At the end, he adds that none of the ideas- zines, turntables, or tattoos- need to be added to the curriculum. Rather, it is the spirit of creativity and the understanding of these kids that needs to be incorporated. While I do agree that to add so of the things would appear condescending to the students themselves, I think that done the right way with an appropriately aged group, things like zines have a place in the classroom, as do poetry slams. While I wouldn't teach a group of seniors about zine making, the 7th graders that I have now are incredibly interested in the idea of "being punk rock." (It helps that I'm young and still retain some amount of "scene cred," I'm sure if I was 50 and sharing this project it wouldn't be as well-received.)
Gustavson mentions the concept of Tekhne, defined by Aristotle (and written by Gustavson) as "the art in mundane skill and, more significantly, in day-to-day life... an intrinsic aesthetic or crafting that underlies the practices of everyday life." (p.3) He goes on to illustrate the point through Ian, the 15 year old zinester, saying "Ian's practice of zine-writing, for example, is a part of his everyday life. He literally carries it with him wherever he goes. Articles and pieces for future zines line the sides of notes that he takes for English class." (p. 3) I have a soft spot for Ian, since he is a fellow zine writer and spoken word poet who started a poetry slam at his high school- I think we would have gotten along both as friends and in a student-teacher relationship. Anyway, I found Tekhne particularly interesting because students often don't see writing as a craft or an art form, and presenting it in such a matter- making the everyday into art- may help students discover a passion for writing. It also may demonstrate how writing can carry over to other classes and to recreational activities.
Gustavson also explores the ways that the students do their creative work outside of school, and how much time and effort they devote to it: "When youth work 'on their own terms'- meaning that they engage in some form of ongoing practice without adult supervision or guidance- they tend to work reflexively and experimentally. They also engage in multiple forms of performance as a means to evaluate and strategize their work." (p. 6) They are, essentially, being excellent students, just not in a school setting, and without being rewarded with good grades.
He goes on to explain why these creative and intelligent youths may not be performing as well i school as they should be: "More often than not, the processes by which students engage in turntablism, zine-writing, and graffiti (along with other creative practices) exist outside of school-sanctioned ways of learning. Therefore, in order for them to exist, youth must dedicate a considerable amount of their everyday lives to keep this work going, sometimes even at the expense of their schoolwork... In addition, these creative practices demonstrate a desire on the part of youth to determine their own learning trajectories. Youth navigate large cities without drivers' licenses, maintain networks of fellow artisans, strategize how to obtain equipment, and find ways to create with few resources. They want to, need to, and must work and learn on their own terms." (p. 8)
Students can create their own "communities of practice" outside of school, maintaining huge networks that interconnect and overlap. Thanks to the Internet, it's easy for people to connect over any interest, and it's simple to find out where underground shows and poetry slams are happening, and where the best places to graffiti are. Gustavson goes on to define a community of practice as "a group of people connected through a shared interest in an activity," (p. 15) which sounds simplistic on the surface but requires a lot of effort to create.
ZINES!
For those of you who don't know, "a zine is a handmade, amateur publication that focuses on a particular interest of the publisher." (p. 29)
It is not a recent concept, in fact, the most famous example could be Common Sense by Thomas Paine during the Revolutionary War. And it goes back even farther! "The zine, as Chu (1997) suggests, has its roots as deep as Martin Luther posting his 'Ninety-five Theses' on the Castle Church door at Wittenburg." (p. 29)
However, the zine as it is today has been around for roughly 40 years, though it's been debated that origins began with sci-fi fanzines in the 40s and 50s. "This underground publishing movement gained momentum in the 1970s with the explosion of punk music and punk culture... Contemporary zines run the gamut from traditional fanzines that follow the careers of particular bands to travel zines that document the journeys of writers to political zines that rant against the status quo." (p. 30)
Ian does most of his zine work in the classroom, and while his grades may suffer, his creative practice flourishes. "Ian's manipulation of class time and space to serve his own writing is a nice illustration of De Certeau's concept of la perruque, 'the wig.' 'The Wig' is an instance when workers usurp on-the-job time to do personally meaningful work." (p.40) In fact, Gustavson mentions that Ian was almost more productive when in school or at places like Model UN in terms of getting his own writing done. Because he had no distractions like instant messaging or television to fall back on, his own writing was the distraction from something he wasn't enjoying, rather than something he needed to be distracted from.
As Ian ventures into spoken word poetry, we see even more importance placed on finding a community: "Here, again, the community of practice that Ian formed within his zine writing and spoken word was crucial to the development and trajectory of his craft." (p. 49) He organizes a poetry slam at his school, combining his creative practice with the academic world, though he receives no recognition from the school for his efforts. "By organizing a slam within school, Ian created an opportunity to see other practitioners at work was well as expose himself to the content of their poetry." (p. 53) I find it hard to believe that he received no extra credit in English or Speech classes despite all of the time and effort put into organizing something of that magnitude, and that certainly speaks volumes about why he was having a hard time in school, since he obviously had no teachers who really understood his creativity or were willing to help him in his practice.
Ian is eventually diagnosed with ADD, and he says that he hopes that the medication will help him to focus in school. Gustavson questions this diagnosis, however, saying that it may just be a way of explaining poor grades while not really addressing the real problem that Ian was simply bored and unchallenged in school. It's easy to blame a physical problem like ADD for children not paying attention and doing well, but Ian was obviously able to focus for hours at a time on his zines and poetry, which theoretically would be hard to do if he legitimately had a problem with ADD. I agree with Gustavson: perhaps Ian has ADD, but there's a very real chance that his problem was simply a disconnect with school.
Switching topics: for students, having personal space is key to creative development, especially when trying to push students towards legal and safe options, as opposed graffiti or prison-style tattooing. Because Miguel lacked personal space in his home, he was less inclined to take on projects like Ian or Gil. His creative process was also effected: "Miguel often stayed up late finishing a model, drafting a piece on canvas or in his sketchbook, or painting his boots. Then there would be long stretches on inactivity related to his creative practice... A pattern with all three youth and their creative practices is the necessity to negotiate their creative work around the demands of family life." (p. 89) I think that it's important for teachers to assign projects where students can be creative, so they are essentially forced to make time for it, and it will be parent-approved.
TURNTABLES
I loved that Gustavson related turntablism to the English classroom: "Sam suggests that manipulating records is a form of language. There is the interpretation of the words. There is the fashioning of a message out of these words, phrases, and sentences that have been captured from other sources... Like writers of more traditional texts, turntablists make meaning out of language and ideas that they did not create of conceive." (p. 103) There was a great example of comparing a turntable piece that Gil created to a research paper that was perfectly done: Gustavson described the online and physical "researching" he did in finding records, the editing, testing, and drafting, and perhaps most importantly, the way that Gil combined various authors/artists to create his own critical interpretation of an idea- a thesis statement of sorts. Isn't that what a research paper is? Citing different authors and creating a new idea from their old ones?
For Gil, being in a record shop attached him to his community of practice in the same way that Ian found his at open-mic nights and poetry slams. Being able to talk about records, listen to various new artists and records, and watch others perform afforded him the chance to be a part of a community in a way he could never achieve at home or online. Because of the Internet, students have more resources, but the old methods of actually physically going places and interacting within communities cannot be overlooked. I know that when I was into zine writing, for me, going to independent bookstores was more meaningful that browsing online "zine distros," and going to poetry slams and readings were infinitely more exciting than posting to an online poetry forum. In my own creative practice, I experimented with Internet communities and physical communities and both certainly have pros and cons, and I think it's important to make students aware of both types of community.
One important conclusion Gustavson offers is the concept of believing in youth as "creative and intelligent human beings," something easily overlooked by teachers who are already struggling to fit in required curriculum. However, psychologists contend that students NEED to be allowed to develop within their creative practices, and encouraged to do so both inside and outside of school. Teachers can also help direct youth away from the more harmful creative practices and channel energies elsewhere, and can aid students in larger-scale projects, like planning and running a school poetry slam. I know that when I was a high school student, I relied heavily on the support of English teachers when I began hosting a poetry slam, and without them, I'm not sure how I would have fared.
Gustavson suggests that teachers should increase creativity by allowing for different modes of "project creation," and being more flexible with assignments. Don't assign a turntable piece to everyone, but allow it as an option: "Once a teacher sees his role as, in part, developing a sense of the culture of work of his students, he can then do the work of translating that understanding into how he designs the learning experience." (p. 143)
On another topic entirely, but one that comes up throughout the book as Gustavson- a white male- infiltrates the lives of white, Hispanic, and Black students, is writing about "urban youth living in poverty," and how to write about them and teach to them without being condescending and making assumptions. He quotes Susan Heath, an ethnographer noted for her work studying communities in the rural South (I've read her for a linguistics course), as saying, "no group under the scrutiny of social scientists has been more heavily over-generalized than urban teens who live in impoverished neighborhoods." (p. 167) Obviously, this isn't fair to the youth, but how do we prevent ourselves from teaching to the stereotypes?
I think more and more about this as I'm considering applying to Teach for America. Raised in a very white middle-class area, a lot of my thoughts have been devoted to if I could actually effectively teach marginalized youth, but after reading this book, I feel much better about it. I feel like there's this standard idea that low-income students are unmotivated and hard to teach, but perhaps it's the way we teach, rather than the students, that is causing the disconnect. Again, I believe that a personal connection between teacher and student, where the student can feel comfortable telling the teacher about creative practices he or she engages in is key to being an effective teacher, both in terms of creativity in learning and basic curriculum development.
Basically, if you're at all interested in reading about really cool students learning on their own time, I highly recommend this book. I'm hoping to have a chat with the author at some point in the near future and have an entire post dedicated to that, because anyone who is willing to put this much effort into researching how students learn and practice creativity is aces in my book!
Find Youth Learning on Their Own Terms here.
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