Art Classes

A couple weeks ago I started teaching art classes at Amani. I have 4 scheduled classes over 3 days per week. My first week there were a lot of field trips and extra things going on so every time I showed up for my class there were no kids! Finally on Friday the teachers had a special meeting and the kids were free. Instead of going into the classroom we met in the dining room. This turned out to be a mistake because instead of just having the "Starter" group, I had any kid who felt like drawing. It was basically chaos! We had fun though, gave up on much structure and just drew and colored together.

Since then I've been in the classroom with the kids for 40 minute blocks. They are really well behaved kids and I think they are really pleased to have the chance to do art. Amani hasn't really ever had a qualified art teacher before (although the jury is still out on whether or not I'm qualified!).

I have quite an extensive collection of supplies to chose from. My challenges now are deciding on projects we can do in 40 minutes and which can work with the number and ages of students I have. The class size ranges from seven to twenty and the ages, while are generally split in to older and younger groups, are also quite mixed just depending on the level of the individual child. There is a 16 year old in my Starters class, the rest of them being around 8. He wasn't so excited about the leopard with construction paper spots and a pipe cleaner tail!

Comments

[stacy]

hi libby & joe! i've just spent the last hour catching up on your lives...i'm so happy for you and all the serendipitous twists and turns your lives have been taking since last i saw you. your lives and jobs in moshi sound amazing and continually revealing (about you, life en generale and the surrounding world), and i have to admit that view of mt. kilimanjaro is staggeringly amazing (the idea of doing yoga on a porch with that as the backdrop also gives me pause!).

just wanted to drop a note and say hello. i'm living in berlin with my boyfriend ryan for the next couple of years...if you guys ever need a city-scape and wanna place to stay, you've got one.

well-wishes for the rainy season!
stacy