Journal #7

March 8, 2007

Today’s activity gave the visual artists a time to shine. We did a lesson on set design in which we discussed the different settings in Something Wicked This Way Comes, then students were asked to draw a set design sketch for one of the settings. They had to support their drawing with a quote from the book and/or their own description of the setting. We evaluated the work by asking: 1) How well does the student’s drawing convey the setting described in the book. 2) How could characters move through the set? 3) How feasible is this set design to create for a stage performance? We evaluated work as a group discussion. I think the evaluation in both classes today was much more structured and thus more productive than in our previous sessions. There were several students whose work really stood out to me—students who generally dislike getting up in front of people and acting. Lourdes, Jershel, Antonio, and Anahi all had great concepts of what their stages would look like, and through standing up to present their work they gained confidence sharing something that they and others knew they were good at. I see a lot of creative potential in so many of the students and I wish there was a way for all of them to shadow here and already after such a short time working with them, I feel really invested in their success. I want them to graduate and pursue higher goals in the arts and education, but I can’t help but feel like after this year I will lose track of their progress and will not be able to be a resource for them if I pursue my own goals outside of Los Angeles.

I was reading through the journal entries that the students had written from previous classes and the most interesting responses came to the question about age. I asked students to describe what they think they will be like when they are 20, 50, and 80 years old and also to choose an age to go back to or jump ahead to. So many of the students said they would go back to being 8 or 10 or 13 because that was before they knew all the problems in this world. One student wished he could go back to a time when he could stop a particular event from happening—and event that clearly changed his life. The realities of the students that we work with become clearer and clearer everyday, and I find myself thinking about the students throughout the week. My teaching days are the highlight of my week as each time I teach I am reminded that there is no other profession I could see myself doing, and each day the work that the students produce amazes and inspires me. I know this is where I belong, and at a time when I am not certain about much else in my life, that is a comforting thought.