I was just looking through some old photos and videos trying to free up storage!! I came across these G4 students marionette puppets. During their UOI Sharing the Planet they were exploring the concept of conservation and focusing on trees. I had them do a little research on paper coffee cups and then we saved coffee cups for a week. Students then created these marionette puppets. So cute!
A few years ago Grade 1 students were inquiring about communities in their UOI. I snapped a few photos of them creating these cardboard buildings of our community here in Qatar. It was such a great lesson. You can really learn a lot about them as you listen to them chat with each other. They mostly talked about all the hotels and tall buildings there are in Qatar and then some would talk about the hospitals and police stations, etc. After all the buildings were created we turned them into a relief wall hanging.
At the end of my second week at Qatar Academy, I am exhausted both mentally and physically but very happy. This being the first year of arts integration for Qatar Academy my colleague, Laura, and I are working to educate both teachers and students to take charge of their arts education. While this may be scary for some, others are jumping in with both feet. Listening to the students and staff about their needs and how we, as educators, can release ourselves and students from the confines of scheduled time tables and creatively weave subjects in and out of each other requires a lot of time, practice and faith. I am certain that things will fall in place as time goes on. Other exciting developments within our program are the collaborative projects with MIA and Mathaf; both programmes focusing on increasing student opportunities to participate in museum practice and arts production through real world applications.
Beckie Biorn Dobbs 