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About Me: Merrill Kazanjian
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Ambassador For XP Metal Detectors
In the fall of 2023, I became one of two ambassadors for XP Metal Detectors. When I am not teaching at Hempstead High School, I am making appearances for XP Metal Detectors at metal detecting events across America. I do most of my traveling on weekends. I also make videos for the XP network. These videos help people who own XP metal detectors across the world learn how to master their metal detectors. XP is headquartered in France and my favorite trip has been my trip to XP headquarters in France.
YouTube
Creating videos has gone from a hobby that enhanced the teaching in my classroom, to a side hustle, to something that I can do full time when I finally transition from teaching. I earned a play button for my first channel YouDraw. As of April 2024, my current channel Metal Detecting NYC has 47K subscribers.
Life & Teaching Portfolio
Everyone needs a greatest hits collection! :)
Attack Of The Spinning Hats From Outer SpaceAttack Of The Spinning Hats From Outer Space was a collaboration between me and 300 of my students at St. Hope Leadership Academy in Harlem. We wrote, filmed, animated and produced a stop motion movie with a (completely unbelievable) plot about alien hats taking over a school and causing complete chaos. These students are well out of middle school now and it brings me great joy to see them continue to share this on social media each year even though they are well in their 20's!
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I Am A Painter
Portrait Work: When I entered college, I had limited experience in the visual arts. I went to a liberal arts college and students at Manhattanville College have to take either an art or music class to graduate. I felt a gravity pulling me to the art studio. My art training started at age 20 but I was in the studio earlier than everybody else and I left later than most of my other peers. Art was the first academic content area to completely engage me. My tastes and interests have changed over time but I still consider myself to be an artist. My lens that I see the world through was heavily shaped by my practice of painting. I learned that there is a huge amount of problem solving in any form of creation. Paint could be layered and manipulated to mimic any form. I learned that process could even hide mediocre drawing skills! The search for solutions that one learns while studying art, has helped me navigate life. I have had to morph in to many roles over the course of my career and the adaptability that I have is largely a product of the mentality that I learned as an artist.
Overboard Is Fun
It took 4 months to fill the hallway at Bronx Lighthouse Charter School in 2013. I had a lot of help in the form of 400 students from Kindergarten to 7th Grade. This space is 20 ft. high and as long as a football field, but the image below proves that if you want to motivate students, give them a place to showcase their work! Students helped me cycle in and out work on the lower parts of the wall and I would stand on a 12 ft ladder to create the "Bronx Sistine Chapel". Right repetitions develop artists and develop students. This year my students went through a lot of paint, pencils, paper, markers (and this doesn't even count the sculptural and animation work we did. It was a fun few years!
ESPN Article
ESPN wrote an article about my YouTube channel which has many step by step tutorials on how to draw celebrities.
How To Draw Portraits The Mighty Lebron James Way
How To Draw Portraits The Mighty Lebron James Way
| espn_article_how_to_draw_portraits_the_mighty_lebron_james_way_-_sportscenter.com-_espn.pdf |
Yahoo Sports Ball Don't Lie Article
In 2010, Yahoo sports featured one of my YouTube videos on their website.
Link: Ball Don't Lie
The Gold Rush
I taught my students how to mine for gold.....By the Bronx River! We made a video.
The Gold Rush: Gold Mining In The Bronx
In 2018, I took my students to Ferry Point Park in The Bronx. This park is at the mouth of The Bronx River and the banks of waterways (more so rivers than lakes or oceans) are the central location to collect placer gold deposits. New York is not considered a gold bearing location, although it does have trace amounts in some native rock. Most of the existing gold in New York State was pushed down from Canada during the ice age and it is collected by these waterways. In the video you will see the process that my students used to pull gold from Bronx soil. We didn't get a lot but we sure had a fun time.
In 2018, I took my students to Ferry Point Park in The Bronx. This park is at the mouth of The Bronx River and the banks of waterways (more so rivers than lakes or oceans) are the central location to collect placer gold deposits. New York is not considered a gold bearing location, although it does have trace amounts in some native rock. Most of the existing gold in New York State was pushed down from Canada during the ice age and it is collected by these waterways. In the video you will see the process that my students used to pull gold from Bronx soil. We didn't get a lot but we sure had a fun time.
10,000 Pieces Of Origami & Black Light
I taught a group of students at Bronx Lighthouse Charter School in the Bronx about installation art. Students in grades K-8 transformed our classroom by folding and hanging over 10000 pieces origami. We then hung black lights and decorated with highlighters (which glow under the black light). Finally, we enclosed the classroom by hanging paper drop cloths on the perimeter of the installation. The result was otherworldly! Watch the video to see.
Feature On German Television
In Germany, there is a very popular television show called Galileo. Galileo is a scientific and entertainment telecast. Each series "Galileo" is composed of two parts: the part of the studio and video stories on a variety of popular science topics. I was interviewed for a segment about metal detecting and mudlarking.
German Version |
English Version |
Second Feature On German Television
Taff TV is a show that has been running on German television since 1995. I was interviewed to discuss the art of beach metal detecting.
Featured On CNN For Ring Recovery (Metal Detecting)
| cnn_article.pdf |
I Was Offered A Record Contract In Norway!
At the age of 42 I taught myself how to rap! I played around with rap for years in the classroom to engage students, but I committed myself to getting good in the year 2020 at the age of 42.
