Residency, 7 Hours, Whittier Elementary, Alex Lange
Two weeks after my lesson, I’ve done some reflecting on how it went and over all I feel generally good about it!
I asked the students to think about myths, mythical characters, problems in the world, and how a mythical character could solve these problems. I started with a presentation on all these subjects and had the students participate and answer questions. The students were pretty responsive and loved participating, and stayed engaged during this portion of the lesson. I then chose a volunteer to help me pass out papers that asked students to write down a certain problem they wanted to tackle, a mythical creature that could fix this problem, and how their powers would influence their appearance.
After they had written all of this down, I showed them the example of my creature that I had shaped out of model magic, gave my explanation, then I passed out three packets of colored clay to each student, as well as some tools, feathers, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners. They spent the next 30-45 minutes working on their creature and then we had a gallery walk. I chose a few students to name a creature they saw (that belonged to someone else), then I asked the person who they chose to explain their creature.
Looking back at it, the students seemed very involved in the lesson and were proud of what they made. Mr. Alex had them clean up the space while I was talking with Lynda outside. There were some times where students were confused about what they should do and what we were doing that day, so I wish I reordered the lesson so it was easier to understand. I also should have emphasized that students should leave their figurines in the class room so that they may fully dry over the weekend.
The students made absolutely gorgeous pieces, and they considered very big and heavy topics. I honestly was on the verge of tears hearing what the students were worried about. I think it’s easy to forget that children are aware of what is going on in the world, especially with the news being so accessible and pertinent to much of their daily lives. The classroom included many students who came from diverse backgrounds and unfortunately, many demographics are immediately affected by so much, and I know that each student was concerned with global climate change on top of whatever else they were anxious about. I just hope that this project gave them even the slightest sense of hope, and showed that there could be solutions to major problems, even if a little imagination is required.
