Longfellow Middle School

I've been working at Longfellow Middle school, in Berkeley, for a year and a half now. I work in the art department of an after school program. Many of the kids in my class have been with me since i started working there, so I feel like there is a good sense of community in our classroom. On Mondays, we have a 3D arts class, where the kids make sculptures out of a variety of materials. On Wednesdays, we have a community building class called Our World. In this class, the kids are currently trying to open up a student store to sell healthy snacks and arts and crafts they make. The money made would go back into school projects or field trips. On Friday, we have a cultural art class, where we learn about a new culture every few weeks, and make art inspired by the culture. We've been making zen gardens in the class. Each class is very different, with very different students. I am very happy with the variety of classes and projects we've been having. Setting up the store in the community building class has been a bit of a challenge, but it has been working out.

I've been able to do one lesson with the kids since the start of the semester. I had these chinese stamps with different words and symbols on them. We talked about Chinese calligraphy, and they picked a word, and illustrated the meaning of the word or symbol on a card with mixed media. Most of them collaged magazine photos and colored on the cards with markers. The stamps had words like, harmony, good omen, peace & prosperity. They were supposed to give the card to a friend or a family member, just as a nice present. i think the kids really enjoyed it; some of them even made four or five cards.

I just hope to teach more lessons this semester. i really like planning new projects to do with the students.

- danielle o'malley