Arts Improving Academics

Painting gives students confidence to do other things.

A Realization

Years ago, our district put out a publication that said teachers can teach about religion, and that it would not be right to act as though it doesn’t exist, especially if children bring it up. I can clearly see that God does have a place in public life that would not or should not offend anyone. Provision  can be made at the same time for students whose families don’t believe in God to be silent and think about the best things that their parents have told them. The following are a few examples of what brought me to this conclusion. Some of the following stories, which have examples of children helping other children with their problems, actually involve much more.

In the Middle of Two Notorious Housing Projects

I once had a class that had terrible fights.  The fights would always begin the same way.  Out of nowhere, two students would get up slowly, staring at each other.  The rest of the class would make a “woooo” sound all together and everyone would jump up and surround the two who wanted to fight. If the two students did not begin fighting soon enough, someone pushed them to begin!  I was helpless, except to run out into the hallway and yell for help.  I had been praying, but without results.

One afternoon while reading aloud to the class, we were covering a chapter on harmful drugs, I suddenly looked up to hear excited voices, with arms waving, begging to be called on.  With the exception of two, every child in the room wanted to explain where each person in their family went to smoke their “little white rocks.”  I suddenly realized that most of my students were probably “drug babies” and that what I had was the equivalent of a special ed. class of 32 students.

This caused me to turn more wholeheartedly to God and ask Him what to do. I immediately took them out to P.E. and sat on the bench to allow myself time to pray. As soon as I got still and affirmed my confidence in God, the thought came immediately to ask the children if they went to church or Sunday school, and if they’d like to share what they learned.  

When we got back to the room I posed the question and found they were very eager to tell me all about that, too.  During the sharing time, they were quiet, attentive and respectful.  I stopped the discussion after about an hour and asked them if they would like to use something that they’d been talking about to help them in the room.  They shouted out with acceptance.  I reminded them of what was said about peacemakers being the children of God.  They really liked that.  I chose the four most respected students in the class to act as the peacemakers.  Their job would be to get up and immediately go to the two who were facing off to fight and take them to opposite corners in the back of the room where they would talk to, comfort and counsel their troubled classmates.  Then they would all meet at the back of the room, where there were six chairs, and all talk together.

True to form, the very next day two students got up to fight. I was in the front of the class working with a group. I looked up to see the peacemakers rush over to the pair and hustle them off to the corners.  I watched for a  minute to be sure that the situation was handled, then went back to work.  The rest of the class sat down and watched for a few moments before they also went back to work.  The class carried this whole idea off so well that we never had another fight again.  The next time it happened, the class made the “wooo” noise but didn’t get up.  The time after that, they didn’t even make the noise. 

I learned much later that this class was a result of what’s called “reorganization.”  In October, the teachers on overcrowded grade levels are instructed to choose five or so students from their room to place in a “new” class that is opening to accommodate the overflow.  Another name for this class is the “dumping ground.”

No Apparent Aide

Another year, I was placed in a first-grade bilingual classroom.  Without an aide and speaking no Spanish, I had such a frustrating first day that after school I went to the office to tell the principal that I just couldn't take the assignment.  The office was crowded though, and after waiting five minutes or so, I left, telling myself that I'd quit tomorrow.  That afternoon, safely at home and quiet, I realized that I had not prayed about the situation yet.  I never like to quit anything unless I feel directed to, so I reached out and asked God what to do.   

The clear thought came to me, “You do it."  However, I didn't connect it as an answer to my prayer because it didn't sound like an answer, and it certainly wasn't what I expected!  I just ignored it and turned back to my prayer, just a simple knowing that God was directing me and that He would show me what to do.  However, the thought came again, "You do it."  This time I started arguing, "Do what?  What could this mean?"  I went and sat down to ponder the idea.  The thought came, "Teach Spanish reading just like you teach English reading.”  

Well, I still felt uncertain but I accepted the idea and the next morning asked the teacher next door for the Spanish vowel sounds and any differences in the consonants. As she spoke, I jotted a little key for myself. As I studied the vowel sounds, I realized that they were the same as Japanese vowels!  Flooded with inspiration, I raced back to my room and opened a Spanish reader to practice. As soon as class began, I tried my English syllable chart on my Spanish readers.  Perfect!  I began to read to them from their reader; and, except for my accent, which was frequently off and required their help, I was able to hold reading groups with them!  I couldn't ask regular comprehension questions, but for ESL they translated the story and I began to learn Spanish.   

The Spanish readers were strong on the vowel sounds, but weak on some consonant sounds, so I made flash cards of the most common four-letter words, like casa and mesa, and paired the English readers with the Spanish readers.  (Can you imagine all of this with 32 students and no aide?)  The Spanish readers would hold the flash cards for the English readers. The English readers would pronounce the words with English vowels.  The Spanish readers would correct them saying, as they pointed to the letters, “No, no, it's ___!”  In that way, they were getting reinforced on their consonants and the English readers were getting a bit of Spanish as a Second Language, which was a desired requirement at that time. 

After that went on for a few weeks everyone knew the letter sounds, had the syllable charts down pat, and could write independently, but hesitantly.  So next, I tried using dictation, right out of their books, until they got fluid with it.  Within a month they were writing alone and easily filling up a sheet of second-grade paper. Since I had no way of knowing what they were writing, I would walk around and read what they'd written, over their shoulders.  If I pronounced something that didn't suit their ear, they could zero in on it and fix it, either by pronouncing the word for me, in which case I could direct them to the proper letter, or they could just re-evaluate on their own and change it. 

An added bonus to having the Spanish readers hold flash cards for the English readers was that they began holding hands as they went out to recess together; where as before, they had pretty much segregated themselves.

Sylvia the Crying Girl

Some years later, I had a first-grade class that was difficult enough, and then came Sylvia.  She screamed and cried so loudly that we could hear her coming while she was way out in the parking lot.  She stood in the middle of the class and screamed until lunch.  After lunch she still cried, but softly.  The screaming was so ear piercing that the students got headaches and were literally wilting at their desks.  My assistant and I offered her paints, stuffed animals, puzzles, glue, scissors and colored paper.  Trying to talk to her only made her scream louder.  This went on for several months.  The office personnel would or could not do anything for us.  They told me that she had to stay in the class and said that I should not send her to the nurse or office again.  I had to train the other children to listen to the lesson over the noise, and amazingly, they learned to read and write.  However, we still needed peace.

I prayed every morning on my way to work for understanding on what to do, and again, could not understand why I had not received an answer.  Then, one morning, I turned to the group I was working with and very quietly said, “Children, I think that it’s all right for you to pray quietly in your mind, in whichever way your parents have taught you, to help Sylvia.  And, if any of you don’t believe in God, then you may be still and think about all of the helpful things that your parents always say.  Immediately, they all assumed the attitude of prayer.  Within 15 seconds, Sylvia stopped crying and she never cried out loud again.  She began to adjust and ended up happy in our room.  It took us a while to realize that the crying had stopped!  But, at recess the students began to comment on it and I praised them for their good prayers.  The look on their faces, as they realized they had power with God, was calm and confident.  That was also a turning point for some of them, toward better citizenship.

A few days later, I passed the vice principal in the hallway, and she asked about our crying child.  I bravely told her, “I asked my children to pray, and Sylvia has stopped crying.”  She looked surprised but the next day she came to my room to see for herself.  She had a book in her hand called, “My Big Sister Taught Me to Pray” or something like that.  She called the children to the rug and I sat behind them.  When she got to the best part, my whole class turned around and smiled at me.  I know that was a sign to her that what I had told her was true.  I felt glad that I had finally not been a coward in the face of political correctness dressed in red tape.  I thought more on the subject in the ensuing years.

Andrew and his Parents

A few years later, at parent conference, a young couple looked very distressed as I described their child’s learning disabilities and behavior problems. They confirmed that Andrew was the same way at home, that they’d tried everything, and didn’t know what to do.  After some thought I finally asked them if they believed in God.  They said that they did, so I encouraged them to keep praying and asked if they went to church.  When they responded that they attended only rarely, I spoke frankly with them about how children need and love to know about their relationship with God, and that I’d seen changes is my students when they were helped with these ideas.  I gave them a few short examples of how I ask God for help and usually get an answer at once.  I assured them that they could do likewise and assure their children of results as well.  The next day, while walking around the room, monitoring a writing assignment, I noticed how neat and well-organized Andrew’s paper was.  I motioned to my assistant and parent volunteers to come and take a look.  When I praised his nice work, he looked up with confidence and said, “God loves me and he loves my parents too.”  He had a different look on his face, calm and confident.  He continued to make progress, and his whole attitude changed.

The Story of Sylvia, the Crying Girl, Helps Nicholas

The next year, a student brought a book of children’s prayers to school and asked me to read it to the class. As before, it created a flurry of enthusiastic sharing about what each had learned from church or Sunday school.  I drew general conclusions for them that all churches love goodness and want peace.  I then shared my story about Sylvia.  They listened thoughtfully, and some begged to hear the story again.  A few moments later, a sassy, boisterous girl yelled out, “Nicholas is always crying, can we pray for him the way your other class prayed for Sylvia?”  Nicholas had not come in yet, as he cried for at least 10 minutes outside the door every morning, clinging to his mother.  The whole class agreed that they wanted to pray, and I told them to go ahead and I would do likewise.  A few minutes later, the door opened and Nicholas came in smiling.  He never cried again, except for a few brief tears that quickly went away.

A Bird Gets Free

A month or so later, we were lined up just outside the auditorium door waiting to go in for an assembly, when the students began to point excitedly saying,  “Look at the bird in there.  He can’t find his way out!”  As they were making so much noise, I quickly called for their attention and reminded them of how they had helped with their prayers before.  I told them that the same prayer that had helped Nicholas and Sylvia could help the bird too.  They immediately got quiet, and as soon as they were seated—we sat in the short rows on the side —they all turned, pointing at the same time, saying, “Look!” as the bird flew out of the open door, and every face was smiling.

Michael’s Story

In the same class we had Michael, who just sat and stared as he tapped two pencils together, never smiled, never did an ounce of work, did not play or socialize and just drew pictures of what looked like witches, crows or bats, and scribbled in black all day.  It turned out that his mother and sister were fans of a heavy metal rock star, and both dressed and acted the part.  It was having a devastating effect on Michael.  My best efforts to counsel him and get him into normal first-grade activities had no effect. 

In the same afore-mentioned class, when I read from the “Child’s Book of Prayers,” he appeared to be inattentive, but I sensed that he was really listening to my story about Sylvia.  I decided to befriend his mother and 13-year-old sister, asking them to support my efforts to get Michael interested in age-appropriate activities.  He began to change, though very slowly. 

I made allowances for him. Since he didn’t like to stay in his seat, I let him stand at the sink, which I turned into a center for him.  I placed measuring cups and spoons and eyedroppers there so that he could do measuring problems that I tacked on the wall, as a chart.  As it turned out, he heard every word I said and even responded to questions as he stood and measured the water.

My class was blossoming, as I had never seen before.  I could see that many of my students were obviously gifted and felt determined to see it in all of them.  I remembered that I had always believed that we are all gifted.  So I asked my principal if I could move to second grade with my class, where the referrals to the Gifted program begin, and he agreed.  Seven of them passed the test and so I referred seven more.  Michael was one of them.   

That next year, our second-grade class picked up several students from another room.  At the beginning of the year, the most vocal insisted that I tell the story of Sylvia again, because the new students hadn’t heard it, and from time to time they asked to hear it again. 

In Retrospect

From these experiences, I’ve deduced that prayer does not need to be led by an individual, nor does it need to be audible, but students should know that prayer is an option for solving their problem at school.  Praying, after all, is really using the most sublime talent of all.  Who can object to that?

 We Need Intuition and Inspiration

To Meet Students’ Individual Needs

Inspiration and Intuition?  You won’t find that in any teacher’s manual or the morning paper!  Ponder this for a moment.  As teachers and parents, we know that we must constantly look for the unique and gifted qualities in our students, to have high expectations for them.  This is all good, but who tells the teachers and parents that they are talented, gifted and capable of solving all problems if they would rely more on their intuition and utilize more of their creative and unique sense of things?  Nobody.  The reason many teachers “burn out” could be that they’re not tapping into their own resourceful and exceptional nature.  I think parents can burn out too, but they can’t retire or quit their jobs.

Be Fearless When Your heart is Convinced

In my last year of college, in the credential program, I wrote a paper about giftedness, using the Bible as my main reference, meaning most of my footnotes were from Scripture.  The professor gave the paper back to me and said that she’d have to give it an “F” if I didn’t rewrite it and leave out most of the Biblical references, as they were not considered reliable references for modern times.  I took the paper home and thought it over.  I just couldn’t do it.  I returned it to her at the next class meeting and told her of my decision.  She said that this was a very important paper and that if I didn’t do well enough on the final, I might not pass the class.  I thanked her for her advice and said that I’d take my chances. I passed the class with a “B”, so she must have thought it over and changed her mind.

This is my point:  One of the most vital parts of a parent’s job, and that of teachers, too, is to recognize and help their children recognize and appreciate the natural and God-given inclinations within.  One talent, well developed and used, can carry a child over the many difficulties of a day, and for their whole life. Think of what several developed talents could do. 

On the other hand, a child may be very gifted, but if nobody recognizes those inherent talents and does something to nurture them, that same child might spend his days in anxiety, boredom and bad behavior.  Don’t the most creative students sometimes get into the worse trouble at school?  Aren’t the prisons full of very bright people who channeled their creativity in the wrong direction?