Student Work: 3rd Annual Student Art Gallery 2014

I recently held the 3rd annual student art gallery exhibition to present the outstanding work of our Doulos artists from this year. Like in years past (which you can read about here and here), this gallery event was in effort to display the work of my students both in a professional way and to bring their work into the community for more people to enjoy.

While this time around I kept things a little more simple, I did add an extra spin to the evening-- I invited our break dance teacher to perform with his class! It would have been really sweet to have them dance inside our actually gallery, however space didn't allow it. Though we were lucky to have a little patio area on the first floor of the plaza, so they danced down there. The group performed really well and the best part was to be able to include another art presentation to the evening.  I wish I had a picture or two to show, but I was upstairs in the gallery the whole time so I didn't get a chance to snap one.

After these past years I think the students finally caught the vision behind this annual exhibition. So this year when I would go to ask a student to hold on to their artwork until May for the gallery I could barely get the words out of my mouth before they were nodding their heads and passing their artwork right back to me. I think this meant they understood what a privilege it was to have their work chosen! And they weren't the only ones excited about it. Selecting these artworks to display was definitely a joy for me, too!

It seems strange to say, but I feel proud of how proud my students are of their art. I love to see them enjoy their creativity and want to share it with others. Likewise, it is truly a gift when I see them confident in using their made-to-create energy.

Classroom Commotion: a zealous 2nd grader

Today a second grade student came into my classroom after school. I was still at my desk working on an example for a high school project. She sweetly said, "I want to make an artwork." Well shoot! I made her a space right next to me. I asked what she wanted use. Crayons? Markers? Colored Pencils? She replied, "Hah, all of them."

Now what's an art teacher to do but let her just go for it! So we went to art-making side by side. Both of us were working on creating a butterfly and we had a lovely chat while we were doing it. We discussed the shapes and colors we were using, the size of each part, and she even gave me a little feedback on my wing details! As we were talking, I told her that I was leaving Doulos after this year and she let the comment kind of fall to the side. Then about 10 minutes later she said, "Do you want to do this when you go? You can always make art in your house when you leave."

Ah my heart!

I told her that what I really loved most was making art with students like her, but that I don't know what God has in store for me. But geeze do I pray that He might allow me to always have students like this to create alongside.

To hear stories about some other zealous students you can read here and here.

Classroom Commotion: The Love/Hate Relationship between 4th Graders and Weaving

If there ever was a project that 4th grade students struggled incredibly with, it was weaving with yarn. If there ever was a project that 4th grade students couldn't get enough of, it was weaving with yarn. Here's a little break down of how it goes each year...

Class 1: We learn about weaving as an key component to South American indigenous cultures as a form of folk art and work with simple over-under weaving with construction paper looms and paper strips. Level of engagement- above normal. Level of enthusiasm- varying.

Beginning of Class 2: The idea of weaving on a cardboard loom with yarn is presented and demonstrated. Level of engagement- very high. Level of enthusiasm- very high. This is generally the point in which students believe they are already master weavers and therefore ignore all my instruction and rush me along to get their hands on their materials.

Approximately 5 minutes later into Class 2: Students working independently on their weavings. "Mrs. Kerrie!" is reverberating off the walls. Knots are growing larger by the second. Tears beginning to form in the corners of meek student's eyes. ADHD student is wiggling uncontrollably in and out of the chair. Overachieving student is almost finished with wrapping the yarn around the entire loom with out a single string woven. Level of engagement- very high. Level of enthusiasm- the lowest of lows. This is generally the point in which I, the art teacher, wonder why the heck I thought this was such a successful lesson last year. In my head I think, "Where the heck are my freaking scissors, I'm just going start cutting all these strings loose, screw this "brilliant" idea of making a bag let's just stick to freaking place-mats."

The rest of the duration of Class 2: Review is offered for how to make a pattern of over-under-over-under with the yarn. Knots mitigated. Undoing of mistakes done and redone. Multiple sighs heard from students and myself alike. I pray that a glimmer of hope would just shine it's yarn-y face upon us. Looms are packed up for homework. Level of engagement- below normal. Level of enthusiasm- regaining steam to below normal.

Approximately 15 minutes into the next period: One or two students pop into my classroom showing me their weaving success and asking for more lengths of yarn to continue working! (why are there here during another class period? Are they really that sneaky?)

At the end of the school day of Class 2: Over half the class has come and gotten more yarn (some students more than once) so they can continue their weaving. They are showing me their work anytime I see them on campus. Students tell me their plans to work on it over the weekend. Level of engagement- very high. Level of enthusiasm- miraculously high. Now I realize why I wanted to repeat this lesson.

One of the design principles of expeditionary learning is success and failure. This weaving project encompasses both so perfectly for these 4th graders. With in one class period we all hit a point of wanted to give up and thinking that this task is impossible. Then when the light blub flashes on, it does so like a 180 degree turn and BAM! The students love weaving! They can't believe that by the end they will have made their own little bag and they are literally waiting for me at my classroom door to get more yarn to work ahead. I couldn't ask for more ownership over their work!

Classroom Commotion: High School Students Are Choosing

I have once again reinvented the high school visual art elective class. Leave it to me, right before bowing out of my position at Doulos, to have yet another grand idea of how to improve the high school class. The new system I have devised is based off of the Teaching for Artistic Behavior model of arts education that I have been researching. In a nutshell the TAB methodology is a choice-based model where students rotate through modules based on their personal interests. I did not come across very many examples of this being played out in other high school classrooms, but I think this is mostly because in the "average" high school there are already choices of different visual arts classes a student can take. However, Doulos is not able to offer that. That is what originally lead me to my adoption and adaptation of this particular classroom structure.

One of the main things I hoped to address and tackle with this new model was having a conglomerate of students at various levels of experience in the visual arts. Because our school only offers one visual art elective block per semester, I could have the full spectrum of students in my class at any give semester. This model allows my students the freedom to choose mediums, subject matter, and a selection of learning targets from a given list. I won't bore you with all the details, but essentially now my little group of high school art students are evaluating both their artistic interests and goals and pursuing them!



We're still working out all the kinks, but so far we are off to a great start! It's my hope that in the years to come this model can be maintained for the art "department" at Doulos. I would love to see what the TAB model might look like at younger levels, because it melds so well to the expeditionary learning principles we uphold at our school. I am a self-taught artist myself, and I firmly believe every student has the potential to unearth their creative identity if given the time, space, and resources. I'll be sure to post some more photos of the sketchbook assignments these high schoolers have been working on!

Classroom Commotion: She got accepted to college!

As of this year I have my own art classroom (you can read about it here.) For a good portion of the day it's filled to the brim with classes of all shapes and sizes. I also have a little hallway with cabinets for storage and an work space off the side of that hallway. Usually during my planning periods I am huddled back at my desk grading, creating resources, and preparing materials. The hallway also has another feature-- it connects my classroom to the high school Spanish and Sociales classroom. I get my fair share of Dominican history or Spanish literature notes from what I can overhear through the door as I am sure the other teacher also gets her fair share of art-making racket from my side.

One day, however, I got another surprise under the doorway...I got passed a note during class :)

This lovely student of mine got accepted to one of her first choice colleges! Wahoooooo!

This year I have been walking alongside the senior class (read more about that here). Their efforts towards contemplating what comes after high school as well as the resulting college applications are a main topic of conversation between us. Going abroad to attend a university is a pretty big accomplishment for students from the DR and something some our Doulos students are working really hard for. The piles of paperwork, impending deadlines, need for scholarships, and the waiting (oh the waiting!) are a lot to juggle on top of their school work. The unknowns can wear them down sometimes.

But then there are these moments to celebrate! When the efforts and waiting have paid off, the news from a university can be so sweet! And what is even sweeter for me, a teacher and mentor, is when I am invited in to share this struggle and joy. I get to know about the complications in the paper work, when the deadlines are, how much scholarship money has been awarded and how much is still needed, and how many days there are still to wait. One of the things I will be grieving the most about leaving this school is leaving the daily connections with and close relationships I have with my students. I know I will keep in contact with some of the older students and I know there are other relationships to be built in the future, but for right now...I just, gosh darn it, love these kids.

Waiting for the Light, Part 3

λάμπει - to shine or to give forth light

The privilege is all mine when it comes to walking alongside this year's senior class at Doulos. They are class full of character and characters. I have taught many of them in my high school art elective classes and devotional classes, but this year mi esposo and I are their guide teachers. In school this means we lead their devotional class three days a week and help them coordinate their special events. But beyond this school schedule, we have found ourselves walking with some really kindred spirits.

As I have gotten to know this particular group of students over the years, I have realized these students are fire balls. And when you put them together they are an even larger, brighter, hotter, faster burning ball of flames. Ten minutes in the room with them and you will quickly see they are passionate and quick. Just like fire they can give beautiful warmth when set up correctly and painful burns when not. So when it came time to choose their class theme, I was not surprised when they offered up the idea of the "Lamplighters".

At the beginning of the year our graduating high school class hosted a promoción (a Dominican custom at most high schools). Essentially this is a presentation of the senior class and a time to unveiled their theme during a special evening.

Matthew 5.14-16 reads, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

I can't express the joy and love I feel as I see these students individually and collectively understand their unique personality and gifts as people who ignite, propel, and transform. And not only understand this, but declare it, and desire to harness it as their mission upon exiting this stage of life and entering the next. There is an crazy amount of waiting involved in any time of transition. The "Lamplighters", however, are chasing hard after what is ahead.

This is my last year at Doulos, just like it is for the seniors. Daily these students are contemplating, preparing for, and praying through their next phase. Not only do I get to do all those things with them, but I am doing them for myself at the same time. The unknowns of the next and next and next are equally mysterious and looming to me as they are to the students I am with. This solidarity is the most incredible blessing. As much as I am proud to support and stand behind these amazing seniors as their teacher and mentor, I feel equally as blessed to share in life with them as their friend.

Waiting for the Light, Part 2

"The authority over all the world [Jesus Christ] has its beginning in the very lowliness and weakness of the child...He accepts and carries the humble, the lowly, and sinners, but he rejects and brings to nothing the proud, the haughty, and the righteous. (Luke 1.51-52)" -- God is in the Manger, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I know I have expressed this before, but teaching young kids was never something I thought I would find myself doing as part of my job, let alone enjoying. There have been some sweet moments when I have connected with particular little ones over the course of these past three and a half years. (You can read about a couple of them here and here.) However, on the whole I have come to realize what power this kids have to impact the adults around them. They cause me to face parts of myself I try to hide, they humble me, they stretch me, they show me joy and authenticity.

Let's be honest, I don't remember the name or face of my elementary art teacher. And now that I am one of those teachers, it makes me kind of sad to think that many Doulos students will not remember me down the road. Because surely I am going to remember the majority of them! I love these little suckers! The way that Doulos is set up I teach all the grade levels of visual arts. So year after year I get to continue my relationships with all the students and, the best part, watch them grow into their unique selves.

There always are certain students that catch my eye or tug a little extra fuerte on my heart strings. A few friends and I have termed this phenomenon, "heart child". I have a couple "heart children" at Doulos. Essentially, I am a fan of these kids. Not only do I find them just plain endearing but I want to know them when they are middle schoolers, dream with them when they are high schoolers, and watch them succeed beyond their school education.

We have some pretty incredible students at Doulos, like for realz these kids are going to have large impacts on their communities (like they already are!). They are little lights that are going to keep burning brighter and brighter, I pray, to shine Truth, Hope, and Justice in this world. May we listen and care for these kiddos as the precious lights they are, full of potential and possibility.

Waiting for the Light, Part 1

"What has come into being in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it... The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world." John 1

My friend Emily wrote a blog post about what it is like for us to wait for the coming of the Light-- you can read it here. She relates the anticipation of the Advent season to a daily event here in the DR (and probably many other parts of the world). It sums up a lot of what I have learned about Advent in the past couple years. Essentially we are in a perpetual Advent waiting for Christ's return to bring the New Heavens and New Earth. God fulfilled his promise as spoken through his prophets (check the book of Isaiah) in coming near to us through the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, and in whom has offered redemption to all human kind. I believe that he will do the same again to complete the fruition of his Kingdom as he has promised.

Keith and I have been blessed to observe this season with various friends in our community in our home every Sunday. We have prayed, we have sung, we have smirked at the kids fascinated by candle flames, we have shared our pondering on the Mighty God in the miserable manger, we have served the Lord's Supper to one another. Most significant to me has been mediating on the light of the candles in our Advent wreath.

Because of my slight pyromaniac urges, I just want to light all the candles at once and make them burn faster and stronger. However this is the exact opposite purpose of the sequential lighting of the wreath. Each candle is lit in turn, each with great meaning.

We watch and wait. We watch and wait. We watch and wait.

But just like God brings the sunrise each morning and the sunset each night, the Light cycles through our world as glimpses and reminders that one day there will be no more darkness. The eternal Light will shine in full glory and everlasting brilliance. And we will cry out in praise..."¡Llegó la Luz!"

Classroom Commotion: Here we go, Year Four!

Every year I think the excitement of the first day of school will surely pass me by. Not only have I passed through my own set of primary, secondary, and university first days, but now as a teacher I still have one every August. And every August I can't help but get really really excited about it! Crisp pencils and notebooks, organized classrooms, new outfits (a personal favorite), and of course refreshed minds.

Keith and I know ahead of time that this year, numero cuatro, will be our last one working and serving at Doulos. (Don't worry, I won't get all mushy now, there will be plenty of that later.) God knows are hearts well, in fact, He knows them better than we do. He knew that it is better for us to know now that this year will be full of our "lasts". 

Especially for me, I need a lot of time to warm up to big changes. I am not a band-aid ripper off-er. I am a slow and meticulous peeler of the band-aid. With each itch of hurt, I need to pause, breathe, contemplate, pray, take a sip of coffee, walk around the block, and then keep going. I consider it a blessing, a testament to God's care for me, that I have a whole year to wrap my head and heart around an impending set of hard good-byes; a whole final year to love hard and wholly a community that has branded me.  

For other people, I am sure that they would prefer to rip the band-aid. They would wince, tear, and then could move on. The temptation either way is to get the hard stuff over with and get on with what comes next. 

While Keith and I traveled to back to the States this summer we both couldn't help but think about living there again. However at the end of our trip, after talking with many friends, family, and supporters, it was clear that God wasn't going to let our hearts and minds slip away from Doulos so quickly. God has given us a lot to look forward to this coming year. Keith is set up to write a scaffolded ESL curriculum for 3rd-12th grade, and hopefully pilot the first ever high school ESL program-- something he has hoped for since the beginning. Also, for the first year ever, I get to teach in my very own visual arts classroom and enjoy the benefits of a newly allocated visual arts budget-- evidence of my arts advocacy that I never thought I would see the fruit of. And on top of it all, we both will be leading the morning devotional class for the seniors. We are ready to explore with them how their education will pair with God's calling for them after graduation.

I am grateful for all ways God has so clearly walked ahead of us and with us into this first day today. But not only is this the first day of a very exciting fourth year, but it is the first of our "lasts" in this beautiful place, dynamic school, and passionate community.