Lesson Planing
During my first co-op cycle, I was tasked with creating a class that was geared towards allowing the associates to make art that they were proud of, as well as introducing associates to a variety of mediums that they might not have experienced before. mostly I wanted to teach the associates without simplifying the concepts as if they were children.
I started by talking about the fundamentals of art, and then we worked on practicing 3 different technique each medium . The results were stunning, We did live demos as well as free prompts and getting to watch the associates become more confident in their art was very rewarding.
The results were so good in fact that we were asked to participate in an auction where we raised money for the IDD Center, to learn more about that you can explore the events tabs!
CO-OP 2
My second co-op at Impact was a bit more of a challenge, and required a lot of pivoting, but in the end we created a class system that promoted self expression over a final product that aligned with what neurodivergent people expect the final product to look like. I also wanted to allow the associates to learn about narrative story telling as a medium of expression.
The first structure we had was very rudimentary, the whole class would discuss the plot, characters, genera and hook, and then set out to write the storyline! It was a lot of me giving them options and then writing the story with them watching on the screen. We had days focused on making art for our story. We got one done this way and I decided my voice was overpowering the voice of the associates, and so we pivoted.
I began to work with the communication team on a more science focused class structure that would help the non verbal folks engage! It was a lot of struggle but eventually we decided to part ways.I restructured the class once more, but this time I continued with a similar format the associates had become accustomed to.