Saturday March 21, 2009
We had a great time at the Jam Session at International Studies Academy last week. About 30 students from the ELD classes at Phillip & Sala Burton High School trekked to the Portrero Hill school where they got to meet other young people from participating schools and the World Savvy people and guest artists who led exciting workshops exploring identity through visual and performance art.
Well over 200 students were introduced to the artists through an opening performance, and then they were split up into teams and sent to different rooms to develop some form of performance piece that was performed at the closing session. Teachers got together to share their progress and gain feedback, as well as have a chance to relax themselves before putting together a little performance to start the closing session.
World Savvy’s MAP program this year is focused on Identity and Immigration, which is a perfect fit for the diverse group of students I have this year. They are from so many different places, speak so many different languages, and yet, upon class interaction and engagement, they realize that they have a lot of common experiences and thoughts. This year we have created digital stories about immigration experiences and perspectives and are in the process of writing, illustrating and publishing a collection of comics depicting their own experiences with immigrating to this country.
My students were both scared to come out of their comfort zones, excited to be among so many new friends, and proud to be Burtonians. They took big steps forward in getting on-stage, interacting with people during the breakout sessions, and just bonding with the whole group as we took the bus and walked to ISA. A few of them didn’t know how to get back to school where they would continue on their way home, so I took the 19 Polk with them to show where they could take the 9x. After my wife picked me up, they waited at 6th and Harrison for over an hour with six packed 9x busses passing them by. They said I owe them big-time for that. But I don’t mind. It will be a fun few months before school is out.
Eric chow 