MIDDLE SCHOOL

REMEMBERING LIKE JUDY: STUDYING THE WORK OF JUDY ONOFRIO

USING OUR OWN MEMORYWARE
THERESE CACEK'S REFLECTION
When I began this project with students for the first time in the fall of 2001 I was excited and shared with the students my excitement and my apprehension with the newness and the unknown, but we willingly agreed to venture forward. Developing our ideas as we ventured was sometimes very difficult. As the instructor, I modeled creating my own assemblage and narrative along with the students. This helped them grasp the concept more fully.

Because of the openness of the project and like any large project some of the students had more difficulty that others. The maturity level along with their personal level of confidence is reflected in how well they can handle the challenge. Some students flourished while some floundered but all of them did do something!

I feel like I did not access use of the communication with Judy via the internet as much as I could have. But the process has given me more ideas as to developing new artist in residence projects in which the artist and the students collaborate via the internet prior to the residency and even follow up. The whole concept has some real potential to step beyond what we have been doing in education.

Perhaps the biggest dilemma that confronts me is the length of the project itself. I always ask myself if this is the best sort of curriculum or should I be introducing more concepts in smaller units for the students. My consolation is that when standards were developed they definitely targeted the larger more complex projects versus the smaller single lessons.
Return to Cacek Middle School Lesson Plan.