Dailad Elementary School in San Diego feels this school assembly is a keeper!
Donna Skahill – I watched in amazement as you worked with the Kindergartners through Second graders. When we first saw the assembly notes, we thought you were crazy. Who can keep the attention of that many students (there were over 200 students there)? You armed the children with boards and pencils and invited them to sit close together! Surely, an event made for chaos.
Somehow the children not only paid attention, sat still, but actually came away with work worthy of showing the parents! Kudos to you. You did what you said you would and did it well.
Linda Griffiths – I wanted to send along a note of great appreciation for bringing your drawing assembly to Dailard Elementary! My second grade students really enjoyed it, and I think it was the best assembly of its kind that we have ever had at Dailard.
Carlee Olney – Hi there, I just wanted you to know that yesterday was one of the only assemblies I have walked out of hearing such positive thoughts from my students! They were overly excited before, during, and after the assembly!!! Rarely are assemblies so hands-on and this was great for management and engagement. All of the students were waiting on their bottoms for the next set of directions, anxiously! Leaving with pieces of art, or anything, is always a plus. They were eager to go home and color the pictures….
I would recommend this type of assembly to other teachers because as stressed out as we sometimes get with the lack of time in the classroom, it is always nice to see your students enjoying school outside the classroom walls. When they are excited, we are excited! I hope it inspired many of them to continue to see art as a possibility!
Terrie Nichols – We so enjoyed your assembly and interactive drawing lessons. The children were engaged, learning new words and drawing, and being successful, all at the same time! When we returned to class and talked about our time spent with you, the comments were so positive and full of excitement. Their smiles said it all! As a teacher, I appreciated your control, humor, pacing, and expertise. We all felt very good about ourselves and our pictures and asked to share our thoughts and pictures afterwards. I have participated in interactive assemblies before but yours held our interest and attention the full hour and we all had a great product when we left.
Jenny Rivera – All I can say is WOW! The kids absolutely loved your assembly. They were intrigued and with you from the very start. Your references to current cartoons were right on the mark and the students could really relate. They wanted to be “just like you!”
As a teacher, I thought your management techniques were terrific. You engaged their minds and their hands. You were able to bring the group back together with just a few words and did not hype them up, un-necessarily.
My sister is a professional animator with the studios in Los Angeles. She has shown me some of her techniques for character drawing and they meshed perfectly with the way you instructed the students. Your level of skill and professionalism was top-notch.
Mrs. Janice Kennerly – The assembly was outstanding! It fit perfectly with the curriculum because I was introducing geometric shape that very day! Your vocabulary fit in well with the standards, and the characters you spoke of were well-known by the students. My students were able to keep up and their drawings were very good. I told our PTF program chairman that were very pleased with the production! We hope to see you next year!