Week five

Today the groups started drawing their designs onto the cement board. Some of the students helped me break the sheets of glass. For the blog entry I asked the students, "How does it feel to start working with the glass and the cement board? Are you excited or scared? Do you want to change your design at all?"

Zeyry: I am both excited and scared. The thing I am excited is finishing it. But also I am scared because  maybe the glass parts are not going to fit and I think I will not change my design because it pretty just the way it is.

Ana: Im excited to start designing a mural after a hard time working on the sketch. Finally we're working on it. I wanna start and yeah maybe I will change some things but finally were gonna start working on the mural.

Charline: I think I feel good to start working on the glass and the cement board cause we were getting ready a long time. I feel excited to do the glass thing.

Stephanie: No I don't (want to change the design). I am excited to start and happy to finish it and put a lot of color and is going to be beautiful.

Jackie: I feel excited about working with glass. I am fine with my design.

Amy: I'm excited because I want to see how it's going to look at the end. I like our design but maybe add something. I want to know everyone's idea and to see how it's going to look in our school. I think it's going to  be great.

Estefany: I feel excited because we finally move to the final design and I don't want to change nothing.

Week four

Today the students continued working on their designs. We also played games to fill time. Next week I bring the mosaic supplies and we start to break things and work on the actual murals. We are all very excited.

Week Three

This week we reviewed the ideas from the week before. Then I gave the kids some posterboard, pencils and markers and in teams the created some designs. The posterboard designs bring us a step closer to final designs for the actual mosaic wall murals. I feel like we got really far this week and we are possibly ready to present some of these ideas to the principal. For the blog entry I asked the students, "How do you feel about the class so far? Are we going too fast or too slow?" and, "What part of the project are you most looking forward to?"

Charline, Estefany, and Jackie:
Charline had a sudden inspiration of drawing a globe with people standing around it and words in the middle. The three girls worked hard on this wonderful poster and put some thought into what to write in the middle.

Their blog responses:
Charline: Prreeaattyy Good. Well I think my group is going far because  we are working as a team. (Looking forward) to make the mosaic & having fun.
Estefany: I am going fast because my group is almost done. (Looking forward to) making the mosaic.
Jackie: I feel fine b/c we are doing fun things and we are going just fine. (Looking forward to) finishing the mosaic.


Ana and Rochelle:
These two like the idea of a city of Minneapolis silhouette.

Their blog responses:
Ana: We're doing good because I'm likein the class and I'm havin fun. I'm looking forward to do the mosaic.
Rochelle: I feel good b/c im learning how were gonna do the picture for the school. In between.
(Looking forward to) Decorating the picture.

Amy and Zeyry:
They are one of two teams working on a design that includes the school mascot. I really like the vine border and flower corners. The people the drew are fun, too.

Their blog responses:
Amy: I feel good it OK because we are going step by step. (Looking forward to) when we work on glueing, cutting pieces and seeing it when its done.
Zeyry: Slow because were doing everything step by step by takeing our time. (Looking forward to) well, drawing I guess because I love drawing. It my talent, my passion.

Aaliyah:
Aaliyah has a real talent for drawing. She took a blank posterboard and just started drawing and coloring free-hand.

Her blog response: It is very fun, I look forward to drawing.

Angel and Charly:
These guys teamed up to work on a poster that includes the school mascot and motto.

Their blog entries:
Angel: We are going normal. (Looking forward to) the mosaic.
Charley: We are going in the normal. It is so cool. (Looking forward to) the mosaic.

Week two

This week we started thinking about a design for our mural. I came to class with a few themes for the students to explore. I also encouraged them to think about other ideas. I want the students to come up with the design, but I think they need a little guidance. Here are the themes I presented and any feedback they gave:

1) "Even something very small can make a big difference" The students suggested a butterfly, or a timeline that shows change over time.

2) "Accept others for who they are; Be proud of your differences." The students thought of famous singers who are different an proud of it such as Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson.

3) "Set big goals; aim high" Career ideas, mountain.

4) "Working together, we all move forward." Puzzle pieces, rainbow, ingredients come together to make a meal.

5) "The Environment" images of nature such as flowers, trees, leaves, butterflies, seasons

6) "How Green school connects to the bigger world" A skyline, earth, globe, shape of the state of Minnesota

7) School mascot, rules, philosophy

For the blog post, first I asked them, "Write about what ideas or themes you think will work best as a mural and why."
Jalahya - I think we should do flowers because everyone likes flowers and they are very important because bees need flowers.
Estefany - I think it will be OK with people they are different.
Jackie - Well, I think it should be about something that makes a difference.
Iman - A lot of flowers spread out everywhere because it is just pretty.
Zeyry - Today I didn't have an idea or theme but this weekend I will think about an idea, theme or both.
Charline - One idea one of my friend had its okay to be different.
Rochelle - To do the mascot of Green Central and the name of the school.
Ana - I think a poster.
Angel - believe in your dream.
Charly - Flags, butterfly



The second thing I asked them to write was, "Write about a movie, book, song, or story that inspired you and made you want to tell other people about it."

Jalahya - This girl named Cymphoneice inspired me because in her songs she says never give up and follow your dreams.
Estefany - Ladt Gaga inspired me to think about this theme because she has a song called, "Born This Way."
Jackie - I was inspired of a song called "Jueves" which means "Thursday." That song inspired me b/c it was about something that happen in March 11 in Spain, about a train accident.
Iman -  A song by Eminem because he writes about very deep things, "I'm not afraid"
Charline - "Soul Surfer" because she lost her arm & she did not give up & she inspired me 2 not give up & work hard to reach ur dreams."
Rochelle - The movie of Justin Beiber called "Never Say Never." It inspired me to reach for my goals and not to...
Ana - The song by Justin Beiber "Never Say Never." It inspired me to not give up on my dreams.
Angel - "Touching Spirit Bear" (Book). If you do something wrong you only get one more chance.

The Beginning

The students in the after school Mosaic Mural class at Green Central School in Minneapolis will use this blog as a running record of events. The students at Green do not have fine arts in their regularly scheduled day, so I felt it was very important to offer it as an after school class.
I am Ms. Wendy, their teacher. I am serving at Green Central school as an Americorps member this year.
We are so excited to get started on our mural. Tuesday January 17th was the first session. We introduced ourselves and talked about our plans for the project. We will be making a group glass mosaic mural to hang up in the school. The students will design it and construct it themselves (with some guidance).
Each week I plan to ask the students to write down a blog post (which I will then enter into the blog myself, for logistical reasons) This week, I asked the students to think about what strengths they bring to the group, what music they would like to hear (for a group playlist), whether they've worked on a group project before, and what they think will be the best and worst part of working as a group on one art piece. Here are their responses:

* Hello, my name is Charline & I'm in the 6th grade. I had worked on a group before and the good part is that it was fun and had a chance to get to know ppl & the worst thing is that some ppl talked & did not pay attention & I did not enjoy that!!

*My name is Angel Marquez. I'm in 6th grade. I have not been on a group project. Getting finished is the best part. Strength: Soccer player. Music: Lil' Wayne

*My name is Rochelle. I'm in sixth grade. I've never been a group project. When it finishes it would be cool how it comes out.

*My name is Ana. I'm in 6 grade. No I have never work in a art project before. What I think will be the worst part about working as a group is that sometimes they won't listen and sometimes they want to do it all by them self and they won't let us do nothing and what I think will be the best part about working is that we can finish fast.

*Amy. 6th grade. I never work on an art project in a group. The best part I think working in group is that you get to work with other people. The worst I think would be if they are not cooperating or helping. I think that it depends on the person. I think that planning is going to be the hardest. Strength: work together

*Muguel, 8th grade. Best part work together. hard part get it on the right spot.

*My name is Charly. I'm in the 6th grade. I worked in art classes like 2. The best thing is drawing & the worst was if you get messed up you gotta start all over. Strengths: math, leader. Music: New Boyz, Chris Brown, Cat Daddy

*My name is Jackie. I'm in 6th grade. I worked in a art class once. We did mosaics. We won't agree with some thing. We will get to know eachother's strength. Strengths: math, working with a team. Music: New Boyz, Adele

*Hi. My name is Estefany. I'm in 6th grade. I never worked in a group art project before. (Wost part) to not be thinking the same. (best part) we get to break cosas (things). Strengths: soccer player, work in a team. Music: Lady Gaga

*Hi, my name is Jalahya and I am in 6th grade. I have never worked on a group project before. I think the best part will be that everyone will be able to do different things. The worst part will be agreeing about the topic we will be doing. Strength: smart. Music: Mindless Behavior, Adele

*My name is Da'Jour. I'm in 7th grade! Yes I have worked on group project before. Strengths: Funny, small. Music: Chris Brown, Lil Wayne
 

*My name is Aaliyah. (6th grade)

I think we got off to a good start! Next week will be exploring some themes that we could possibly use to base the mural on.