A Residency Comes To An End

March 24 marked the last day of my Spring art and writing residency at The School Without Walls in D.C. through the John F. Kennedy Center. I worked for six sessions with teacher Kamel Igoudjil within his Techniques of Writing class. The overall objective of the residency was to explore art and technology as a bridge to creative writing. During this last class, each student gave their perspective about the products they created and shared what they learned along the way. Clearly creating the blog was a favorite of many students, though some expressed their excitement about using their hands when they cut and pasted collage portraits from recycled materials. Others were excited about using the computer as a tool to draw and create art that could be used to illustrate blog entries, while some students preferred creating the ebook from an essay they wrote that explored global and cultural issues affecting youth. 

I had just purchased a flip video camera the day before and used it for the first time in class to interview students about their views on the residency. The students were very articulate. I was pleased to have been given an opportunity to work with these bright and motivated students and especially happy to collaborate with such a gifted and erudite teacher.