Brenda Amaya is a dedicated Scholar, Artist, and Educator with six years of experience in various educational environments in the USA and abroad. Currently, Brenda is finishing her thesis entitled Displacement in Los Angeles: Salvadoran Cosmopolitan Memory, an oral history about Salvadoran refugees in Los Angeles. Brenda moved to Brooklyn, New York last year from Los Angeles for a job with Citizens Schools. At Citizens Schools, Brenda teaches art to middle schoolers during afterschool, and you can check out the student’s artwork @constructiveyouthartclub. When Brenda is not studying or working, you can find her painting, binge-watching crime shows or traveling somewhere.
TAP Work:
During her time in TAP, Brenda was an intern at P.S. 316 in Brooklyn, where I worked with TAP Mentors Jane Elias and Nichelle Ryan. She also partnered with TAP Trainee, Vika Adutova at P.S. 316.
Most Memorable TAP Moment:
“My most memorable TAP moment is doing the Self-Portrait lesson with Vika at P.S. 316. At first, we able to get the 1st graders’ attention by sitting in a circle at the carpet while listening to Whale noises. However, during the main lesson, the students were so excited that they couldn’t control themselves from talking and showing off their work to their peers.”
“Another memorable TAP moment was inviting Sir Charles the Poet as a guest artist to the school I work at. The students were very impressed by his performance and couldn’t believe that someone can memorize all those lines. Then the students wrote a poem entitled Why I Hate Pizza. See the poem below.”
