The Arts And Students-at-risk
Students-at-risk are those students who are not doing well in a regular classroom setting for a variety of reasons. Many people in the education system are working to support students who are deemed at risk, including a number of Teaching Artists with ArtistsInspire.
What is it about art-making that can help students-at-risk? As an arts consultant with the Lester B. Pearson School Board and educator formerly with violence prevention program Leave Out Violence, Frank Caracciolo asserts that the arts hold a special place for reaching students. As Frank says,
“You will notice when you start working with at-risk students, the minute they start hands on, they feel a little bit more in tune with themselves, which then gives them confidence… Having the arts involved is something that I think makes a big difference in the way they can approach themselves and problem solving and just putting them back on track.”
Echoing Frank’s comments, Filmmaker and Teaching Artist Jay Lemieux also brings art back to helping students develop confidence and life skills. As Jay says,
“I see it all the time, when a kid makes a video and their eyes light up with inspiration, when they learn something new with confidence. Confidence is so important and a lot of kids don’t have confidence… With these classes that we offer, maybe they [find out] they’re really good at filmmaking, maybe they’re really good at making music [even if] they’re not very good at math. It gives them a sense of confidence, it’s very valuable to believe that they are important and that they do have value.”
Jay teases out three main elements of art-making that helps students-at-risk: a means to develop greater self-understanding, a modality for self-expression, and as a safe haven from difficult situations.
Art For Self-Understanding
The artistic process can be a way for students to understand and process emotions and life experience. As Jay says,
“[A]rt is a great way to communicate things that aren’t easy to communicate with words. If you’re someone who maybe had a lot of trauma, or difficult situations, sometimes you can’t really say in words or it’s too painful, too complicated or too muddy. Then if you make a song or you make a video, you can be abstract with it, and you can communicate in a different way.”
Art For Self-Expression
The arts also provide the possibility for students to better understand themselves and find a voice. As Jay puts it,
“I also think that art helps students find their voice, to figure out who they are. The people in outreach schools often don’t have a voice. They often don’t have the space to be themselves, whether it’s because their home life is so difficult that they can’t really be a kid, or they have to do things that they shouldn’t be doing, or it’s just that things are so difficult that they’re not able to focus. The arts provide an outlet.”
As Jay says, the arts are “a great way to be heard, and I believe that everybody wants to be heard.”
Art As A Safe Haven
Jay says,
“Art is also… a way to escape difficult things. People from outreach communities, you know, they probably need that escape more than most. I think it’s a great way to just be in a different place, a different space.”
On a personal level, Jay says, “I find if I don’t utilize my artistic outlets, I don’t feel very good. But when I get a chance to make a video or make a song or something, it really helps me just be a happier, better person.”
Art for Life
Frank Caracciolo brings it back to the potential long-term impacts the arts and artists can have on a students’ life. As one of many examples, a former student recently wrote to Frank, “[I]f it wasn’t for you pushing me, I would never have gone to Cegep, I will never have gone to university.” Many Teaching Artists, including Frank and Jay, have a strong conviction that the arts are vitally important for everyone, and especially students-at-risk. As Jay says, “I think the arts have a lot to offer everybody.” As Frank says, “Passing it forward and bridging to help others is the best service you can do in education. And so that’s why we do it.”
