PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Six

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We?

Session Six 

In our very last classroom session of Photovoice students had a chance to work on their collages and share their final thoughts about the project and their personal identities. The students also took a survey using their iPads and survey monkey. I thanked them for their time and effort as this has been a project I’ve enjoyed very much. Stay tuned as there are many future plans in the works. 

Stay tuned!

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com

PREVIOUSLY:

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Five

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Four

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Three

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Two

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session One

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Five

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We?

Session Five

Please excuse my tardiness, I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season with their friends and families. I apologize for being so late with this update, but I was busy with just that. Wednesday, December 18, 2013 I had the opportunity to paint with Mr. Stowell’s class. We were especially excited to provide this rare opportunity for students to get creative and share their art. Mr. Stowell reminded the students of my friend and Massive Monkee Jonathan Higuchi aka JSqwerl’s collage that he presented to the class during his visit. “This blank picture is my favorite one, this reminds me that I have the ability to create anything I want.”

We handed students a white slice of paper and told them the only thing required to go on the paper was their name. The paper would go on their PhotoVoice collages but this was an opportunity for them to be creative and have a canvas.

We broke out a color chart and quickly went over color basic’s letting them know the colors we had and what colors needed to be mixed in order to create new ones. Each student chose 2 colors and were given white as a 3^rd. A lot of beautiful artwork was created and many students shined! On one hand I was sad because the students were so artistic that it’s a shame they didn’t have more time to show their talents, however; I am happy to be a part of the solution.

Big THANK YOU to all of my classroom support from Diana, Jessica, Christina and the other Dom.

Stay tuned!

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com

PREVIOUSLY:

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Four

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Three

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Two

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session One

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Four

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Four

We started off the Wednesday, December 11th session by breaking into groups and discussing what idenitity was and why it was so important to understand it.

Students continued to write about their personal identities.

Diana presented her PhotoVoice collage and spoke about the importance of her family, her career and health as it pertained to who she was.

We’d later go over the scavenger hunt pictures and allow students to speak about the pictures they took.

My favorite part of this session was at then end when Mr. Stowell would connect this project and the importance of knowing your personal identity with the next step the students would be taking in life, middle school. We spoke about the peer pressure and cool factors that most middle school students face, and how it was important that all of them knew who they were as individuals.

With only one more session left I am more than happy with the way this project is panning out.

Stay tuned..

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com

PREVIOUSLY:

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Three

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Two

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session One

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Three

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Three

This past Wednesday, December 4, 2013 we were delighted to have our special guest “J Sqwerl” also known as Jonathan Higuchi from the Internationally known Seattle b-boy collective Massive Monkee’s Crew. He gave a talk about his personal identity and the roles that creativity his family, and the city of Seattle play in shaping his identity. He encouraged students to think outside the box and really dig deep into their own identities to find something unique.

Students took time to free write and turn our session two brainstorms into actual sentences that they will use to create the artist statement portion of their projects. Some students would share their sentence and ideas with the entire class.

We Reviewed how to use the camera’s before heading outside for a mini scavenger hunt. We were able to take advantage of the weather and and allow them time to practice with the camera’s before they head out on their own.

Students really enjoyed the activities and hands on use.

HUGE thank you to Jonathan Higuchi for his time, assistance, and inspirational words. Thank you to Jackie for her assistance and to Diana for her assistance and beautiful Photo’s. Until next time. Eagles With Camera’s.

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com

PREVIOUSLY:

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Two

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session One

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session Two

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We?

Session Two

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

No more butterflies! This session I was ready to dive in head first. I knew exactly what I was going to say, I was ready to get student input and show them a good time. We went through the pictures that students took last weeks and were able to see some great work and hear wonderful stories!

Students received homework the night before to find out the history of their name. Why they were given the name, what it meant, and where it came from.

We were also gave students time to brainstorm what photo’s they would take pertaining to their own identity and projects. Although my time management wasn’t on point I’d say for an hour we squeezed a lot of good stuff in and students were able to share openly and freely. Next week we hope look at Social v. Personal identity, take a look at some photo’s from their scavenger hunt and MORE PICTURES!

BIG thank you for Diana helping out and taking photo’s and to Mr. Stowell for making it all happen.

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com

PREVIOUSLY:
PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session One

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We? Session One

PhotoVoice Eagles With Cameras: “Project on Identity” Who Are We?

Session One

Wednesday was my first day back in front of a classroom of children since my Japan English teaching days. Honest, I started off a bit rusty, I was nervous, tight and a bit on edge. As the class went on I’d like to think my performance improved. The students were there to learn and have fun and I hope that’s exactly what they received out of it. A HUGE thank you to my assistants, Diana, Jessica, Jackie, Domonique, Mr. Stowell and a parent I never had a chance to introduce myself too.

We started off with an overview of the project as a whole and moved into trying to understand how complex identity can be. It was my goal to inspire interactions and dialogue. There were no wrong answers.

The students really seemed to open up during the slide show session where we discussed perception and what stories photo’s were telling. We used everything from the historical photo of JFK in the drop top, Martin and Malcolm’s first meeting and Ali’s triumphant stance over his opponent. I also found current photo’s as well, LeBron James dunking as the Laker team sits back in awh, pictures from the Egyptian revolution, Malala, and a photo from the typhoon in the Philippines. I was surprised at how engaged they were and while I knew they were smart, but still some of their answers blew me away.

Above all the best part for the students seemed to be going into other classrooms at the school and take pictures of other students hard at work, capturing the identity of the classrooms and the entire school. Hands on for the win!

It is my opinion that when we speak about social change it starts from within with identity. Next week we will examine their photo’s and dig deeper into their personal identities and allow students to write out what they believe represents them, their school, and their community. We will also start thinking about what pictures students will want to take for their projects. Stay tuned.

***CREDIT****
The idea for calling the project Eagles With Camera’s was inspired by Prometheus Brown (Blue Scholars) and Thig Nat’s (The Physics) Rappers W/ Camera’s. Northgate Elementary Eagles.

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com

PREVIOUSLY:

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)

Salutations,

For the next 5 weeks I will be spending my Wednesday afternoons In Zac Stowell’s classroom at Northgate Elementary school working with a diverse group of 5th grade students whom 90 percent of their families live at or below poverty level. While this says nothing about the character of these wonderful students, it does speak to the barriers and challenges these students face.

With this project students will answer the question “How are you a part of your community?” After an introduction to photography, and tutorials about how it can be used for storytelling, students will have an opportunity to go into their communities and document how they are a part of their community through photography. The students will then create collage and an artist’s statement that will be presented to their peers and showcased to their guardians during an art display at a local coffee shop.

Our mission with this project is to use technology, art and photography as a platform for students to share their own stories and the stories of their communities. We hope to explore the artistry that is photography and teach students basic skills, while allowing them to explore their identity and become active participants in their community in creating the world that they would like to live in.

My hope is to also introduce students to Seattleites whom are already using visual arts to share the stories of their communities past present and future. We are interested in the opinions, thoughts and foresight from these brilliant minds in hopes that we will progress the social conscience of this class.

The project will take place from 1:45p – 2:45p on the following dates: November – 13th, 20th; December 4th, 11th, and 18th.

I will be documenting this experience and project and hope to have more to share with you soon. Until then, stay tuned.

Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com