Thursday, July 1, 2010

Reflecting on School Days

During the last day of the Art Journaling class I taught, I had each student complete a page (from start to finish) on the prompt "What did your teachers say about you?"  The prompt came from one of my students who had remarked the previous week that her teachers used to say "Cindy finishes early and helps the other children."  Later on, she added that what her teacher actually said/meant was that she finished early and bothered the other children.  It was a good prompt and had everybody reflecting on their school days.  I meant to take pictures of their pages to share, but there was no camera card in my camera! (doh!) So, the only thing I can share are the pages I made.  When I reflected on the prompt, I realized that some of my teachers said lots of negative things about me (I talked too much, I couldn't sing and should drop out of chorus, my book reports were too long.  One even said I was mean and made her cry!).  Fortunately, I also had many wonderful teachers who nurtured me and supported me and helped me grow.  So, I did a two page spread in my art journal.  The largest part of the journaling reads, " I ignored all the negative things they said and focused on the affirming things that helped me grow." In a nice bit of serendipity, these pages fit the current Creative Therapy prompt, "what are your best/worst memories of school."
So, now, truth or dare, what did your teachers say about you?

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