Approximately half of our eighth graders went to Costa Rica with the phenomenal Catalina Lacy and Michaela Garcia for a Spanish immersion experience. The eighth graders staying at Black Pine Circle for the week were treated to a series of field studies.
On Monday, students learned that people first arrived in the Bay Area in 17000 BCE and the Ohlone started settling in villages in the Bay Area around 4000 BCE. For context, note that the first human remains near the Seine River date back to 8000 BCE and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was finished in 2560 BCE. Started in 800 BCE by the Ohlone, the shellmound in Emeryville was an area where domestic wastes were deposited for generations. The Ohlone had no written language, instead relying on an oral tradition to transmit their histories. As time passed, and as the precise location of objects were forgotten, the remains of the departed were placed in the same area; eventually the shellmound was 350 feet in diameter and 60 feet high. Much of this was eventually bulldozed for landfill, to expand the surface area of Emeryville.
Eighth graders talked to journalist and documentary producer Andrés Cediel, who created Shellmound: The Documentary. Released in 2004, this documentary traces the history of the Bay Street shopping area in Emeryville--from its Ohlone past, through its time as an amusement park, fertilizer and paint factory, and as a developed retail center. The developers at Bay Street found hundreds of human remains, and removed the remains to an unmarked grave somewhere on the property. They built a small memorial area as well, and mention the history on their website. Students discussed whether the developers responded appropriately to concerns of local activists and Native American descendants. Since Berkeley’s 4th Street shopping area is currently in a similar situation. Students took a walk over to examine the general area where human remains were found, and where developers plan to add retail and residential space. Activists have proposed an alternative. With all this in mind, students worked in groups to design their own Ohlone memorial at Bay Street that they felt would be better suited to both history and contemporary responsibilities. The goal for this lesson was to learn about the history of the Bay Area before the arrival of the Europeans, but also to think about how we treat our past.
In the afternoon, eighth graders took the bus to Albany Bowl, had pizza, and bowled. Students who were not in class splits together enjoyed the freedom to play, tease, boast, chatter, yell, and goof off in the lanes.
The next day, Tuesday, students separated into groups to volunteer in San Francisco and Oakland. In San Francisco, Glide Memorial Church offers three square meals daily to people who are hungry--in 2014, they served nearly 800,000 meals. Students were included in the 85-strong contingent of volunteers needed to run the meal program. They bussed tables, served meals, and more. Later, eighth graders said they said it was fun helping out where it was needed, and many enjoyed meeting so many people in such a short amount of time. Other eighth graders visited the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland. The Food Bank organizes and provides food for 240 nonprofits throughout Alameda County, and distributed over 25 million meals in 2015 alone. The eighth graders here were no less busy than their comrades in San Francisco; they were set at huge boxes of fruit, where they bagged and tied the fruit into smaller bags for distribution to local nonprofits. They enjoyed the time, chatting with each other, the adult chaperones and teachers, and were surprised by the huge number of fruit they bagged by the end of their time. Both groups of eighth graders learned more about the needs of the community around them, and discovered that fulfilling those needs was made easier with coordinated effort.
Some students came back to school early enough to watch Sneakerheadz, a documentary about the sneaker collecting culture. They took some time to design their own custom sneakers, with the goal that the teacher should be able to look at the sketch and easily identify the identity of the creator of the sneaker. Students relished the creative challenge, joshing each other about the quality of their drawings and praising each other for their ingenuity.
On Wednesday, students received a quick and dirty lesson on Bay Area architecture. They learned the aesthetics and materials used in Victorian, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts--specifically Mission Revival, Tudor, etc.--as well as Neo-Gothic, Neo-Classical, and Neo-Renaissance architectural styles. Architecture is art that is publicly accessible, and all of these styles would be visible in Downtown Oakland, where the Oakland Museum of California had an exhibit on sneaker culture. Students were put into groups and then tasked with finding examples of these different kinds of architectures as they found their way to the museum by themselves--teachers and chaperones followed with first-aid kits and very little advice. They were given addresses, a paper map of downtown Oakland, and instructed not to use their smartphones for help. They had to learn how to use local transit maps and timetables, as well as figure out transfers. Some students realized that an address of 1807 Telegraph Ave. meant that 18th St. was the cross street, just as 2025 Broadway meant the nearest intersection was at 20th St. Eventually, after identifying the style of many buildings, all groups made it to the museum to see the exhibit, and then a park for lunch. Students, teachers, and chaperones sat in the shade, climbed the tree, played games, and generally relaxed their tired feet for a few hours until it was time to take BART home. It was a gratifying day that allowed students to make choices, learn street smarts--literally--and pick up some architecture and history along the way. On Wednesday night, some students attended the Giants and A’s season opener. (Kudos to the students, teachers, and adults who made it through such a long day!)
On Thursday, as an extension of the sneaker culture activities, eighth graders watched a clip from The Devil Wears Prada. In the film, Miranda stingingly informs new employee Andy that aesthetic decisions driving the whole fashion world were made in that room, and that she--as a consumer--did not make any of her own choices. We discussed the merits of Miranda’s claim, and discussed youth culture, as well as black culture, fringe culture, and culture of those in marginalized groups, as forces that drive designers. Students took some time to describe their own fashion aesthetics. They were then placed into 9 groups of 4-5 students each to play the 2nd Annual BPC Runway Games, a non-lethal combination of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Project Runway, and The Hunger Games. Eighth graders were tasked with creating two looks in two hours, using everyday materials such as garbage bags, receipt tape paper, electrical tape, packing tape, paper plates, doilies, coffee filters, sticky notes, etc.--and disregarding gender constructs. Looks needed to be driven by a specific designer, who included: Stephen Burrows, Craig Green, Betsey Johnson, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Yoshi Yamamoto, and Yiqing Ying. Students raced to the “cornucopia” twice: once to get their designer and again to collect their weapons (materials). At the end of the two hours, eighth graders walked the runway and presented their fashion to other BPC students. Some audience members--teachers, especially--were surprised because they didn’t expect certain students to walk the runway so willingly (and so well). 8th graders learned to prioritize and cooperate, work with the material and limitations, and mimic but also individualize a fashion style. They were creative, efficient, and good-humored in this experience. Students followed the runway walk with a delicious potluck at Aquatic Park, with some time messing around on the play structure. They returned to Black Pine Circle for a short lesson from Mr. G on physics and rollercoasters. The next day, Friday, eighth graders went to Six Flags. There’s not much to report back on that--most people know how that goes.
We are grateful to the chaperones and teachers who made the week possible for the eighth graders. You can enjoy pictures here.
