Butterflies

I got to admit that sitting here writing this journal I kind of feel a little out of the loop. I wanted to begin my residency last week and with midterms and me falling ill none of those plans went through. I am excited to start this upcoming week, but I feel that I still have a lot of planning to do and a lot of strategic things to look over and think about. I feel like every one else in the program has gotten started and I’m still not in the flow of things. I have been thinking of ways to present information to my kids and how to have type of evaluations, interactions, ect. I feel like I have too many ideas and don’t know where to begin. I guess going to actually teach for my first class will help me put things into perspective as how the kids will response to my art form and if they will be excited to have me there. I want to help in so many ways I just hope that I can find the right ways to present my information so that the kids will enjoy it and take away from it some useful information. If anything I want to teach the kids about culture and how to appreciate and embrace their own cultures. I want to be able to guide them in the direction of finding themselves and their identity.

On Tuesday, January 23, 2007 I observed Mrs. Diaz's third period drama class at Muir Middle School. As I arrived at the school, I noticed the surroundings of the school, as it is located next to the elementary school. The facilities seem rather old and run down and majority of the student population is of Latino descent or African American descent. As I got there, I noticed that the students had a hard time keeping track of what periods they were suppose to be attending or whether it was nutrition time or not. I was kind of confused as well to learn that during this day the kids would only attend 3 periods from their normal schedules (normal schedule is Thursdays), and depending if it is and odd or even day the periods also change. The school is also run on a track system, so some students go off track while others attend. As I sat in the class, I really liked Mrs. Diaz way of encouraging the kids to follow their dreams in their art forms. I also noticed that the way she disciplined her kids was by telling them that she would call their parents if they did not do something she had asked of them or if they didn't behave. The kids have a lot of talent but they are rather shy and have not yet gained that confidence to know that they are truly talented kids. I enjoyed watching how much they actually enjoy their class and how happy they are to be with one another. Yet observing the class I noticed that only a few selected few got to participate in the class while the others were mostly part of the “audience”. Some kids just seemed to be there, although they paid attention to the play by Lexington Hughes and knew the occurring themes, they seemed like they weren’t engaged as much as they would have like to be. I look forward to working with them, but am kind of hesitant on how receptive they might be to my work because they seem so focused on drama and acting. I believe that they will enjoy being able to be active members of their class rather than just observing while selective few get to shine.

Update Feb.7/07

I am ready to start my class at Muir Middle School, but am having some thoughts of when to begin. I did go observe this class , which is a Drama class but as I sat in the class I was uncomfortable in taking away from their already focused art form. At first, I felt like this because the teacher, Mrs. Diaz wanted me to help her choreograph for the play that they are working on. It seemed like they have limited amount of time to practice as is, and I didn't know how to approach the situation. As I discussed this situation with Amy, she suggested that it would only be beneficial to teach them the art form because all theater person- ell need to have some kind of background on dance. She also explained to me that I was not there to be their personal choreographer but that I was there to teach the art - form of dance. The only thing with Muir is that they will soon be going on break so I am unsure if I should begin now or start after the kids come back from vacation. Maybe I can get the input of my fellow classmates. I wanted to teach a sample class like I did at Miliken to see how perceptive the kids are of my art form.

So thus far, I have not started on my project yet. I am debating on when I should begin and how the scheduling is going to work out with the students block, period, and track schedule.