Written by AFA Intern Danaley Silan
April 25, 2022: Mondays With Mé – Virtual Interactive Program with Teaching Artist Mélissa Smith
Every Monday until June 13, teaching artist Mélissa Smith holds free interactive arts classes through Facebook Live in a program called Mondays with Mé. This week, Mondays with Mé celebrated National Superhero Day, and all the activities throughout the class revolved around a superhero theme.
Mélissa first started off by leading stretches to warm the body up and start the day right. She then performed a reading of the book, “Even Superheroes Have Bad Days,” by Shelly Becker. The story was about how superheroes regulate their negative feelings. They could throw super-tantrums and cause scenes when they are angry or sad, but instead, they learn to find inner peace and control their emotions. After reading the book, Mélissa led a quick dance break to the song, “Superheroes,” by singer Flor Bromley.
Mélissa ended the class by providing a few ways kids can learn to control their emotions when they are feeling overwhelmed, just like the superheroes in the book. She first encouraged them to think of the people that they can turn to and talk things through when they are in need. She also suggested that when they are having good days, they should write down the things that make them happy to serve as reminders for when they do encounter those bad days.
In my past experiences with Arts For All shadowing teaching artists in the classroom, I have observed how the teaching artists like to feed off of the energy of the students around them. Mélissa’s ability to keep her energy at full capacity in a completely virtual setting is truly applaudable and motivating. She is able to ensure that anyone watching the class in the future has the same experience that they would if watching live.
I highly recommend that children of any age tune into Mondays with Mé either synchronously through Facebook Live (@artsforallinc) or asynchronously through YouTube (@artsforallnyc). Mélissa teaches such valuable lessons in an engaging and dynamic way that is incredibly enjoyable to experience.
