The New ProgramRoots: The nuts and bolts of the coursesThe new Secondary III Language Arts program consists of three separate courses. Although they have different titles, they are actually parts of the same course, each with a slightly different emphasis and a growing complexity of skills. Each course revolves around trying to answer the questions “Who am I?” and “What do I value?” using different media as reading and writing tools. These questions were chosen because many of our learners have never been asked either of those questions before and had never had to formulate some sort of response to them. I maintain that once we can answer those questions, we can start to get down to the real business of education – getting ourselves ready and fit to lead our own productive lives. Instead of traditional reading and writing exercises, all students are asked to explore three different media (creative processes), using them as frequently as possible as tools for self-expression. At least one of these must be chosen as the medium of expression for the course – the main creative medium they will use to express themselves, to ‘write’ with. Class members are encouraged to place their favorite products into a portfolio, although many actually prefer to decorate the classroom walls. High emphasis is placed on collaboration with other classmates, especially in terms of discussion and helpful feedback. To round out the courses academically, bits and pieces of work from levels III, IV, and V are included: creative units on interviewing and conducting interviews, and investigative pieces/projects on the definition of ‘heroes’ and ‘the ideal job’. The tendency many of us have to identify education exclusively with reading and writing has created a limiting imbalance in most of our schools. Student assessment of work submitted is not only solicited, but a required component of each course, and is taken seriously. Final marks are determined only after a consultative process between student and teacher in which the student submits a mark for the completed work and then explains the justification of the mark. Wings: Watching student soar
Along the way we have had to fight two assumptions – the biggest one being that making art is difficult, that it is a magical gift only bestowed on a favored few by the gods. The other its opposite – that making art isn’t really academic work, that an artistic text couldn’t be ‘read’, that none of this could be part of a real education. Neither assumption could be further from the truth. Art, our class discovered, meant taking action. It was often equated with risk-taking – and even fear – as we faced many of the emotional challenges associated with various media. Art also meant developing our imaginations, of envisioning the possible. Art – with all its happy and unhappy ‘accidents’ – gave us a growing tolerance for uncertainty. But most of all, art gave us wings and the ability to express ourselves. Nothing, however, could speak louder or more forcefully about the personal changes, insights, and inspirations that we all gained through meaningful relationships with the process of artistic expression than those products that we made, than the ways that we learned to ‘read’ and ‘write’. An example: working with JonPerhaps the power of this approach in terms of how it improves literacy can best be illustrated by looking at the man I have already referred to. Jon came into my English class with the attitude that he needed information and that I as the teacher should give him all the information he needed and tell him how to use it. At 30, Jon had never picked up a paintbrush or worked with any artistic material after primary school because he always believed himself to be ‘un-artistic’ – especially in comparison with other students. He would deliberately spill paint or scribble in black on paper when asked to do anything artistic in elementary school, pointedly skipped those days he had art classes in high school, and absolutely refused to do anything remotely involved with art in the real world – including painting his own house. He was known as an ‘unco-operative’ student who couldn’t or wouldn’t write or read unless forced to – and dropped out of school vowing never to return: he was fourteen. Jon only came back to school when he realized he needed his diploma for a decent job. He resented the idea of this alternative class and said so loudly and often. I soon realized that he was a very articulate and thoughtful individual whose quips and public attitude were attempts to hide his discomfort at being such a weak student. I instinctively turned to the arts as a possible way of providing opportunities for connection, and for listening and learning from each other and ourselves. Although he balked at the idea of experimenting with pencil and paint, he borrowed my Polaroid camera as well as the digital camera to take pictures of a family outing. The resulting pictures were beautiful portraits in and of themselves and he was quite pleased with them. Refusing all help, he spent several hours trying to figure out how to use the computer word processing program to enlarge and modify each picture. He also set about quietly learning how to use the internet, slowly and painfully deciphering the complicated instructions to sign up for a free e-mail address so that he could e-mail the pictures to friends and relatives. He created collage after collage to represent who he was and his likes and dislikes. Each was stronger and more pertinent than the previous ones (Figs I - II). He experimented with clay (Fig. III). He threw himself on paper placed on the floor and had a friend outline his body so that he could represent his whole self as a Canadian (Fig.IV). And finally, choosing pastels, he created a number of pictures, filled with color and movement. Shyly, he told me that they wouldn’t be complete without some written words. He was less reluctant to accept help, but just as determined to do it as much on his own as he could. He wrote the following poem to accompany his pastel paintings of horses (Figs. V and VI): As the moon holds its sway over me Unbidden, and only partially aware, Then Jon began to write. He became interested in learning everything about Pablo Escobar, the infamous Colombian drug lord, and spent hours reading everything he could find about him on the internet and in old magazines and newspapers. His theory was that Escobar possessed those very same qualities that the business world lauded. The only difference, according to Jon, was that he used them in violent, illegal ways. He started to write the interview unit, deciding that Escobar would apply for a job as a CEO or a headhunter for a major corporation. He used information from his research to write up a resumé for Escobar, filling in any details he was missing as best he could. He conferenced with me many times regarding letters of employment and the type of formatting that he needed to use to write up a script for the interview. He amazed all of us. During this time, other members of the class who were passively avoiding any creative attempts were watching. They saw the power of what Jon was doing and admired his attempts. Many of them later pointed to the beginning of Jon’s creative endeavors as the moment in time when they started believing they, too, could learn things. Jon became a sought after collaborator. His newly found sense of himself as word crafter made him an excellent editor. When another student, Jag, was having difficulties finding words to explain his collage, Jon patiently sat with him and helped him to sort words until he came up with the following poem that pleased them both (Fig. VII): Once I was... By the end of the year Jon acknowledged that he was talented. He is now experimenting with different media and continuing to write. The pieces shown here, like all the art products made in these classes, amply demonstrate the power and use of multi-modal representations as a possible means of further enhancing, expanding, and articulating ideas, thoughts and practices (Harris). As well, they lend credence to the theory that art can, indeed, encourage the growth of inner-dependence and the formation of ‘interiority’ (Greene 2001). If I believed in the principles of self-directed lifelong learning, I would need to become truly more responsive to all the adults I work with. Significance of the experienceIt is important that we make connections between what and how we learn and what and how we teach. We know that when we teach – no matter what the subject matter may be – we actually teach what we value and love; therefore, in order to foster stronger readers and writers and more thoughtful teachers and students, we educators need to value authentic experiences and ongoing self-reflection in ourselves and in others. I believe that we need to teach it when and how we can, and build it into the very foundations of our academic systems. What I have discovered in my work with secondary students is that art in its many forms is a powerful tool for all those who choose to use it. If it can be used effectively by relatively weak academic secondary students to improve the way that they process reading and writing skills, then it is, indeed, a wonderful vehicle for authentic self-development and enhancing new understandings about teaching and learning. My own work with students indicates that arts-based techniques are capable of engaging even the most disaffected individuals. When students realize that they can create products that help them express themselves succinctly, their interest in learning expands and their confidence in themselves and in their own abilities grows. Their writing then becomes stronger and filled with their own distinctive voices and they develop a new appreciation of seeing, reading, connecting, and knowing. Katharine Childs A practicing adult educator, Katharine Childs is also a PhD student and an enthusiastic – if not gleeful – learner. She is passionate about many things: surf, sand and sun, her growing menagerie, her watch collection, her brilliant political daughter – and a Montreal actor named Pierre. Left to her own devices, she delights in jumping into mud puddles and hot water.
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