Self-Expression as an educational tool

I was a bit confused at first about why Peeps:A Candy-Coated Tale and PostSecret:Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives would fall under the week for "Commitment to Learning" but reading them in tandem with the Lenters article and all while doing research for the developmental asset project shed some light on the issue...Jess and I are investigating opportunities for young adults in the North Adams area to feel empowered through self-expression and creative outlets, this I thought would be a more appropriate tie-in for the books on this weeks list. After talking with a teen and adult involved in a local "performance and creative outlet project" (I don't want to give too much away before our presentation) it became quite clear that offering opportunities for self-expression (creative writing, song writing and performance choreography, etc.) is indeed a powerful learning tool. All of the developmental assets overlap of course and different external and internal assets can be applied for a common end result but the 2 books for class clearly reflected the ability to achieve motivation and engagement using constructive learning tools that also value creativity and self-expression and are therefore empowering.

I loved how PostSecret gave the participant concrete instructions with parameters that included and encouraged creative liberties, this project employed both critical thinking and problem-solving challenges along with the opportunity to be unique and express individual emotion. It is a project that appeals to all learning styles and interests because of the freedom to be straightforward or profound, polished or edgy, no answer is a wrong answer. It speaks directly to the issues raised in Lenter's "Resistance, struggle, and the adolescent reader" article, addressing the lack of interest and identification in more commonly assigned school work. PostSecret is an amazing read for a young adult who can learn from diverse teens' confessions and also directly relate to those contributors who share and therefore validate their own confessions. The teen I spoke with about her experience in the local creative writing workshop appreciated the opportunity to have a time and place to write freely without anyone telling her what to write about and the opportunity to share her work in a non-judgemental environment where she wasn't stressed about being "graded". PostSecret represents that same "place" only on a broader scale-and definitely meets the criteria for "commitment to learning"!

Peeps was a fun read, that made me laugh, made me hungry and reminded me of a similar assignment that a teacher friend did for her 7th grade class...she had the students collect data using any candy of their choice that is packaged with a variety of colors/flavors. It involved all the usual math curriculum framework components to have the students figure out the means, averages, percentages and then tied in a writing component which had the students use their statistical analysis to write (in business letter format) a summary of their findings to the candy manufacturer requesting answers to critical analysis questions that presented themselves based on the research (ie: are their 27% more red skittles per package because those are the consumers favorite or because red dyes are cheaper than having to mix red and blue dye to make purple skittles...) it was an amazingly involved project that engaged the students and taught them so much in the process. Peeps is like that for me, it is a story, a mystery that involves candy (who doesn't LOVE candy), it is eye-catching and creative, it references current icons and issues and it is funny! This is something that I believe would appeal to resistant or any readers who wanted a break from "agency" controlled reading and again I feel that the unique art and writing plus the creative measures employed in the making of this book would meet the assessment for commitment to learning since it would surely engage and motivate young adult readers for pleasure.

There is already so much valuable information that I can glean from the developmental assets paper research, I have learned that there are teens out there craving an opportunity to have their thoughts and creative expressions validated - they want to own their work and then share it with others who respect their voice. The readings this week have given me examples of materials that help to promote this goal, they value a commitment to the students' academic and creative achievements and together they motivate all types of students to read, write, think and learn!