I always feel a tinge of pride when students are impressed that the Youtube video we are about to watch is mine. “You made this?!” and “Is that you?” they ask when they see my hands demonstrate inking, cutting, and labelling the backs of the words of my model haiku. I’ll never forget one student who, seeing that the video I made had not gone viral as he perhaps assumed most videos did, exclaimed, “One view?!”

I felt a tug of anxiety in my chest and thought silently to myself, “How can I steer them towards drawing artifacts instead?” I have years of experience creating and teaching young people drawing, painting, collaging, and photography, but despite some sculptural experience both personally and instructionally, I have never felt very comfortable making three-dimensional art, especially with clay.

This semester, Teaching Artist LaVonna Varnado-Brown worked with a study skills class that had teachers that were both committed and excited about their KID smART creative arts residency. We used a combination of creative dramatic exercises and social emotional learning techniques in each co teaching session.