I teach half day in a juvenile correctional facility. I wish it were the full day, but I split the day with another teacher, one who can teach math and social studies. I’m the one who teaches writing, art and biology.
I’m licensed as an English teacher, but I got a visual arts endorsement. I like teaching writing in lock-up, but I’m glad I teach art in the regular schools. Not to undervalue junior high English teachers. . . but the prospect of teaching seventh-grade English somehow leaves me cold. Teaching junior high art, however, has been delightful. It’s the end of the year, and I’m seeing regular students, not the “special” gifted ones, do beautiful work.
In detention, I teach the various arts, depending on who’s locked up at any particular time and depending on what interests me at any given time. I teach visual arts, piano lessons, recorder lessons, modern dance, and sometimes we view classic film. We do a weekly drum circle. This arts program brings me great joy because I can work with lots of different kids, doing different things, throughout the year.
We do our writing on little keyboards called AlphaSmarts, because kids in lock-up may not use computers. When we are writing, and when we are drawing or painting, I play all kinds of music from Napster. I choose the songs and don’t take requests, so there’s always an interesting, eclectic selection of music going on. I often choose Motown or oldies, and many of the kids know these songs.
Often they want to sing along to the songs. I always say, “As long as you’re doing your work, singing and dancing are always allowed.” To me, having a bunch of kids break into song is a good thing. You will love this image: a group of kids in prison uniform, all drawing, painting, or typing, singing their hearts out: “I guess you’ll say, what can make me feel this way, my girl. .. . .”
There is scientific evidence to back up this outrageous-seeming rule. Brain research shows that stress chemicals block the neural pathways to short-term and long-term memory. The only way to restore these neural pathways is to change the chemistry, and the chemicals that do it are endorphins, or the pleasure chemicals. You get endorphins from athletics (not always possible throughout the school day), sex (hopefully not happening during the school day), and the arts. Singing and dancing are particularly fast and effective at producing endorphins.
As a side note, if a person is abusing drugs, endorphin production gradually reduces because of the drugs. When a person gets clean of drugs, s/he suffers pain because endorphins are also pain blockers. Using arts in a recovery program makes sense, because arts produce endorphins.
If a teacher will use arts in the classroom, both for their own sake and as an instructional tool, s/he can help students remember concepts. Heaven knows that students have plenty of stresses in their lives, and not just at school.
Aside from that, there is the pure, ebullient joy of kids breaking into song. I sing, too, and so does the staff that run the detention program. Who can resist?
Singing and dancing are always allowed.
