Animal Adventure

At my afterschool job, I have been working on this play with my kindergartners for a few months now. This is the second play I have done with kindergartners. My first play was during school so it was a much different environment. I set the bar pretty high for them because I wanted to challenge myself as a teacher and I wanted to push them a little to see what they could do. Every student had at least one line that they had to memorize and and three students had about 5-10 lines. One of my most difficult students, who never listens and throws tantrums, ended up having one of the main parts. He really really wanted to be the monkey and he enjoyed rehearsing (he doesn't enjoy most of the activities that we do) so I thought it would be a good motivator for him to keep him involved. It was quite a feat just to get this kid to cooperate. The play is about a cat and dog who find 2 lost monkeys and travel around to different environments looking for the monkeys' home. In the environments they sang some very truncated songs with hand motions. I was very impressed with my kindergartners ability to memorize their lines given that most of them can not read yet.

The last week of rehearsals was a little bit rough. Rehearsing the same thing over and over again requires focus and disciple which 5 year olds do not have. There were a few of them though, I tell you, that would give 100% with every hand motion, in every entrance, in how they said their lines, no matter how many times I made them do it. Stars on the horizon here. I was nervous about how it would come together. I have seen a lot of shows come together at the last minute as the kids get serious when they have an audience. I knew they would remember their lines and the songs, I was just worried about their volume and the transitions.

I was actually pretty calm on the day of the performance as I am usually frantic and stressed. (Can only be the work of the Lord). I didn't even try to do a run through. Either they knew it or they didn't at that point. It didn't quite come together the way that I had hoped but I learned what I need to do differently next time. At first, they froze a little like deer in the headlights with the audience. I think it was a bit overwhelming having so many people staring at them. They were pretty quiet, and I had to lead them on and off stage more than I had hoped, making it look unprofessional. But I have to remember that they are 5 and it was probably one of their first times onstage. Their costumes looked cute though. I got a lot of good feedback from the parents who really enjoyed it. It just didn't quite live up to the standards that I had for it. But it was good experience for me to put on an actual performance, and really who tries a play with kindergartners? I do, because I know they can do it. I can't post pictures of the kids for their privacy, but here are some pictures of some of the animals masks that I made for the show.

The jellyfish were my favorite They looked really cute. And yes, that is a shower cap, but doesn't it work for well as the top of a jellyfish!

The Holiday Season

The holiday season is always a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I do love a lot of Christmas traditions. I love the lights, songs, family camaraderie. On the other hand, the holidays can be a very stressful time. The consumerism of this nation drives me up the wall. I think this line from a commercial pretty much sums it up, "But if it looks the same, how will people know that I upgraded?" The Lord really needs to bring his judgment on this nation by how we behave around Christmas time. It's really disgusting. I went out this weekend to a shopping center and almost lost it. Two people snaked my parking spot and then when I finally did get a parking spot, I got yelled at because someone thought I stole their spot. After that, I was like, I need to leave or I am going to turn into one of these crazy people. Now, I am not trying to say that I am better than all these people. Obviously I can lose it too around the holidays too with the parking madness. I buy gifts for my family. I haven't figured out how to navigate this season with justice perfectly either. I am very much apart of this consumer driven culture as well. I feel stressed, lacking time to get everything done, and feel like I am missing out on anticipating the birth of Jesus. I am in need of repentance and forgiveness for my behavior as well. Lord would you break this hold that materialism has on this nation.

I also think that it's interesting to think about holiday shopping with the juxtaposition of Occupy Wall Street. Now, I am in general I am a very uninformed person, which is terrible, I know. But it seems that people are willing to protest the rich hording their wealth, but we are not willing to take responsibility for how we contribute to the problem of greed. Now maybe the people protesting are not the same crazy shoppers at the mall, but I think the general American public would support the movement of Occupy Wall Street but not want to give up their holiday shopping either. I say this living in LA, so I realize I have a skewed perspective on the nation. But don't these two things happening almost simultaneously seem strange?

Turkey Crafts

This was a Thanksgiving Turkey craft that I did with my students. I was actually really excited about how they turned out. I thought they looked really cute. Another use for toilet paper rolls. There is just so much you can make with them.

Thankfulness

In the midst of it being a tiring week and emotions flying around, I thought it would be good to reflect on things that I have been thankful for in this past year.

This year I am thankful for

-being fully employed finally. And having 2 jobs that I get to work with kids

-my adorable kinders. They bring me so much joy just to see their cute little faces

-being able to put on a play with my kinder soon

-teaching theatre at my summer camp this summer

-leading When Justice and Peace Kiss and being able to perform

-my beautiful nephew that I get to see in a few days

-my family that loves me and supports me, I am really thankful to be close to them

-my roommates that teach me how to eat healthier and pray with me

-men in my life that care about me

-what I have learned and been inspired by through Inner City Arts

-being able to understand more of how I experience God's love for me

-my bible study that encourages and love me

-the cuddly kids in my bible study who let me read to them and tickle them

-a car (after getting into a accident and having to buy a car, I take it for granted less)

- that friends of mine are finally able to adapt two children that we have been praying about for years!

-the cockroaches in my kitchen have been fewer recently

-my church that values caring for the poor and being a family of faith

PS Sorry that my blog posts have been so sporadic. Working full time has left me pretty trained so far.

Presenting.....SUPER ARTSY

Super Artsy is here to save the world from boredom, fear, insecurity, and school standards. She will kill you with her creativity, inspire you to express yourself, and turn your dull life into one blossoming with art, music, theatre, and dance.

Super Arty’s superpowers surpass any superhero out there. Her curtain cape will majestically open to present a play. She can shoot paint out of her wrists and then use her paintbrush fingers to paint you a picture. Her super piano utility belt includes everything Super Artsy could need. Extra paint for shooting, hot glue gun for your craft needs, retractable harmonic to bring some music to any dull moment, and a camera to capture the perfect moment. Her guitar powered goggles help her to see any situation in a new a creative way. Her dance shoes keep her light on her feet and ready at any moment to dance into action.

I love creative and punny Halloween costumes. I’ve been pretty excited about my Halloween costume for weeks now. I really wanted to be a superhero but there are no good girl superheroes. Really I want to Nacho Libre, but I don’t think I can pull that off. So I decided to create my own superhero. And what does the world need more of, ART! Really the whole process of creating this costume and character was so life giving for me. Not only is it creative for me to come up and make all of the different elements of the costume, but it so represents what I want to be. I really want to be Super Artsy! I want to bring creativity and art to children everywhere. I have felt really met and loved by God in this process as I get to create this alter ego that represents what I am passionate about. I felt closer to God as I was able to express so much of myself and feel affirmed in who I am. I don’t think that there is a costume that could better represent who I am. Its goofy, it’s childish, it’s creative. I want to develop this character further and maybe use it when I am teaching my art lessons. Super Artsy needs a theme song, a Sidekick, an Arch Nemesis, and a comic book series. If you have any ideas for these let me know.

Hot glue gun attack
Super Artsy with MJ
Super Artsy with LMFAO dancer

This is what exhaustion feels like

This was my first full week of working 2 part time jobs. I am completely exhausted. This week was longer than normal weeks will be because my afterschool job had parent teacher conferences all week and the kids got out early. Here was my schedule for the week. Wake up at 6:00am. Leave the house by 7:00am. Teaching Assistant job in Westwood from 8am-12:45pm. Rush to LAX area, while eating lunch and changing my shirt in the car. (Not the safest driving week for me, but I had no other choice.) Second job as an afterschool teacher from 1:15pm-6:00pm. Get home around 7:00pm. Yeah I’m pretty tired. I came home everyday ready to collapse. I also got sick around Wed which made it exponentially difficult. What I got sick with was a little funny but a little too much for a public blog.

Not every week will be this bad. Only Tues will be rushed like this, but normally the other days I don’t have to be at the afterschool job until 2:00pm. I get a little break in between. It was much more difficult to transition than I was imagining. A lot of things in my schedule are changing now. I am used to having time with God in the morning, doing my lesson plans, and running errands. Now I have to cram that all into the evening and weekends. This week I was too exhausted to do anything when I got home, so I am little behind now.

The new job

So after a month of waiting to get my background check cleared, I finally started my new job as a teaching assistant at a school in Westwood. I am helping out with two different third grade classes. I wanted to work at a school to see if I could do the whole classroom teaching thing and if it would be worth it to get my teaching credential. I know it’s only been a week, but so far the answer to that question is no. I am so bored in these classes and I am not an 8 year old child with a short attention span. All they do all day is correct sentences, work on spelling words, answer questions from text books, and do math problems. I can not teach like that every day. These classrooms are also super crowded and there is barely any room to move. I don’t blame the teachers, I really don’t. They have all these standards and tests they have to meet and they have no space to be creative with their students. I know I don’t see everything, but in this small window, I am very concerned with the state of our education system and how our students are learning. Hopefully I can find ways in the small groups that I work with to be creative with them, but the environment makes it very difficult.

On a positive note, my afterschool job has been going pretty well. One of my most difficult kindergarteners had a dramatic change in behavior this week. We have really had problems with him pushing and hitting all year. It’s like literally, every 5 minutes he is putting his hands on someone. But his behavior has really turned around to the point where the hitting has almost completely stopped. I even gave him “Star of the Week” this week because of the improvement that I saw. Praise the Lord. Praying for these kids does work because there is nothing external that really changed in how we responded to him.

Prayer Retreat and Peacocking

This weekend I went on a prayer retreat at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Ranchos Palos Verdes. Most of it was just personal praying. It was very nice to have the extended space to quite my thoughts down and spend time with God. There were places that the retreat center where it was absolutely silent. Living the city, sometimes you forget what absolute silent sounds life. Even as I sit here and write this I hear the neighbor’s dog barking incessantly.

There are also peacocks at the retreat center. I think the ideas of peacocks are funny because it’s the male who is beautiful and draws the female in by his beauty. Where is our culture, it’s the women who try to look beautiful for men. Can we swap for a little bit and be like peacocks? Can men wear the dresses, high heels, makeup, and curl their hair? Can the women throw on a t-shirt and backwards hat for a little while?

It was good to hear from the Lord in different ways. In the midst of having someone pray for me, we were drawn to Isaiah 53:2 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” I consider myself a very plain person. And to some extent that is intentional. I do not dress in a way that really draws attention to myself. It was good to be affirmed that it is ok to be plain in my appearance. There was nothing in Jesus appearance that would draw people to him, yet someone thousands flocked to see, hear, and touch him. I hope that I would become a person who is intriguing not by my appearance but by the way that I live and the things that I say. Jesus never needed to be “peacocking” to get attention, yet he got it.