WHOA. so today, we woke up late for ulpan. al's alarm clock didn't work. anyway, we ended up just being late to ulpan. after it was over, naama met us there with a surprise guest named zvi. zvi is the newest addition to oranim and will help momo realize his dream of setting up other ISC groups all over israel and making them free as well. zvi started talking about his family and the fact that he didn't want to deprive his kids of the opportunity to group up in israel, like he did as a child. so as hard as it was, he moved his family from maryland so they could experience what he did. he also thanked us for making a difference with the people in ramla, because we don't realize what we do to alleviate the badness all around such a diverse (the most diverse city in israel according to elan--with ethiopians, russians, ukrainians, argentinians, arabs, etc...) but downtrodden place. at this moment i thought of 2 things:
1) how grateful i am that my parents made me go to sunday school, have a bat mitzvah, study hebrew, and get confirmed. because even though i don't adhere to the religious principles of judaism, it is part of my identity and that helps me define my childhood and who i am. so i'll take this chance to say: "you guys were right, so thanks".
2) how all the doubt i've been feeling about teaching and photography is really silly. this is just one of those "hard times" where i will doubt myself, and maybe feel like i should quit. but EVERYONE has times like that. all i do is keep going, and then look back and say, "wow, i just kept going and NOW look at what i did..." so, 'oh what the fuck, go for it anyway'. i'll just do it. those kids are just kids and i can definitely just own my shit and go in there and teach them something. they want to do it. plus, al made a point the other day while i was trying to analyze why i wasn't taking photos so much and thinking that it's because i had created this identity in dallas as "a photographer" or "sally glass, the photographer", and coming here i don't feel like that's who i've created myself to be and blah blah blah. but she just said that it's really just as simple as, "you either choose to take the picture, or you just don't". and that's true. i have a camera. i have an eye. and i have fingers. so why not? just do it. fuckin' nike.
anyway, after ulpan we went to work and interviewed peeps on the phone as usual. al and i approached momo about speaking to birthright groups about our story during closing session and about ISC and he seemed very intrigued, so that's a possibility. cool beans.
on the way home by the way, something possessed me to ask yaacov how to say some pretty ridiculous things, but important for my purposes i feel. get ready:
ani tzreecha l'charben ---- i need to poop.
ani tzreecha l'shalshel ---- i need to diahrrea.
ani tzreecha l'hasteen ---- i need to vomit.
we asked about how to say other stuff as well, but you can imagine how the line of questioning progressed from there. and that's how we do that. thanks yaacov. he was so shocked by our particular brand of inquisitiveness that he missed the exit and had to take a different route home. love that guy so much.
got home and after talking to alli about what i was going to do tomorrow at kadima with the kids and photography, and even though i had no idea what i would do, i told her that i wanted to bring the new cameras. she told me a story about how her coach asked her to come to a scrimmage with his other team and then when she got there, made her coach. she didn't know what to do, but she knew everything she needed, and had all the tools. so she kept her cool and just did it. so i started imagining what i'd do and every second i had a new idea, and before i knew it i was having epiphany after epiphany about what i'd do with the kids. i came up with a completely new lesson idea. fuck the last one. this is the jam. because i decided that i want them to decide for themselves what kinds of photographers they want to be because that's how i did it. and i know i'm not doing the technical thing here, but fuck it. they'll find work they like and create how they want. and talk about coming full circle with the theme of "thing you love, thing you hate, thing you want to change". check this out:
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PHOTOGRAPHY (at kadima or wherever):
1 classes a week
4 classes a month
45 minutes per class
_____________________
3 classes a month(daily plan will go like this):
1st 20 minutes: (i'll bring photo books to class checked out from the ramla library)
- kids get into groups of 3 or 4
- they go through a photo book and each pick
A) a photo that they love and discuss (briefly)
1) why they like it
2) what it makes them feel
3) what they would change (if anything)
B) a photo that they hate and discuss (briefly)
1) why they hate it
2) what it makes them feel
3) what they would change about it
2nd 25 minutes: (kids bring whatever i pre-request them to bring to photograph)
- kids get into groups again (even number to each of the 4 cameras)
- they take turns taking photos of the object in 3 or 4 completely different ways
- spend the last few minutes uploading to the computers and saving into folders
HOMEWORK: i will have them write in journals (as an experiment, not mandatory):
- what they learned in class
- if they noticed a difference in how they saw things in the world
- how they feel about it
1 class a month (the last class):
1st 35 minutes:
- kids will pick 2 fave photos they took during the month, and put them on the computer
- they will briefly explain each however they choose
- the whole group will give feedback:
1) what they like about each photo
2) what they don't like about each photo (if anything)
3) what they would change
2nd 10 minutes:
- group sits in a circle
- discusses one thing they learned, felt, hated, whatever (quick wrap up)
HOMEWORK: same as above
then at the end of the months, maybe we can have the best photo for each kid printed and have a little art show! fuck yeah.
ok tired as shit. love everyone. i made a to-do list. i want to do these things. i'll write it tomorrow here so you can hold me to it. shittttttttt. nighty night.
love,
sally
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