Curriculum Course: Creative Nonfiction and Collage
ABSTRACT
Creative Nonfiction and Collage is an interdisciplinary curriculum unit for seventh through twelfth grade students, teachers, artists, parents and community members. The course is designed to train participants in the art of writing and illustrating their own creative work. Primarily a writing and art course, this class also encourages students to develop in other key areas by incorporating multiple intelligences into the curriculum. Special programming raises student awareness about diversity, race, social class and culture and teaches them to think practically about their role in the community that they live in. The basis for all exploration centers around the essential questions: why write creative nonfiction and how does one’s community and familial background influence one’s writing and collage making? The unit includes: a curriculum wheel for each month that the course will be taught illuminating the relationships between the essential questions, content skills and multiple intelligences. The paper also includes a review of research materials that have been gathered over the last five years examining collage making and the art of writing a strong creative nonfiction piece and a force field analysis outlining the project’s driving and restraining forces that each play a role in how the program is implemented in school and community settings. Plans for spreading the word about the course and its benefits to the community at large and a series of lesson plans that incorporate the multiple intelligences with two bibliographies (one for teachers planning the course and the other for the students enrolled in the course) complete this presentation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….1
Creative Nonfiction and Collage is an interdisciplinary curriculum unit for seventh through twelfth grade students, teachers, artists, parents and community members. The course is designed to train participants in the art of writing and illustrating their own creative work. Primarily a writing and art course, this class also encourages students to develop in other key areas by incorporating multiple intelligences into the curriculum. Special programming raises student awareness about diversity, race, social class and culture and teaches them to think practically about their role in the community that they live in. The basis for all exploration centers around the essential questions: why write creative nonfiction and how does one’s community and familial background influence one’s writing and collage making? The unit includes: a curriculum wheel for each month that the course will be taught illuminating the relationships between the essential questions, content skills and multiple intelligences. The paper also includes a review of research materials that have been gathered over the last five years examining collage making and the art of writing a strong creative nonfiction piece and a force field analysis outlining the project’s driving and restraining forces that each play a role in how the program is implemented in school and community settings. Plans for spreading the word about the course and its benefits to the community at large and a series of lesson plans that incorporate the multiple intelligences with two bibliographies (one for teachers planning the course and the other for the students enrolled in the course) complete this presentation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….1
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………..2
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE…………………………………3-4
STUDENT BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………5-8
TEACHER BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………..…9-10
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS……………………………………………11-14
STUDENT BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………5-8
TEACHER BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………..…9-10
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS……………………………………………11-14
LESSON PLANS……………………………………………………….15-22
(AVAILABLE ON REQUEST)
ACTION AND COMMUNICATION PLANS………………………...23-24
ASSESSMENT PLAN…………………………………………………24-26
REVIEW OF RESEARCH LITERATURE…………………………....27-30
REVIEW OF RESEARCH LITERATURE…………………………....27-30
APPENDIX……………………………………………………………..31-37
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE
This Creative Nonfiction and Collage class has evolved over the course of the last four years. In the fall of 2001, before completing my degree at Bates College I was given permission by the college to attend The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and transfer the credits that I earned there to Bates in order to finish my degree. At Salt, I studied documentary creative nonfiction and worked intensively with a photographer to produce one final product, a work meant to be magazine ready which was approximately twenty pages in length. The experience taught me to value the creative process. Each one of us learned the art of transcription after interviewing our subjects in the community with the common goal of bringing to light stories unique to the state of Maine. In the end, we showcased our creative nonfiction, photography and radio pieces at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in a gallery setting.
Creative Nonfiction and Collage is a course modeled after Salt’s program for 7th-12th grade students to enjoy. The course is designed to be one that is adaptable to any school setting, and the resources found in the teacher and student bibliographies are a testimony to the fact that this course has a little something for everyone. This kind of flexibility leaves room for the teacher to be as creative as he or she wishes within the written framework of the course description. As we well know, an engaged, happy teacher makes for a productive work environment and successful students. Student and teachers alike are taught to value the process, as well as the final product. At the beginning of the course, each student must come prepared with two journals: one for field work and the other for transcriptions, as well as a hand held tape recorder for interviews. Outside of class, after asking their interviewees to sign release forms, students will be asked to listen and learn to cue into their natural surroundings, as they collect stories for their own independent research. In class, they will be taught to structure, redraft and edit their work. In addition to this, they will also learn to represent their findings through the artistic medium of collage making. Students will learn the importance of critique and revision, and will benefit from being in a student centered learning environment. Their final products will be a reflection of their work as a group. Although their subjects will all be different, there will be common threads to their final products due to the fact that they will be interviewing people from the same state. Each student will be required to interview a family member and a member of their immediate community. The idea behind this is that they are to learn the importance of understanding their own roots, personal histories and the history of the communities that they inhabit through the stories that they are told by their subjects, by each other and through the research they do and the things that they learn in class.
All of the lessons for this course explicitly or implicitly answer the essential questions: why write creative nonfiction and how does your community and familial background influence your writing and collage making? These essential questions open the doors for a wide range of interpretations making the final presentations particularly thought provoking and meaningful to the community at large.
Student Bibliography
Creative Nonfiction and Collage is a course modeled after Salt’s program for 7th-12th grade students to enjoy. The course is designed to be one that is adaptable to any school setting, and the resources found in the teacher and student bibliographies are a testimony to the fact that this course has a little something for everyone. This kind of flexibility leaves room for the teacher to be as creative as he or she wishes within the written framework of the course description. As we well know, an engaged, happy teacher makes for a productive work environment and successful students. Student and teachers alike are taught to value the process, as well as the final product. At the beginning of the course, each student must come prepared with two journals: one for field work and the other for transcriptions, as well as a hand held tape recorder for interviews. Outside of class, after asking their interviewees to sign release forms, students will be asked to listen and learn to cue into their natural surroundings, as they collect stories for their own independent research. In class, they will be taught to structure, redraft and edit their work. In addition to this, they will also learn to represent their findings through the artistic medium of collage making. Students will learn the importance of critique and revision, and will benefit from being in a student centered learning environment. Their final products will be a reflection of their work as a group. Although their subjects will all be different, there will be common threads to their final products due to the fact that they will be interviewing people from the same state. Each student will be required to interview a family member and a member of their immediate community. The idea behind this is that they are to learn the importance of understanding their own roots, personal histories and the history of the communities that they inhabit through the stories that they are told by their subjects, by each other and through the research they do and the things that they learn in class.
All of the lessons for this course explicitly or implicitly answer the essential questions: why write creative nonfiction and how does your community and familial background influence your writing and collage making? These essential questions open the doors for a wide range of interpretations making the final presentations particularly thought provoking and meaningful to the community at large.
Student Bibliography
Ackerman, D. (1990). A Natural History of the Senses. New York: Random House.
A master at scientifically and artfully describing our sensorary world , Diane Ackerman’s book “A Natural History of the Senses” enjoins the naturalist in every one of us to step outside of ourselves for a moment and take the time to map out the ways we perceive the world around us. Our senses inform our every day lives and so she describes that it is important for us to take pause to observe and study how they inform our lives and our histories.
A master at scientifically and artfully describing our sensorary world , Diane Ackerman’s book “A Natural History of the Senses” enjoins the naturalist in every one of us to step outside of ourselves for a moment and take the time to map out the ways we perceive the world around us. Our senses inform our every day lives and so she describes that it is important for us to take pause to observe and study how they inform our lives and our histories.
Agee, J., & Evans, W. (2001). Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Boston, Massachussetts: Houghton Mifflin Books/Mariner Books.
This intricately woven book offers a glimpse into the lives of the sharecroppers in the south. Through the skilled lens of Walker Evans’ photographs and James Agee’s unsparing narrative, the souls of a people and their landscape are revealed in truth. The books speaks to the poet in each of us, and about the hidden desire to view the more dire circumstances as salvagable and somehow, classically beautiful, as well.
This intricately woven book offers a glimpse into the lives of the sharecroppers in the south. Through the skilled lens of Walker Evans’ photographs and James Agee’s unsparing narrative, the souls of a people and their landscape are revealed in truth. The books speaks to the poet in each of us, and about the hidden desire to view the more dire circumstances as salvagable and somehow, classically beautiful, as well.
Bruchac, J. (1985). Iroquois Stories. Trumanburg, New York: The Crossing Press.
Bruchac has gathered a wide array of Iroquois folk legends that have been passed along throughout the ages. In the traditional manner, he humbly introduces each one, imbuing the reader with a sense of place within the narrative itself. By retelling these stories he reminds the reader of the Iroquois strength and formative place in our history, as the Iroquois League, a strong military power in their day welcomed non-Iroquois into the circle of peace, creating a model for our modern day diplomacy.
Bruchac has gathered a wide array of Iroquois folk legends that have been passed along throughout the ages. In the traditional manner, he humbly introduces each one, imbuing the reader with a sense of place within the narrative itself. By retelling these stories he reminds the reader of the Iroquois strength and formative place in our history, as the Iroquois League, a strong military power in their day welcomed non-Iroquois into the circle of peace, creating a model for our modern day diplomacy.
Davenport, G. (n.d.). When Place Becomes Character: a critical framing of place for mobile and situated narratives. Retrieved Fall, 2007, from MIT Media Lab Web site: http://mf.media.mit.edu/pubs/other/CharacterPlace.pdf
Technology brings a new dimension to literature and story telling. This article high lights how it is now actually possible to pass through real locales virtually, allowing the reader to dramatically create his or her story along the way. Audiences are invited to become active participants in the author’s journey; thus opening up entirely new avenues for fiction and creative nonfiction writing.
Technology brings a new dimension to literature and story telling. This article high lights how it is now actually possible to pass through real locales virtually, allowing the reader to dramatically create his or her story along the way. Audiences are invited to become active participants in the author’s journey; thus opening up entirely new avenues for fiction and creative nonfiction writing.
Durham, NC: Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. (1995-present). Double Take.
Double Take was formerly a magazine associated with Duke University’s Documentary Program and is now produced in Somerville. Since its inception, the magazine has accepted a wide range of work including: fiction, poetry and essays all documenting the human experience.
Erikson, K. T. (1976). Everything In Its Path. New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo
Signapore:Simon and Schuster.
132-million gallons of debris burst through the streets of Buffalo Creek in West Virginia in the late 1970’s. This book is a documentary account of this horrific event, how it affected this small community and the way that they dealt with the aftermath of the trauma.
Double Take was formerly a magazine associated with Duke University’s Documentary Program and is now produced in Somerville. Since its inception, the magazine has accepted a wide range of work including: fiction, poetry and essays all documenting the human experience.
Erikson, K. T. (1976). Everything In Its Path. New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo
Signapore:Simon and Schuster.
132-million gallons of debris burst through the streets of Buffalo Creek in West Virginia in the late 1970’s. This book is a documentary account of this horrific event, how it affected this small community and the way that they dealt with the aftermath of the trauma.
Frenkel, N., & Woods, N. (2006). Rhinos and Raspberries: ToleranceTales for the Early Grades [Special section]. Teaching Tolerance: Montgomery, AL.
This magazine has twelve tales in all intended for teachers teaching students in grades K-12 who are interested in setting the stage for an inclusive classroom
environment. The tales come complete with discussion tips, ten lesson plans and two student readers.
This magazine has twelve tales in all intended for teachers teaching students in grades K-12 who are interested in setting the stage for an inclusive classroom
environment. The tales come complete with discussion tips, ten lesson plans and two student readers.
Grifalconi, A. (1986). The Village of Round and Square Houses. Boston Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.
In the remote hills of Cameroon live a tribe of people whose houses are divided into two shapes: square houses and round houses. The women live in the round houses and the men live in the square houses. This children’s book focuses upon the life of a young girl as she grows up in this environment and makes us all reflect upon how environment affects the very fabric of every human being.
In the remote hills of Cameroon live a tribe of people whose houses are divided into two shapes: square houses and round houses. The women live in the round houses and the men live in the square houses. This children’s book focuses upon the life of a young girl as she grows up in this environment and makes us all reflect upon how environment affects the very fabric of every human being.
Hamilton, V. (1985). The People Could Fly American Black Folktales . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
These tales bring us to the heart of people’s lives by illuminating their successes and failures. They all share a common thread and that is the underlying hope for freedom and relief from the tension of captivity. Created out of sorrow, they provide a clear avenue for the reader to access the American black folktale traditions that often were told orally and can now be read to children as a way to celebrate the promise of the human spirit.
A Place at the Table [Motion picture]. (2000). U.S.A.: Hudson and Huston Montgomergy, AL: Teaching Tolerance.
The narrators of this documentary film are eight teenagers from across the country. Through the lens of these teens’ lives the film examines how we
strive for liberty, justice and happiness in this country. The film’s main focus is on how individual families pursue this dream as they interact in their local communities.
These tales bring us to the heart of people’s lives by illuminating their successes and failures. They all share a common thread and that is the underlying hope for freedom and relief from the tension of captivity. Created out of sorrow, they provide a clear avenue for the reader to access the American black folktale traditions that often were told orally and can now be read to children as a way to celebrate the promise of the human spirit.
A Place at the Table [Motion picture]. (2000). U.S.A.: Hudson and Huston Montgomergy, AL: Teaching Tolerance.
The narrators of this documentary film are eight teenagers from across the country. Through the lens of these teens’ lives the film examines how we
strive for liberty, justice and happiness in this country. The film’s main focus is on how individual families pursue this dream as they interact in their local communities.
Portland, ME: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. (1995-present). Salt Omnibus.
These magazines dating back to the 1970’s depict Maine with biting honesty. The artists selected for this magazine have spent countless hours in the field interviewing and photographing Mainers in hopes of portraying their work as authentically as possible. Nonfiction writers work with photographers, and each piece is informed by this collaboration and the connections that the artists are able to bring to light for their readers.
Teacher Bibliography
International Visual Sociology Association. (2000). The place of image in fieldwork: assessing traditions and envisioning futures. Lecture presented at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and The Center for Maine History, Portland, Maine.
These magazines dating back to the 1970’s depict Maine with biting honesty. The artists selected for this magazine have spent countless hours in the field interviewing and photographing Mainers in hopes of portraying their work as authentically as possible. Nonfiction writers work with photographers, and each piece is informed by this collaboration and the connections that the artists are able to bring to light for their readers.
Teacher Bibliography
International Visual Sociology Association. (2000). The place of image in fieldwork: assessing traditions and envisioning futures. Lecture presented at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and The Center for Maine History, Portland, Maine.
In Composition Studies 27.1 (Spring 1999): 7-14. Reprinted in Everyone Can Write: Essays Toward A Hopeful Theory of Writing and Teaching Writing. Oxford Up, 2000.
Kingore, B. (n.d.). The Kingore Observation Inventory (KOI). (Reprinted from Categories of Gifted Characteristics, 2nd ed. ed., 2001, Austin: Professional Associates Publishing)
This one page hand out outlines the categories the state of Florida uses when identifying Gifted and Talented students. The categories are list the following skills: advanced language, analytical thinking, meaning motivation, perspective, sense of humor, sensitivity and accelerated learning which are all key markers.
This one page hand out outlines the categories the state of Florida uses when identifying Gifted and Talented students. The categories are list the following skills: advanced language, analytical thinking, meaning motivation, perspective, sense of humor, sensitivity and accelerated learning which are all key markers.
Leland, C. (2002). The Creative Writer’s Syle Guide: Rules and Advice for Writing Fiction and Creative Non-fiction. Cincinatti Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books.
Maine Learning Results. (1997). Retrieved December 11, 2007, from http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/
Meeting the Need of Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom. (n.d.). Teacher’s First.com. Retrieved April/May 8, 2006, from Working with Gifted and Talented Students Web site: http://www.teachersfirst.com/gifted/strategies.html
Michael, K. (2005). The Complete Guide to altered imagery: mixed media techniques for collage, altered books, artists journals and more. Gloucester, Mass: Quarry Books.
Miller, B., & Paota, S. (2004). Tell It Slant: Writing and Creative Nonfiction. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Moore, D. (2007). The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Non-fiction. New York: Pearson/Longman.
Seger, L. (1990). Creating Unforgettable Characters. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Skrebels, P. (n.d.). Bring creative nonfiction skills into the classroom: Extending the boundaries of literary study. In English Teaching Practice and Critique. Retrieved September, 2003, from http://education.waikato.ac.nz/journal/english_journal/uploads/files/2003v2n2art7.pdf
Tomlinson, C. (n.d.). The Dos and Don’ts of Instruction: What It Means to Teach Gifted Learners Well. In NAGC Website. Retrieved July/August 26, 2006, from National Association for Gifted Children Web site: http://nagc.org/index.aspx?id=659
The Rational (cont.)
Due to the fact that this course is designed to be taught in schools and in local communities, it is important to take a closer look at the common themes that make it a competitive one for students of all age groups in order to generate funding and community interest for the program. Before highlighting the strengths of the course and its possible limitations, I will briefly explain the kinds of adjustments that I will make according to what grade level I will be teaching.
Initially, if I intend to teach it at the Middle School level, I plan to start off by informally introducing my students to the writing process, and then once they begin to master a few in-class activities, I will gradually move them toward structure by giving them real life examples of creative nonfiction work that already inspire their everyday lives i.e. magazine articles, certain newspaper stories and journals to model their assignments after. The following books will be read in class to garner student response: excerpts from “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”, “Iroquois Stories”, “Rhinos and Raspberries: Tolerance Tales for the Early Grades”, “The Village of Round and Square Houses” and “The People Could Fly Black Folktales”. These folk tales provide the children with a tie to a form of literature that they are already have some familiarity with, and provide the educator with a comfortable spring board to teach from. In addition, I will require each student to select a creative nonfiction work to bring to class and share. After sharing their work, I will ask them to begin to think about their local communities and the people who have been their greatest influences. Students will be asked to generate a list of the genres that they are already familiar with and compare these genres with the kinds of associations they have already formed about the creative nonfiction writing process. Finally, I will introduce them to the collage aspect of the course by asking the students to bring in magazines and scraps from home. I will bring in a large bag of materials, as well, and we will get to work creating a collage depicting characters of interest.
At the high school level, I plan to present the class differently. The classroom setting will be much more formal and each student will be required to read Diane Ackerman’s “A Natural History of the Senses”. Her book is layered with examples for students to follow when they begin to conduct their fieldwork as she has succeeded in capturing the subtle nuances and beauty that surround us everyday. Ackerman’s work provides the reader with a decent map of our own sensory environment to explore. Students will be encouraged to come to the first class prepared with information that they have already gathered about the environments that inform their daily existences. On the first day, each student will be presented with a syllabus tailored to match each grade level.
Finally, this course can be taught as an adult education course. Many adults are interested in exploring their family histories. For those who aren’t as curious about their immediate families, they will have the option to pursue another subject, as long as the subject resides nearby and is available for to be interviewed. All those who take the course will potentially gain something lasting from it. That is the goal.
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
CREATIVE NONFICTION AND COLLAGE
DRIVING AND RESTRAINING FORCES
DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES
A CREATIVE WAY TO ADDRESS THE STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
MAINE STATE LEARNING RESULTS MAY FIND THE PACE OF THE COURSE
REQUIREMENTS AND AN ENGAGING TOO RIGOROUS
SERIES OF LESSONS FOR ALL LEARNERS
PREPARES STUDENTS FOR THE SCIENCE AND MATH ORIENTED STUDENTS
PROFESSIONAL WORLD MAY NOT FEEL THAT IT IS PREPARING
THEM ADEQUATELY FOR THEIR
CHOSEN PROFESSIONS
DOCUMENTARY STUDIES TIME CONSTRAINTS
AN EXCELLENT MEDIUM THE TOPIC MAY BE TOO BROAD TO
FOR DEVELOPING VOICE, COVER IN JUST EIGHT WEEKS
STYLE AND SELF-EXPRESSION
THROUGH THE ARTS
LEARNING ABOUT ONE’S WHO WILL THE PROGRAM
PERSONAL HISTORY HAS COORDINATOR CONTACT
A UNIVERSAL APPEAL IN EACH TOWN TO PROMOTE
THE COURSE? WHAT WILL
THE COST BE TO TEACH THE
COURSE AT EACH LOCATION?
STUDENTS WILL LEARN THE ART COST OF THE GALLERY OPENING.
OF WRITING AND ILLUSTRATING
THEIR OWN CREATIVE NONFICTION
WORK AND GAIN A SENSE OF CONNECTION HOW DO WE MOTIVATE PEOPLE
WITH THEIR IMMEDIATE COMMUNITIES AND ORGINIZATIONS TO DONATE
THROUGH THE PRESENTATIONS MONEY FOR THIS CAUSE?
OF THEIR FINAL PRODUCTS.
ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO REFLECT, STUDENTS WHO ARE MUSICALLY
GROW AND UNDERSTAND THEIR TALENTED MAY NEED TO SEEK
COMMUNITIES AND THEIR ARTISTIC OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE IF THEY WISH
EXPRESSIVE SIDE TO ADD TO THEIR PROJECTS
IMPROVES LITERACY STUDENTS READING AT A LOW LEVEL
MAY NEED ONE ON ONE ATTENTION
PROMOTES TEAMWORK AND
PARTNERSHIPS WITH OTHER ARTISTS
THE COURSE CAN BE TAUGHT IT MAY BE CHALLENGING TO
AS AN ADULT EDUCATION CLASS GAIN PERMISSION TO TEACH
OR AS A CLASS IN AN ACADEMIC SETTING THE COURSE IN CERTAIN LOCALS
WHERE THE TEACHER IS NOT
KNOWN TO THE COMMUNITY
Creative Nonfiction and Collage is a course that should be welcomed and taught in a wide variety of settings; however, in order to make this dream a reality it is important to take a closer look at the restraining forces at work, and eliminate as many of them as possible in order swing the pendulum in a positive direction. After researching each town’s history, I plan to utilize ideas generated by students who have taken the course already and apply some of their ideas to the community that I am in. I will need to gain community support, support from local families (families of my students) and support from their friends in order to help swing the analysis in the right direction. Together, we will all meet and craft a fundraising plan specific to the local area. This will help eliminate the main restraining factors: the cost of teaching the class, hosting a gallery opening and promoting future classes. I will now use a few of the fundraising ideas that my Lesley University classmates generated for another project and pick a few that might be helpful in this case. When fundraising, we could hold a video party at a well known local venue outlining the history of the program. The video will showcase student products and community response to those products. Another way to promote the course would be to create an advertisement for it in the newspaper and create one for radio, as well. The fundraising possibilities really are endless once the ball gets rolling. In the future, I think that it would be wonderful to be able to employ a few other teachers to work on the project team with me. I would like to hire an art teacher to help with the collage portion of the class and one other teacher to work with students in my class who need any extra assistance. The class will be taught at an accelerated rate; but with extra help, it would be much easier to adapt it to meets the needs of students with learning disabilities. My goal is to create a course that is integrative and accessible to all of my students. Having additional resources available to teach the course will be key to its growth and development. It is easier to teach a course in a new community when you come prepared with the resources that you need to pull it off.
Creative Nonfiction and Collage
Syllabus
DURATION: 8 WEEKS
GOALS: 1. To provide students with a sense of purpose and direction by immediately
outlining what is expected of them while they are enrolled in the course.
2. To help students learn to develop their writing and artwork utilizing their
multiple intelligences by teaching them to ask questions that encourage them to explore their local environments.
Initially, if I intend to teach it at the Middle School level, I plan to start off by informally introducing my students to the writing process, and then once they begin to master a few in-class activities, I will gradually move them toward structure by giving them real life examples of creative nonfiction work that already inspire their everyday lives i.e. magazine articles, certain newspaper stories and journals to model their assignments after. The following books will be read in class to garner student response: excerpts from “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”, “Iroquois Stories”, “Rhinos and Raspberries: Tolerance Tales for the Early Grades”, “The Village of Round and Square Houses” and “The People Could Fly Black Folktales”. These folk tales provide the children with a tie to a form of literature that they are already have some familiarity with, and provide the educator with a comfortable spring board to teach from. In addition, I will require each student to select a creative nonfiction work to bring to class and share. After sharing their work, I will ask them to begin to think about their local communities and the people who have been their greatest influences. Students will be asked to generate a list of the genres that they are already familiar with and compare these genres with the kinds of associations they have already formed about the creative nonfiction writing process. Finally, I will introduce them to the collage aspect of the course by asking the students to bring in magazines and scraps from home. I will bring in a large bag of materials, as well, and we will get to work creating a collage depicting characters of interest.
At the high school level, I plan to present the class differently. The classroom setting will be much more formal and each student will be required to read Diane Ackerman’s “A Natural History of the Senses”. Her book is layered with examples for students to follow when they begin to conduct their fieldwork as she has succeeded in capturing the subtle nuances and beauty that surround us everyday. Ackerman’s work provides the reader with a decent map of our own sensory environment to explore. Students will be encouraged to come to the first class prepared with information that they have already gathered about the environments that inform their daily existences. On the first day, each student will be presented with a syllabus tailored to match each grade level.
Finally, this course can be taught as an adult education course. Many adults are interested in exploring their family histories. For those who aren’t as curious about their immediate families, they will have the option to pursue another subject, as long as the subject resides nearby and is available for to be interviewed. All those who take the course will potentially gain something lasting from it. That is the goal.
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
CREATIVE NONFICTION AND COLLAGE
DRIVING AND RESTRAINING FORCES
DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES
A CREATIVE WAY TO ADDRESS THE STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
MAINE STATE LEARNING RESULTS MAY FIND THE PACE OF THE COURSE
REQUIREMENTS AND AN ENGAGING TOO RIGOROUS
SERIES OF LESSONS FOR ALL LEARNERS
PREPARES STUDENTS FOR THE SCIENCE AND MATH ORIENTED STUDENTS
PROFESSIONAL WORLD MAY NOT FEEL THAT IT IS PREPARING
THEM ADEQUATELY FOR THEIR
CHOSEN PROFESSIONS
DOCUMENTARY STUDIES TIME CONSTRAINTS
AN EXCELLENT MEDIUM THE TOPIC MAY BE TOO BROAD TO
FOR DEVELOPING VOICE, COVER IN JUST EIGHT WEEKS
STYLE AND SELF-EXPRESSION
THROUGH THE ARTS
LEARNING ABOUT ONE’S WHO WILL THE PROGRAM
PERSONAL HISTORY HAS COORDINATOR CONTACT
A UNIVERSAL APPEAL IN EACH TOWN TO PROMOTE
THE COURSE? WHAT WILL
THE COST BE TO TEACH THE
COURSE AT EACH LOCATION?
STUDENTS WILL LEARN THE ART COST OF THE GALLERY OPENING.
OF WRITING AND ILLUSTRATING
THEIR OWN CREATIVE NONFICTION
WORK AND GAIN A SENSE OF CONNECTION HOW DO WE MOTIVATE PEOPLE
WITH THEIR IMMEDIATE COMMUNITIES AND ORGINIZATIONS TO DONATE
THROUGH THE PRESENTATIONS MONEY FOR THIS CAUSE?
OF THEIR FINAL PRODUCTS.
ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO REFLECT, STUDENTS WHO ARE MUSICALLY
GROW AND UNDERSTAND THEIR TALENTED MAY NEED TO SEEK
COMMUNITIES AND THEIR ARTISTIC OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE IF THEY WISH
EXPRESSIVE SIDE TO ADD TO THEIR PROJECTS
IMPROVES LITERACY STUDENTS READING AT A LOW LEVEL
MAY NEED ONE ON ONE ATTENTION
PROMOTES TEAMWORK AND
PARTNERSHIPS WITH OTHER ARTISTS
THE COURSE CAN BE TAUGHT IT MAY BE CHALLENGING TO
AS AN ADULT EDUCATION CLASS GAIN PERMISSION TO TEACH
OR AS A CLASS IN AN ACADEMIC SETTING THE COURSE IN CERTAIN LOCALS
WHERE THE TEACHER IS NOT
KNOWN TO THE COMMUNITY
Creative Nonfiction and Collage is a course that should be welcomed and taught in a wide variety of settings; however, in order to make this dream a reality it is important to take a closer look at the restraining forces at work, and eliminate as many of them as possible in order swing the pendulum in a positive direction. After researching each town’s history, I plan to utilize ideas generated by students who have taken the course already and apply some of their ideas to the community that I am in. I will need to gain community support, support from local families (families of my students) and support from their friends in order to help swing the analysis in the right direction. Together, we will all meet and craft a fundraising plan specific to the local area. This will help eliminate the main restraining factors: the cost of teaching the class, hosting a gallery opening and promoting future classes. I will now use a few of the fundraising ideas that my Lesley University classmates generated for another project and pick a few that might be helpful in this case. When fundraising, we could hold a video party at a well known local venue outlining the history of the program. The video will showcase student products and community response to those products. Another way to promote the course would be to create an advertisement for it in the newspaper and create one for radio, as well. The fundraising possibilities really are endless once the ball gets rolling. In the future, I think that it would be wonderful to be able to employ a few other teachers to work on the project team with me. I would like to hire an art teacher to help with the collage portion of the class and one other teacher to work with students in my class who need any extra assistance. The class will be taught at an accelerated rate; but with extra help, it would be much easier to adapt it to meets the needs of students with learning disabilities. My goal is to create a course that is integrative and accessible to all of my students. Having additional resources available to teach the course will be key to its growth and development. It is easier to teach a course in a new community when you come prepared with the resources that you need to pull it off.
Creative Nonfiction and Collage
Syllabus
DURATION: 8 WEEKS
GOALS: 1. To provide students with a sense of purpose and direction by immediately
outlining what is expected of them while they are enrolled in the course.
2. To help students learn to develop their writing and artwork utilizing their
multiple intelligences by teaching them to ask questions that encourage them to explore their local environments.
3. To help students develop a sense of connection with their communities and families.
4. To provide a forum for artistic expression.
5. To encourage students and teachers to integrate arts into their curriculum.
6. To help them foster a concern for the global community that they are a part of as well.
LESSON PLANS
Creative Nonfiction Writing and Collage
4. To provide a forum for artistic expression.
5. To encourage students and teachers to integrate arts into their curriculum.
6. To help them foster a concern for the global community that they are a part of as well.
LESSON PLANS
Creative Nonfiction Writing and Collage
This is a class designed to train participants in the art of writing and illustrating their own creative nonfiction work. Students should come prepared with two journals, one for field work and one for transcriptions and a hand held tape recorder for interviews. Outside the class, after asking their interviewees to sign release forms, students will be asked to listen and learn to cue in to their natural surroundings, as they collect stories for their own independent research. In class, they will be taught how to structure, redraft and edit their work. In addition to this, they will also learn to represent their findings through the artistic medium of collage making.
Note: Material for collage making also should come from the student’s home.
Magazines and newspapers work well for collage making.
Core requirements: Character portraits (written and collage), critique sessions, description of place paper, thesis topic, background history and research, two drafts, group feedback, field notebook for in class sessions and of course the final piece of creative nonfiction and collage work ready to publish.
Bring your imaginations and your best analytical skills to class each week because we will be constantly exploring and reinventing new ways to approach the stories that we aim to tell our audience. By the conclusion of the eight week course, your work will be ready to be sent out into the world for artistic consumption.
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