Today, Anton led a conversation about HOME.
As writing prompt for the day, students wrote down sounds and smells that remind them of their home and of the neighborhoods they live in, and the one here on Chicago Ave where T-Plus is located.
It was an interesting conversation that went in a lot of directions. Sounds and smells are powerful, and can certainly please or upset us.
The Poem:
The Sounds + Smells of Happy Life
Muted dishes, television + creaky floor boards
Birds chirping through sweet air
Living with the rhythm of the ocean
Under a big hot rainbow
Dashing Cat Scratches at the window
My home is buttery popcorn
Cinnamon swirl
Pepperoni Pizza Chicago Style
Excited Pink Green houses of family
My people, close cabin people
Chicago Avenue
Students talking everything
-and their own dirt digging
Powderhorn ducks on the lake
Geese following me back on the scene
Where school is my kind of stuff.
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Before our poem conversation, we got up on our feet with a movement exercise called FLOCK OF BIRDS.
People moving through the space as a group, taking turns to form statues one-by-one, in relationship with the statues made by the players before you. Music is playing and affects how we move through the space and partly informs the statues we make.
People were taking really bold individual choices and working together at the same time to form some beautiful statues.
We had an awesome flow going through the whole exercise.
After class, the three teaching artists were talking amongst ourselves and we all agreed – this group of students will take on anything artistic you throw at them. They are hungry and ready to go. It’s exciting.
