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Week 2
October 30, 2014
Field Notes:
The second visit at the Boys and Girls club was just as hectic as the first. This week we had the kids made collages out of magazine images on construction paper. The kids were all over the place, but this activity went exactly how I thought it would. Most of the girls just wanted to look at the magazines instead of doing the activity. We did not have enough scissors for everyone and they do not like to share, so that was a big issue for this activity. Some of them didn’t even make a collage and just drew on the construction paper with crayons. These kids don’t seem to do well with instruction, but we do see them right after they get out of school, so it is understandable that they just want to play around and do what they want. We had plenty of magazines, so that wasn’t an issue, but there were magazine scraps all over the place within minutes of them starting the activity.
There was a big problem with all the girls concerning the perfume samples in the fashion magazines. Once one of the girls discovered one, they all stopped what they were working on and went on this frantic hunt for perfume samples in the magazines all over the table. This was extremely distracting because almost all of the kids got involved in one way or another. One of the girls, Enia, decided she wanted all of the perfume samples to herself. Whenever she found one, she would immediately grab a piece of construction paper and glue it down and write her name on it. She took all of them and ran and put them in her book bag, thinking no one saw her.
One of the main things I’ve noticed with this group is that they are all very territorial. None of them like to share anything. The girls kept hording 4 or 5 magazines at a time and would get extremely defensive when someone would try or ask to use one of them. They all scream on top of each other, all constantly seeking attention at once. When I asked Enia why she was just gluing whole magazine pages to the construction paper, she replied, “Cause they’re gonna steal it if I don’t.”
One girl made an entire collage of bikinis. She was going on and on about bikinis and the other girls were outraged by this for some reason. They kept asking her why she was doing that and telling her, “That ain’t cute.” One of the girls finally yelled, “STOP talking about bikinis; I know what YOU’RE gonna be when you grow up!” the whole room heard this and all the kids said, “Oooooooh…”
Reflections:
Gender Stereotypes:
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The girls went straight for the fashion magazines
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The boys went for the food and action magazines
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The girls made collages of make up and nail polish
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The boys made collages of food and cars
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The girls cut out pictures of women and babies
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The girls all wanted the perfume samples
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The boys finished very quickly
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The girls all made multiple collages and used the whole time
Peer Influence:
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The girls are still copying each other
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When the girl making the bikini collage got yelled at, she stopped making it and moved on to something else
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Once one girl wanted something, the rest of them had to have it too
Pop Culture:
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The girls went straight to the magazines with cover photos of celebrities they knew and liked
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One girl made an entire Kardashian family collage
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Girls made collages featuring makeup brands they like
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Some of the boys cut out pictures of certain brand cars they like
Inventive Characteristics:
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One girl glued 8 pieces of construction paper together to make a poster-sized collage
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A couple girls made compact collages and cut out around the contours of their collective collaged image