My hybrid geometry/art class for ninth graders, “Creative Geometry,” was in full full effect over the weekend. Our second annual art show took place at the Oakland Museum of Children’s Art, and my kids were fantastic. Six of them were there hours early and stayed until the end of the day to help out. This is what it looked like from the inside.
I found a UC Berkeley MFA student who does robot art. Robot art! What could be more perfect for Creative Geometry class? The artist, Laura Greig, a fellow ex-engineering student from eastern Pennsylvania built Nila for her thesis project out of a coupe of servo motors, some fishing wire, and a few spare parts. So it was that on a hot Tuesday, I took my two classes for a cross-campus field trip to the art building to meet a painting robot.
Turns out Nila also takes a photo every minute and Laura compiled this YouTube clip of the day. I’ll be damned if it isn’t the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
On Thursday night I found myself holding hands with thirty-five tired educators in a circle, blessing each other. This could only mean one thing: teaching in Berkeley is over.
There were two last days, actually. That’s because there were two of everything this summer: two class sections, two talent shows, two Creative Geometry teachers, two closing ceremonies. In our final hours, we treated our kids to a final exam, a field trip to the Berkeley Art Museum and individual awards that Adrienne and I sewed out of fancy paper and ribbon. Awards like “Most likely to become the Warriors’ mascot and move in to Oracle Arena” were a cover for our secret that we really loved those kids. They seemed amused.
We all reconvened for the closing ceremony, which featured us trying to sound intelligent in front of parents and accepting thank you cards we urged students to write for us. Then there was a convocation featuring student speakers on the verge of shitting themselves with nervousness. If that’s what one is going for, this is the pinnacle of cute high school assemblies. You can’t manufacture that kind of earnestness, you can only force it.
Then I was suddenly at Triple Rock Brewery, drinking a microbrew that was all malt, shouting in someone’s ear about fathers. Asian fathers like to gamble, apparently. On some other level of consciousness, I was writing the last six weeks in the books as a success. It was hard and frustrating and I usually wanted to be doing something else. There were so many things I would have done differently. In some ways we even failed. But I got to do it with Adrienne, we noticed a glimmer of actualization in a few students’ eyes, and I’m reminded why I am a teacher: it is a thing that is impossible to do perfectly and in this way it is an honest human endeavor.
The Creative Geometry art show was a success. The gallery at the Museum of Children’s Art was the perfect size, the art looked great on the walls, and most importantly, people showed up. I think the students were in to it. It made me sorry that I did not extend personal invitations to my friends. Sorry everyone. As a consolation, I put together a really low quality three minute video from my digital camera clips. Behold as throughout the day I slowly drive Adrienne crazier. It’s just how we work together.
Our Creative Geometry art show is this weekend! At a real museum! Check out the flier:
And check out how crazily beyond expectations Edward‘s collage map is. It depicts his family’s migration from Mexico to Northern California. Christ, he made the road out of sandpaper.
