An Evening to Remember

First and foremost this was an amazing experience. In the beginning I found it very inspiring how everyone in the cohort pulled together to get everything ready for the evening. When setting up as soon as one individual was done everyone moved on to help someone else, no one was idle but everyone was offering help in every way, shape and form. This did not surprise me though, because I know that we have a great group of people and we can all work together cooperatively, this made the whole experience stress-less and seamless.

My favourite part of the evening was the interactions that occurred between everyone at the event (students, parents, teachers, and student-teachers). When I was walking around I heard a lot of positive comments about the art show from parents talking amongst themselves. One of the comments I heard went something like this; “This is a great idea, I never knew that they did this up here, and I wish I had. My son has shown a much more positive outlook towards school because of this experience” and “this is a very validating experience for the students”, and “I never knew my son was this good at art”. All I could do the entire time was SMILE. Except during the speech, as I am deathly afraid of public speaking (in front of peers, I have no problems with students).

I was very happy that all of my students managed to make it up to the art fair, and even some students who did not have art work displayed came up to support their fellow classmates. I am attaching some photos of the students and their art work. I had a parent of one of my students tell me that her son is now showing more concentration and effort when doing his homework and he is even making cranes at home, showing his family how.

Lastly, thank you Casey, I loved the art table. I thought that this was a important element of the art show as it reinforced the importance of art and enabled younger siblings to participate in meaningful ways. A few of my students spent some time there making cranes and sharing their knowledge with others. I joined in and taught a few new participants how to make the cranes as well, this was a good teaching moment.

I also wanted to thank Rob, and all the other people who provided directions to individuals trying to find their way to the T & L building, I heard many comments about how helpful you were. And all of the cake ladies, I heard it was good, but I did not get to taste any, I was too busy having fun.

Thank You Willow, for encouraging our class to follow through with the Art show, it was a fulfilling and enriching experience for myself as a teacher and for all the participants and spectators as well.