art class!

8th Grade Art. That is Moussodije walking in the back. She is the amazing English teacher I have the pleasure of working with daily.  

Moussa! He has a special place in my heart since my first day when I asked the students what they knew or liked about America to which he responded "My favorite thing about America is (pause to ask the kid behind me what my name is) Yes, my favorite thing about America is Lalla Cisse." swoon. Plus, he lets me help him read. I love reading.  

kiddies using their mirrors i fought so hard for! 

the board. that was our goal for the day: observation based self portraits through the use of mirrors. that side poster says "never give up!" which they enjoy having up, or so i like to think. 

and more mirrors. they wanted to keep them, but i had to convince them to give them back 

 

from the front. the young lady in purple is Fatumata, but we call her banesi and she lives with my family during the school year. 

this is my 8th grade art class. i love these kids, but they are quite the wild bunch. i like to say they have a lot of personality and character, hahaha. i had to fight to get them mirrors, so i had to document them using them. getting art materials is hard to do in mali and i have to go through quite the chain of command to get anything i want to use. that is what happens when you pilot an art program in mali, i suppose. even though the kids are still grasping with the idea of art class and drawing for more than five minutes, the look on their faces when i pull out materials and new things they can use is priceless. i firmly believe that sometimes as a teacher you have to give your kids the benefit of the doubt and the responsibility of handling new materials, let them rise to the occasion. and this is just one instance of when they did, they did so well. 

if you are interested in helping my art class, please visit my amazon wish list. thanks so much in advance, and enjoy the pictures!

update: it seems that there are some difficulties in sending things from my amazon wish list directly to me in mali. sometimes that happens, though i don't know why. if you still want to send me art supplies please do so, you don't have to buy things like colored pencils off of amazon when you can walk to wal-mart, target, or michaels, and not have to pay shipping. i so appreciate your support. 


my address is:
Mary Carter, PCV
s/c Institut Pour L'Education Populaire
BP 42A
Door 177, Suite 177
Kati-Koko, Kati, Mali
West Africa


don't forget to add "par avion" or else it will give another meaning to the song "i'm on a boat"


thanks again. and let me know if you have any problems, comments, or questions!