Arts for Co-Participation

“As teachers, we need to be attuned to artistic ways of knowing so that we have the opportunity to be co-participants in the thoughts, feelings and ‘spirits of young children.’ (Wright, 2003, pg. 29)

One of the most powerful things that an arts program can achieve in a classroom is fostering a culture of caring and creativity. When I was volunteering in a Year One classroom in Canada, the teacher started the year out with daily opportunities for the children to draw and learn about each other. Each day, a new student would be selected as ‘Special Person’ and the class would have the chance to ask questions about that individual to find out more about them. Then, they would draw a portrait of that person.

After the last student had their turn the class suggested that I be the special person the next day. It was really touching to see how they saw me as a member of their community. Their pictures were more than delightful, they gave me valuable insight into each student.

For example, I found it really interesting how most students drew themselves into the picture with me. They had not done this in their drawings of their peers. I wondered if it meant that they could not see me outside of the context of their teacher, as if I could not exist unless they were there (the same way that many kindergarten children are surprised to find out that their teachers do not live and sleep at the school). None of the pictures, however, were in a school setting. Many of the drawings involved fun activities such as going to the beach or having a water balloon fight. This suggested to me that they enjoyed my teaching which was very motivating and affirming.

One of the most surprising pictures was done by a student who was really quiet and tended not to participate in class. When I asked her about her drawing she enthusiastically told me an entire story to go along with it. In retrospect I wish I had copied down what she said. I do remember that it involved a castle, prince and ice cream which are all very significant symbols for a 6 year old girl. I was amazed at how the arts provided an avenue for this student to communicate and it really proved to me the importance of activating multiple intelligences and facilitating multimodal expression in the classroom.

An unexpected development from this activity involved a student who had trouble with self regulation and as a result got into a lot of trouble. He was an extremely creative and intelligent child but he also had a tendency to misbehave to such an extent that he had received multiple suspensions the year before. In his picture, he drew the two of us having a water balloon fight. He drew himself as a ninja and made this point clear when he drew an arrow pointing to himself and wrote “I am a ninja”. I asked him about this and he told me how much he loved ninjas and wanted to become one. I saw this as an opportunity to try some creative behaviour management and made a deal with him that we would set a goal at the beginning of each day and if he met it then I would share with him a secret ninja fact.

Most people would never believe that encouraging a ‘problem child’ to become a ninja would improve their behaviour but that’s exactly what happened. Every day he would strive to meet his goal and at the end of the day I would share with him a self serving ninja fact like “Ninjas have to learn to be quiet” or “Ninjas listen to their teacher”.

When I left half way through the year to go to Australia and complete my studies, he gave me a card and told me that it had a ninja fact inside.

I was blown away. I never knew seven year olds could be so profound. The statement also signaled to me that the student knew that I was making up the ninja facts but didn’t care, that was part of the fun. The important thing was that I tried to reach him on his own terms, using his interests and every day showed him that I cared.