By Lorienne Beals | Chief Development Officer
One of the greatest factors in predicting a person's lifetime health and longevity is trauma. You may have heard of "ACEs" - adverse childhood experiences - and the expanding body of research that links these experiences to future health issues such as heart disease and mental health issues such as depression. This is the fourth year Story Tapestries is leading a team of partners to support the Neelsville Middle School community, working to share tools, techniques and structures that support social emotional development and strengthen the community's sense of unity, trust and understanding. Ultimately this transfer of knowledge and building of systems and structures is intended to equip the adults in the community - teachers, administrators, parents/caregivers - with the tools to better support the youth, and to build meaningful, trusting relationships so that youth feel they have an adult they can go to whenever they are experiencing any kind of struggle. These are key factors in developing resiliency and supporting recovery from trauma, as well as making strides to identify and address trauma as it happens to limit its long-term impact.
"How does it work?" you ask. Let's take a closer look at some of the activities from this school year that are bringing us closer to that goal. It's pretty cool stuff!
Teaching Artist and actress, Jennifer Ridgeway, worked with students in the "Lights, Camera, Action" program and they're now at the halfway point of the program. The students reviewed the five senses and learned about the sense of balance and proprioception. Jennifer shared that as she and the students discussed their work together, they considered why a theatre artist might need a contract and what an actor’s agreement might say. Students began working in small groups, cooperating and making quick decisions as a team, and performed their first tableau performance! Students were hesitant but willing players every step of the way and showed interest in knowing Jennifer’s career trajectory. Students immediately noticed how different one group's sentences were from other groups. Jennifer had to encourage them to follow their group’s decisions and not worry too much about what another group was doing. She reinforced the concept that there is no correct answer, but encouraged students to take a risk with their choices! As they developed each sentence, they physicalized it by staging a tableau or visual representation of the sentence.
Parent night was a great success with a wonderful turnout of approximately 100 individuals. Teaching Artist and singer/songwriter, Emma G., performed and spoke to parents about her SEL songwriting workshops with three groups of students during lunch. Students are enjoying exploring their emotions through the songwriting process and continue to use the creative outlet as a wellness break during their lunch periods. Mural artist, Danyett Tucker, displayed panels to show the work in progress on the mural that is in the process of getting finishing touches. Parents were invited to paint unfinished panels alongside their students and family members. Proud students pointed out their work and shared about the mural making process. The completed mural will be unveiled at the May 19th Parent Night connected to International Night.
Emma G., decided to incorporate some AI tech into recent SEL sessions to help guide the student's creative expression, and give them a bit more of a boost with their writing. The sessions begin with students discussing an issue on their mind, or something that happened over the weekend. AI technology then turns that conversation into a chorus. Then, using that chorus as a starting point, students were able to start formulating some verses that were more representative of their language and expression. Students were surprised with the results and continue to look forward to their time with Emma G. Furthermore, both she and Mj, another teaching artist who supported the sessions, noticed that the students are beginning to develop the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills vital for school, work, and life success. Starting out, students didn't want to be there in a classroom; what young person wants to be in a place where you have to talk or show feelings? The more they saw a safe place, the more they opened up. Emma shared: “I don't want to put names out there, even if it's first names, so I'll call him "Arlo." He was a kid that talked a lot about not liking his sibling; every time we were there, he talked about his sibling not liking him and wanting him to hurt himself. You can tell he loved his brother but didn't know how to express those feelings. The more he used writing in a way of music lyrics he felt safe to express those emotions. I believe self-awareness is important because it tells you about understanding the things that make you who you are as an individual.”
After the mural was finished Visual Art students participated in a “Mud to Music” residency presented by Melissa Foss. During the residency Ms. Foss guided 5 groups of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders through a “Mud to Music” workshop process. A total of 140 students were introduced to ancient musical instruments that have been made for hundreds or even thousands of years across Central and South America, and each student learned through a step-by-step process how to make their own working ocarina, or clay flute. During the sessions where the flutes began to sound, the classroom filled with smiles and song; even though they knew what they were making, they were still surprised when the clay started to sing! Students enthusiastically embraced the task of making each of their flutes unique by making creative decisions both in the sound and song of their instruments and in the design and decoration of the object. Melissa said, “Some students quietly really made the project their own and got into the personalization of their flutes. It was exciting when they were given their time to shine and add personal flare to their instruments. Emma made a dinosaur flute. Andre made a detailed anime cat. Kingston, who created very cool drawings, etched personal stories into his flute. I was impressed in general with how persistent they were when building the acoustic system. They stuck with it, no one gave up.”
Daniel Skibicki, Visual Art Teacher: The “Mud to Music” residency was well received by the students. Students were receptive to the more individual and hands-on process. Everyone across the board was really engaged, persevered, and didn’t give up. The principal loved that students had this experience to make connections to culture.
In addition to these arts-centered experiences, students were also supported by mediation specialists from the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgeromy County, and a Student Success Coach from 480 Cares who works in particular with male students in group and individual sessions.
These combined experiences are shifting the culture of the school community. News reporter, Lilian Mass, from the broadcasting network, Telemundo - a Spanish language news media channel that's part of NBCUniversal - came to visit the program.
Be sure to check out the video link below to see the kids' with their handmade flutes in action!
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