Monday, September 08, 2008
Unseen Entertainment
Posted March 16th, 2008 by Arnold Aprill
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A number of years back, an award-winning, Broadway-produced playwright gave a talk at Victory Gardens Theater here in Chicago about the years he had spent making his living resubmitting the same script, in different forms, to a Hollywood film studio. It had quickly dawned on him that, although the studio had sought him out and commissioned this script, the film was never going to be green-lighted for production. Realizing that he had moved from a career as a visible and produced (if impoverished) playwright to a new career as an invisible, unproduced, well paid screen-writer, he began simply shuffling and renumbering the pages of his screenplay, collecting checks for each “new” film script until he could no longer stand the rot this produced in his soul.
During the recent writers’ strike, a television analyst being interviewed on National Public Radio described the huge investment made in “unseen entertainment” – television scripts and fully produced pilots that never reach the public eye.
These wasteful practices may make some sort of perverse sense in the private film and television industries, but they are not acceptable in the world of public education. Unfortunately, the only products the public investors in pubic education usually get to see are competitive test scores published in daily newspapers, and occasionally, school assemblies featuring up-beat generic messages from principals followed by masses of stiff-faced and wooden-limbed students being shepherded on and off various make-shift stages in various multi-purpose rooms and "lunchatoriums" by well intentioned, anxious teachers. Most of the “unseen entertainment” in our schools - the day-to-day work of students, teachers, administrators, building engineers, nurses, counselors, partnering organizations, etc. remains invisible.
This will not do.
Arnold Aprill
Founding and Creative Director
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE)
www.capeweb.org
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Looking at student work
One revelation for me in trying to make student work visible through more than test scores and highlight events was a few years I was working on the "making learning visible" techniques and "looking at student work" practices that a lot of colleagues around the country use. It was amazing to me that using a simple protocol (dozens are available on the web), I could guide a group of parents, or teachers, or teachers-and-parents, or best, teachers-parents-students to look at one work of student art for 90 minutes to unpack all the learning and information it holds. When we take the time to delve into student work, its riches pour forth. Of course, we don't have many occasions in which we can corral this kind of focus, but I did find that doing it once, thoroughly, had a lasting impact on those who participated. They weren't quite so casual about the documents of learning that pass by them on a regular basis. The drawing may still have been placed on the refrigerator, but it got noticed and talked about with the young artist. It had particularly strong impact on teachers who handle so many documents, and are rarely supported to unpack them except expediently.
Very Precious Daily Invisible Investments
I have always seen and valued my work, drawing a tremendous amount of inspiration from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book, "The Little Prince"...I recall having read the book a zillion times as a 9-year-old child and just couldn't help but look back and remind myself of one of the most striking quotes from the book, that was stated as:"WHAT IS ESSENTIAL IS INVISIBLE TO THE EYE. IT IS WITH THE HEART THAT ONE CAN SEE RIGHTLY." Up to this very day, I am still in awe, just realizing how the author of The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, gathered the inspiration to write about this timeless classic with words coming straight out of his heart, without even being filtered through his head.
This is the very same reason why I, as an educator, do what I do. I measure my daily victories through the instances when my students are able and empowered to delay the need for tangible instant gratification---to seeking for more learning opportunities as a sign of actively learning instead---(rather than being spoon-fed with knowledge), an affirmative nod of approval and a listening ear from my immediate supervisor as I share my opinions on professional concerns and viewpoints, numerous thank you(s) from parents saying that their children have improved tremendously, student progress seen not in the form of worksheets, colleagues collaborating, shared leaderships, community partnerships formed and continuously strengthened.....Everyday victories and joys, to some extent, unseen, but, to a huge degree, strongly felt. All these VERY PRECIOUS DAILY INVISIBLE INVESTMENTS, NOT SCORED, must be taken into serious consideration before considering any school as HIGH-PERFORMING or LOW-PERFORMING.
Undeniably things that seem to be invisible must be brought out in the open. In short, let the glory be known.
I am but a small voice.
I have but a small dream.
But together (as genuine public servants and advocates), WE MUST GATHER LIGHT TO SCATTER-
IN ORDER TO BE SEEN.
Not merely for entertainment, but most importantly, for enlightenment!
Be heard. Be seen. Share your story!
WHAT ARE YOUR MOST PRECIOUS DAILY INVISIBLE INVESTMENTS?