The Lifeteams’ students and I put a lot of time and effort into planning projects that stretch kids’ imaginations and expand on our monthly themes, so it can be especially discouraging when week after week, the same student refuses to participate. J is one of our youngest participants at Art: After School, and has shown some really great drawing ability in the past. Unfortunately, when J feels insecure or doesn’t fully understand the project, he resorts to being disruptive, running around the classroom, pestering other students and getting into things that are off-limits. This past month, we have been talking about Dreams. August, Charlotte, and Jessie have done a wonderful job of creating a fun environment for the students to dream for themselves, their families, communities and world, and have incorporated their ideas into a multi-media canvas project. This project requires a lot of creativity from the students, as they first have to come up with a dream, and then must somehow transfer that dream onto a canvas using at least five of the materials we have provided, including paint, thread, fabric, buttons, etc. From the beginning, J had some problems with this project and at the end of our first week had refused to do anything that was asked of him. I took him aside, feeling very frustrated, and told him that he needed to come up with some sort of a dream that he could put on his canvas by next week. He said that he didn’t like the project and didn’t want to do it. I told him it was unacceptable for him to wander around aimlessly while the rest of the group worked on their projects. He was to come up with a project that followed our theme, or not return to art club until the next project began. I hated to give him that kind of an ultimatum, but was frustrated and didn’t know how else to get him to participate. I could tell that he was feeling frustrated too, and I didn’t want him to have to miss art club, so I bent down to speak with him again. “Ok, here’s the deal - I really want you to be able to come to art club, so you and I will brainstorm all week and we will come up with a project for you to do next time.” He nodded and later as he left, I reminded him again, “Make sure you come up with some ideas for next week!” The next week, J approached me looking quite defeated and said, “I don’t have any ideas. I’m not good at dreaming.” His small voice made my heart sink. I had told him that he couldn’t participate if he didn’t have a project, but the whole point of art club is to foster creative thinking, not punish kids for having a difficult time coming up with an idea. So I was determined to come up with a project that would suit him. He had shown some great ability in a still life drawing project before, and often I had found him playing with the Lego (that is off-limits) during project time, so I had an idea that would utilize his drawing ability and his proclivity for construction, while at the same time requiring a bit of dreaming on his part. I cleared a space on the floor and pulled over a box of wooden blocks. “Here’s the idea...” I explained to J that I wanted him to create something out of the blocks and then draw a 3-D image, with shading, of his creation. J busily got to it, and spent his time building a magnificent bridge, even approaching
me to help him with some aspects of it. He then took his pencil and paper and drew the whole thing, adding in little details like cars and birds. When he was finished, he presented his drawing to me proudly. “Can I have a canvas for next week to make my bridge on?” He asked eagerly. I said yes, and spent the rest of the day smiling at J’s eagerness. It’s situations like that one, that remind me why I started Art: After School. It’s for kids just like J - to give them the resources and space they need to realize that they do have good ideas, and that they can be “good at dreaming!”World Changers
This year at Art: After School we have a very multi-cultural group, with students from Mexican and Philippino descent, as well as students from families that have immigrated to Canada from Russia, Cameroon, and Korea. Our club is just a small snapshot of Langley Meadows Community School, and the Langley Meadows Community at large. As the community grows, it is becoming more and more ethnically diverse, and the positive impact that this has had can be seen in the interactions between students at the school and at our club. We have had many globally focused conversations at art club, and it is exciting to hear see some of the students’ global awareness being reflected in their Dream projects. Many of the students dream of traveling all over the world, meeting new people, learning new languages, and seeing the famous sites, but one student’s dream in particular caught my attention. B, a grade five student, would like to be able to dig a tunnel from Canada to North Korea so that he can rescue people from the leader of that country, who he described as a “really really really really really bad man.” Although the tunnel idea may not work out, it’s kids like this, that, with a little direction and encouragement, will be world changers.Support the Langley Food Bank - Buy a Bowl!!
Art: After School will be having it’s Second Annual Bowl Sale to raise funds for the Langley Food Bank on Friday, February 29th at the Wired Monk in the Municipal Building. Each bowl was hand painted by an Art: After School participant and costs $15. Come join us for lunch between 11:30am and 1:00pm and help us raise money for the Food Bank!
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