The kids were looking at floor plans as they worked on their number skills. Whaaat! How exciting?! In my mind the mommy signal (ala the batman signal) was being flashed in the sky. hahahhaha Clearly they were calling for me to come talk to the students and of course I had to answer the call :-)
I spoke with Khyri's teacher, Mrs. Khalilah, about coming in to talk to the students about being an architect and since it was during black history month I wanted to note some black architects as well. After getting the go ahead I set out home to get my materials together.
It was intense.hahahahah. You would have thought I was presenting at some fancy schmancy professional conference. I was rummaging through the storage shed looking for old models, flipping through magazines for inspiring pictures, and gathering my tools (t-square, sketch book, portfolio, etc.). I even took time to lay out three different blazers to make sure that I got the perfect "kid appropriate" professional look.
The big day came and I arrived 10 minutes early with a smile and full of confidence. I started setting up my displays and Kielle ran straight to the toy. Uh uh.. this chick is trying to steal the show. Time to call the hubby. Kielle was promptly removed and got to go visit Hubby's office. Good she's gone; there's no way she would sit still and listen to my presentation. Since she was a distraction - she had to go. On with the show.
The "lesson" stated a little rocky because I wasn't prepared for how quickly the kids could get off tangent. I started by naming a few black architects and showing them pictures. At one point we were talking about the walls of the classroom being white and the conversation spun to "Ms. Kahlillah I have white shoes." "Ms. Kahlillah I have a white shirt." "I have white socks." ahhahah. Ok folks.. time to reign this back in. I got control of the situation and forged ahead...
I was ON FIRE! hahahahah It was sooooo much fun. The children were asking me tons of questions and really taking in the information I was presenting. We talked about how I build buildings - just like Bob the Builder! Khyri, of course, was sitting with his teacher, Mr. Jason, looking extremely bored with me. hahahahha. I guess I can't win over all the kids :-) I started by showing the kids my t-square and demonstrated how to use it. I then took out my sketchbook and portfolio and let them look at some drawings. After we talked about what an architect does and how the word is spelled, we moved to a little table where I laid out pictures of architectural elements. This was a great because everyone was able to get their own picture and say what it was. There were staircases, houses, skyscrapers, roofs, etc. It was a lot of fun. I also passed around four tiny models made out of cardboard for the kids to play with.
To wrap up the "lesson" I read the book Walls by Henry Pluckrose. We discussed the different parts of the classroom like the walls, doors, windows, floors - everything. They were really engaged. It was awesome.
I "taught" for 45 minutes, but I swear it felt like 3 or 4 hours. Kids have so much energy! Hats off to preschool and elementary school teachers. I waited until 5 to see if I would be mentioned in the day's "What in the World Happened Today" and to my surprise I had a FULL PAGE spread!!! I couldn't believe it - I was a Little Apron Academy star! hahaahah. Mrs. Khalilah and Mr. Jason have no idea what they have unleashed! hahahahah
The highlight of my experience was when one of Khyri's classmates, Mason, said, "Your other job is Khyri's mommy. I smiled and responded, "You're right Mason. That's my favorite job!"
