will have a lot of great ideas once they feel more comfortable talking with us about them. We have two females and a male in our group and the ladies are far less talkative thus far. While we made artist trading cards I tried to ask them questions about themselves, what kind of art classes they had taken or were going to take, and they opened up a little. I think next time we need to work on asking them more questions and getting them to talk a little more and especially feel comfortable sharing their ideas and speaking up about them.
I also think that having a specific agenda for what we want to accomplish each session will help with their confusion about the project. It is a complicated project to explain and once we get started I think they'll get it, but for now, I'm not sure they have any idea what we're doing.
I am really excited about the next coming weeks and can't wait to get to know our students better and see what everyone creates!
Bah, it deleted my comment!
ReplyDeleteMy group went to see the art exhibit so I did not get to experience many of the things that you did. It's good to know that you didn't feel like you had to impress them and that they were excited about the project. It's also good to know that they seemed apprehensive but you plan to handle that by having very specific goals in the future sessions. I can't wait to see what your group produces!
I totally agree with you about thinking that I had to impress the students. In my mind I feel like I could go back to high school tomorrow and fit right in... but after seeing the students in the program I am starting to realize that this may not be so. Ha. After sitting down and talk to my group I feel a lot more comfortable with the role as teacher, and I am pretty excited to see how everything turns out.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I was a little preoccupied myself. I was under the impression that students were going to come in with a preconceived notion about graffiti and tagging. But because that aspect of graffiti is relatively foreign to me, I was hesitant to provide examples and see what their work had to offer. However, the students ended up knowing little to nothing about street art and the different mediums that it entails. All of the members of our group are females--obviously coming from different backgrounds. From the athletes to the more reserved, anime-focused students, we definitely have diversity which is extremely important in this kind of learning environment. I hope these girls create a lasting relationship throughout UAYSFA and call on each other outside of this program! I'm totally excited to see how everybody's projects turn out. Along with that, I can't see anybody failing and that is so exciting and fulfilling. LETS GET IT!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you totally on how much younger high school students seemed. I really didn't know what to expect on that front but seeing all the kids and then looking around at all of us in Rachel's class, the difference was very clear and what a relief that was.
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised by the small number of males. Initially I was concerned, but I don't think that it will have much affect. I'm curious if this is a commonality amongst after-school art programs.
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