Working on this final project was quite interesting and pretty far out of my comfort zone, not because it made me uncomfortable, but because it really pushed the extent of what I know how to do. I mean we even choreographed a dance! I found that to be really exciting and thoroughly enjoyed the process.
We came to the idea of hiding who we are behind artificial masks because in our poems that we had all written for class we had all talked about that idea. After finding that central concept it all just started floating. We quickly decided to do a three voice poem and came up with the idea to do the reverse makeup videos.
After that we all got to work and wrote our own poems and stories. I know that I said this in class, but I was amazed by how meaningful those words became to me. When I first wrote them I did it just to do it. Just to have something to turn in. But the more we practiced, and the more I lived with those words, the more I felt that they embodied me and that I embodied them.
I really liked that we had so LONG to work on the project because it really helped me invest in it. I started the project with the intention of just getting it done, but because I had to live with it for so long I actually began to really care about. I also thought that it was super helpful to do most of the work in class. I feel like knowing that that time was only for this project helped me to focus and do better quality work.
We went through a lot of drafts, but I am really happy with the final project. Somehow the project ended up being a lot more feminine than we intended, but I loved it. I feel like our message was very powerful and very authentic. We played off of our strengths and I think that each of our personalities shone through. I hope that it was effective for the audience and really communicated some sort of truth about what we all behind all that we hide behind.
I am not sure how I would integrate this project into the classroom.... It was a really cool experience for me as an artist, but I have a hard time imagining such an elaborate project in a high school classroom. I suppose it could be broken down into a smaller and more specific assignment for a particular assignment. Perhaps they could do some sort of an embodied movement as a reaction to the text. However, I do think that what I learned as an artist will be valuable to my students. I learned that time allows the project to be more meaningful and would like to try having at least one project a year that takes more time so that the students can be more invested. I also think that I learned a lot about the value of doing work in class, which is something that I can definitely apply to my future classroom.
As for the class as a whole... I really enjoyed the class as an artist. We created some really fun things and it was nice to get to explore the creator in me. That's not something I do a whole lot, but it felt good. However, I sometimes felt that the class lacked a focus on pedagogy. These activities were fun and interesting, but sometimes they lacked application. We always talked about the application, but never as much as we talked about the creation. I feel like there could be a better way to incorporate the two. I would have appreciated a course that was more focused on pedagogy and in the process allowed us to create, instead of such a focus on artistry that sometimes allowed us to talk about pedagogy. I also felt like the guidelines often lacked specificity. I didn't always know what ways expected of me. The best remedy for that was the examples we were shone. They really helped me to see what was possible and what was expected.
All in all, it was a great experience. Thanks!
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