TILES FOREVER!
A STUDENT TILE PROJECT TO FOSTER SCHOOL PRIDE
Lynn Jubencio Ball
B.S., California State University, Sacramento, 2004
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
EDUCATION
(Curriculum and Instruction)
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
SPRING
2010
TILES FOREVER!
A STUDENT TILE PROJECT TO FOSTER SCHOOL PRIDE
A Project
by
Lynn Jubencio Ball
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Karen D. Benson, Ph.D.
____________________________
Date
ii
Student: Lynn Jubencio Ball
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the
University format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library
and credit is to be awarded for the Project.
, Graduate Coordinator
Rita M. Johnson, Ed.D.
Date
Department of Teacher Education
iii
Abstract
of
TILES FOREVER! A STUDENT TILE PROJECT TO FOSTER SCHOOL PRIDE
by
Lynn Jubencio Ball
This project is an Alternative Culminating Experience for a Master of Arts in
Education: Curriculum and Instruction with an Elective Emphasis on Arts in
Education. The project follows pathway III: Project Creation. The project is about
fostering school pride, while also strengthening the school-home connection among
sixth grade students at Village school. The author looked at current research pertaining
to school pride and home-school connection and the importance of both. Finally, the
students created tiles that have become a permanent part of Village school. They are
prominently displayed and can be visited repeatedly.
, Committee Chair
Karen D. Benson, Ph. D.
______________________
Date
iv
DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Dennis and Phyllis Ball, who have
sacrificed everything to allow me to pursue my dreams. Words could never be enough.
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to acknowledge and thank those people who have contributed to this
thesis.
Katie Wiley Ball, thank you for helping me all along this process. Without
your support and budgeting, this would not have been possible.
Patricia Cory and Paul Bennett, thank you for allowing your students to
participate and be a part of the beginning of this project.
A. Ted Miller, thank you for allowing me to work through all of this with your
support and suggestions.
Kari Lyons, thank you for continually pushing my thinking and making me a
better teacher.
I would also like to thank the students who have participated in this first year::
Allie, Amanda, Andy, Angelica, Anissa, Anna, Brian, Brandon S., Brandon X.,
Cameron, Cassandra, Cera, David, Dejah, Denis, Deny, Deonte, Destiny, Diana,
Douglas, Dre, D’Lafayette, Elena, Elijah, Gerald, Haley, Harry, Jasmine, Jordan,
Joseph, Justin, Jacob, Lashay, Maria, Marisol, Marquise, Naysha, Oksana, Oleksa,
Pedro, Ramone, Sabrina, Steven C., Steven P., Tanya, Taylor, Timothy, Tori, Victoria,
and Yesenia.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Dedication..................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables ............................................................................................................... ix
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1
2. REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE .................................................. 5
Theories and Practices in the Arts in Education ............................................... 5
Family, School, Community Bonds ............................................................... 11
3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 26
Context of the Project ..................................................................................... 27
The Project...................................................................................................... 30
4. REFLECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................ 38
Beyond this Year: Unexpected Challenges, Cost, Time, and Expertise ........ 38
Appendices. ................................................................................................................ 43
Appendices. Table of Contents.................................................................................. 44
Appendix A. My Finished Tile .................................................................................. 45
Appendix B. Student Tile A, Drawing ...................................................................... 47
Appendix C. Student Tile A, Finished Tile ............................................................... 49
Appendix D. Student Tile B, Drawing ...................................................................... 51
vii
Appendix E. Student Tile B, Finished Tile ............................................................... 53
Appendix F. Final Tile Installation ........................................................................... 55
Appendix G. Just the Beginning ................................................................................ 57
References .................................................................................................................. 59
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Page
1.
Types of School-Family-Community Partnerships ........................................ 22
ix
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this project was to foster school pride and ownership as well as
strengthen the school-family connection through planning and completing an
installation of tiles created by students. In two sixth grade classes at Village
Elementary School in North Highlands, students wrote an essay and created a tile
based on a the most important things in their life. The tiles were then installed
permanently at the school during an unveiling, which included students, families, and
community members.
With this project the researcher addressed two key areas: student-school pride
and school-family connections. When students enter sixth grade, their final year at
Village, they come with mixed feelings. Many students that enter the researcher’s
class have strong feelings about school. Some hate school. Some love school. Some
live at home with two parents. Some do not have a home. A few students have been at
Village for the entirety of their schooling, many have joined along the way, and others
make Village the final stop in their elementary school career.
The researcher’s first goal with this project was to foster in these students a
sense of school pride. By creating a tile that became a permanent part of the school,
students created a place that they could always come back to and that would help them
keep their goals, destinations, or important people in focus. Furthermore, the students
would have a permanent place they could always be a part of and visit.
2
The researcher’s second goal was to strengthen the school-family connection.
Village School has great and diverse families, but often the families do not know how
or when to support their school, and, similarly, the school staff does not always know
how to best reach out to the families. With this project the researcher involved families
in four areas. First, students took their tile planning-sheet home to get ideas from their
families about what to include. Second, families were invited to school, after regular
school hours, to help their children design and create their tile. Third, after all tiles had
been designed and completed, families were invited to the school to help with the
firing process. Last, families and community members were invited to school for an
unveiling of the final project. By inviting families to school for numerous meetings,
the researcher hoped to strengthen the school-family bond.
Village school is an elementary, K-6 school set in a suburban landscape. The
school, which is more than 50 years old, underwent a cosmetic and technological
remodel last school year. Presently Village has two full sixth grade classrooms. There
were 47 sixth graders who ranged in age from 11 to 13 years of age. Among the sixth
graders, 37.5% of the students speak more than one language, and 84% of them
participate in the free and reduced lunch program. These statistics paint Village as a
diverse, low-income school.
To begin this project, the students started by writing an essay about the most
important things in their lives. Students also addressed the California writing content
standards for expository writing.
3
Following the completion of their essay, students designed a 4 by 4 inches,
ceramic tile, based on their own important people, places, destinations, or ideas, taking
care to include their name prominently, suitable imagery, powerful language, and
anything else they felt should be included to make their tile unique. After designing
their tile, students used ceramic tile paint to create their actual tile. When all of the
tiles were finished, they were fired so that they could be made part of a permanent
installation.
After all of their tiles had been fired, students presented their tile and their
essay to the rest of the class. The tiles were then collected and mounted to a backing
that was hung on the side of the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR). To involve the families,
the researcher planned an unveiling ceremony in which families, school officials and
community members were invited.
This project addressed two focal questions: How does the connectedness of
students to school increase school pride? And how can family-school involvement
increase the family-school bond?
The researcher had two key research goals. The first goal was to show a
connection between this project and increased school pride and school-family
connections. Next, the researcher demonstrated a clear connection between the project
and increased school pride and improved school-family connection. To accomplish
these goals, the researcher used current, substantiated research articles and both
quantitative and qualitative research methods. Classroom conversations, observations,
journals, and interviews were also used to accomplish the two research goals.
4
This project has affected the researcher’s teaching practice in many ways, as he
planned for this project to be an ongoing project that could be added to yearly.
Therefore, this project will impact every sixth grade student to matriculate at Village
for the foreseeable future.
The project will inform others and provide leadership in arts education by
outlining a simple plan that allows others to replicate the project to foster school pride
in their students, while at the same time strengthening the school-family connections
at any school with any grade level.
This project has been limited only by the population of participating sixth
graders. The researcher was only able to include the students who were in sixth grade
at Village school. The project will reach between 50-70 students yearly, as this will be
an ongoing project that will be added to year after year.
5
Chapter 2
REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE
Theories and Practices in the Arts in Education
The following literature review is a compilation of research on the educational
theories and practices in the arts in education and on family-school-community bonds
and partnerships. The current education model being used in the United States is
focused almost solely on the high stakes testing that ranks students and schools and
judges teachers. Because of this focus on testing, the arts, an untested area of the
curriculum, have been devalued and underutilized in schools. Students need arts
education to become whole, educated, literate, expressive, critically thinking members
of society. First, this literature review explores two areas of arts education: experience
and disposition theory and the accompanying practices that relate to the theories.
These two areas are covered by three educational philosophers: John Dewey (1934),
Donald Arnstine (1967), and Elliot Eisner (1998). The works studied were John
Dewey’s Art as Experience, Elliot Eisner’s The Kind of Schools We Need, and Donald
Arnstine’s chapter entitled, “The Curriculum,” from Philosophy of Education:
Learning and Schooling.
John Dewey (1934) was an American philosopher who wrote over 20 books
and numerous articles on many topics including education, democracy, and aesthetics.
Dewey earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and went on to serve as a
faculty member at Michigan University, University of Chicago, and Columbia
University.
6
Donald Arnstine (1967) is an emeritus professor of education at the University
of California, Davis. Arnstine is a past president of the Philosophy of Education
Society. Arnstine has written three books dealing with differing aspects of schooling.
Elliot Eisner (1998) is an emeritus professor at Stanford University. He has
written over a dozen books and numerous articles on education. Eisner has also won
several awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship.
For many students the experience of going to school has become dull and
monotonous. Schools are focused on raising test scores and sticking to a rigid, daily
schedule of reading and math, with everything else sprinkled in sparingly. A missing
piece of daily instruction is the idea of having aesthetic experiences and how those
experiences relate to daily life and learning. Three educational philosophers – John
Dewey (1934), Donald Arnstine (1967), and Elliot Eisner (1998) – believed in the
value of experiences in art and in education that relate to daily life.
Donald Arnstine (1967) and Elliot Eisner (1998) both believed in John
Dewey’s (1934) idea of “having an experience.” Dewey defined an experience as any
event in a person’s life that had a clear beginning, distinct order of events, a clear end;
as well as, some individualizing aspect that allows meaning to be made and emotions
to occur. When all of these parts come together, the experience takes on an aesthetic
quality. With this definition of an experience, Dewey believed that once the
experience had occurred, new meanings did not merely rest upon old meanings, but
the new meanings adjusted or reinforced previous meanings and lead to a new, greater
meaning or understanding.
7
John Dewey (1934) believed that we all experience exercises, but in order to
have an experience we must be able to identify the experience, we must acknowledge
it, allow it to run its course, understand the end, allow emotions to flow, and garner
meaning from the experience. In short, allow the experience to be a process. Schools
today do not often have time to allow experiential processes to take place fully.
Schools are given strict pacing guides and test due dates. Students are to be pushed to
the next topic, standard, or idea with or without understanding of the previous topic,
standard, or idea. Donald Arnstine (1967) wrote, “when presented only with content
that, in its rigidly logical organization, is isolated from other concerns, there is little
opportunity either for the experiencing of aesthetic quality or for the encountering of
problems relevant to personal concerns” (p. 359).
Elliot Eisner (1998) surmised that experience in arts will lead students to
expression of self and world, and also to discovery of self and world. Eisner believed
that the value of experiences in and with the arts would lead to a “richer, more
nurturant culture for students” (p. 86). In order for our students to experience the arts
in schools, the arts must be made a priority and placed on the same playing field with
reading and math. As education stands right now, the arts play a subservient role to
reading and math and they will continue to play that role until major changes occur.
By valuing Dewey’s (1934) idea of having an experience and valuing the idea as a
piece of Arnstine’s (1967) curriculum, we would be left with a culture like Eisner
discussed when he wrote,
8
That culture, as I see it, ought to include significant opportunities for students
to experience the arts and to learn to use them to create a life worth living.
Indeed, providing a decent place for the arts in our schools may be one of the
most important first steps we can take to bring about genuine school reform.
(p. 86)
In educational practices, experience plays an integral role in both Waldorf
school and the Anchor Works process. The goal of Waldorf is to enable students, as
fully as possible, to choose and realize their individual path through life as adults. In
Waldorf, classes study in-depth a single topic for roughly two hours a day for a three
to six week period. The time devoted to this single topic allows for many experiential
opportunities. This philosophy of education also makes time an important part of
learning. Eisner wrote, “speed is no necessary virtue. Getting through the curriculum
in the shortest possible time is a virtue when the program is noxious” (Eisner, 1998, p.
22).
Anchor Works is an ideological approach to studying works of art. In Anchor
Works, students observe and study a work of art in depth and taking time with it. The
process begins with a cold viewing. After viewing and discussing the work, the
students are introduced to the artist, both personally and professionally, including
other works both related and unrelated. The students are also introduced to the
historical background of the piece and relevant time frame of when the piece was
created. The entire Anchor Works process is an experience constructed by smaller
9
experiences. The entire process can take days or weeks. This is an example of the time
line of in-depth study that all three of the aforementioned philosophers valued.
Both John Dewey (1934) and Donald Arnstine (1967) also wrote on the idea of
dispositions in learning and in life. Arnstine defined dispositions as “prerequisite
learning conditions” that will allow students to “want to acquire” the kinds of
meanings schools are concerned with (p. 340). Arnstine believed greatly in the role of
disposition in school and in curriculum. Arnstine thought so much of dispositions in
learning that he believed learning would not take place if such “conditions of
acquiring dispositions” (p. 340) were not present. Dewey believed that people have
strong dispositions that are sustained over great periods of time. Dewey wrote, “We
use the senses to arouse passion but not to fulfill the interest of insight, not because
that interest is not potentially present in the exercise of sense but because we yield to
conditions of living...” (p. 21). In this Dewey is saying that although we as humans
have dispositions (that he referred to as passions), we allow the constraints of living to
come before our own dispositions. Relating Dewey’s ideas to curriculum, Arnstine
(1967) believed that the disposition to be curious is an essential part of the curriculum
to be taught. Although Arnstine focused on the dispositions to become curious and to
learn, the idea shared between these two educational philosophers is that dispositions
of individuals are important and should be cultivated.
Following in line with dispositions in learning is the work of Howard Gardner
(1993), a professor at Harvard University who is best known for his work with Project
Zero and his book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. As a
10
professor, Gardner helped create Project Zero, an educational research group whose
mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as
well as in humanistic and scientific disciplines at the individual and institutional
levels. Gardner also has a school called the Howard Gardner School for Discovery that
is a private, academic school which focuses on learners and their strengths
(dispositions).
Gardner's (1993) theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) argues that intelligence,
as it is traditionally defined, does not adequately encompass the wide variety of
abilities humans display. He identified eight core intelligences: linguistic, logicalmathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and
naturalist. Although we all have all eight of these intelligences, each of us prefer one
or a few to the others. These individual differences lead tie directly into the ideas set
forth in terms of dispositions. Schools, called MI Schools, and teachers that advocate
for Gardner’s theories believe in dispositions and teach to students’ strengths while
also aiming to develop non-strengths.
Waldorf School and Anchor Works with their aesthetic experiences, Howard
Gardner’s (1993) Multiple Intelligences theory, and MI schools which develop
dispositions are missing links in today’s US school system. Waldorf Schools, the
Anchor Works approach and Gardner’s theories and practices have helped move
education along the path to a more equitable and just school system that will produce
whole, educated, literate, expressive, critically thinking members of society.
11
Family, School, Community Bonds
A review of the current research regarding family-school-community bonds
and partnerships leads directly to three key focal points: the benefits of such
partnerships, the barriers to those partnerships, and concrete examples of what has
worked. All three of these focal points are addressed in the following sections of the
literature review. This body of work creates a context for the tiles project described in
chapter three.
Benefits of School-Family-Community Partnerships
In reviewing current research, the author found that every study without
exception mentioned the enormous benefits to schools, families, students, and
community when bonds or partnerships were formed. From students with serious
emotional or behavior disorders (EBD), to math achievement, to regular educational
procedures like attendance, the benefits of creating and maintaining school-familycommunity partnerships are numerous and varied in scope and breadth.
From 1958 to 2005, a span of 47 years, each of the graduating seniors of
Buckingham Browne and Nichols (BB&N), a private coeducational high school in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, created a tile to be a part of permanent installation at the
school. Although the tiles have since been taken down due to a forced remodel, the
long-standing family-school-community partnerships formed by this single project
were best summarized by the alumni who have a vested interest (Chalfen, 2007):

From a graduate, class of 1992, “…walking by all the tiles almost feels like
you’re walking through history” (p. 38).
12

From a graduate, class of 1998, “It is a wonderful tradition that speaks to
the individual and collective spirit of the school” (p. 39).

From a graduate, class of 1980, “Senior tiles are a unique and defining
feature of graduation from the school – a practice that links all the
generations of students that have passed through the doors and provides a
tangible legacy of our time spent at BB&N“ (p. 39).

From a graduate, class of 1990, “…but 15 years after graduating, if I were
to bring my husband and daughter to BB&N, the first place I would take
them would be to see my tile” (p. 31).
The collective feelings presented by the above quotes represent both the scope
and breadth of importance that family-school-community partnerships can bring.
Although Chalfen (1997) tackles this issue from a slightly different angle (in that the
students participating are ultimately the individuals who then become the family and
the community partners), the resounding outcry of emotion that emerged when the
school initially reported that the tiles would have to be taken down epitomizes the
goals of all school-family-community partnerships.
In Chalfen’s (2007) article, there are three important benefits that the long
running project produced: the opportunity to leave one’s mark, meeting and sharing
points, and a permanent connection to the school.
“From cave painting to urban graffiti, humans have consistently demonstrated
a need to leave a trace, to say: ‘I was here’…Leaving evidence of our existence is a
persistent human trait” (Chalfen, 2007, p. 37). The tile project of BB&N has allowed
13
students to express this need and demonstrate this human trait in a positive, lasting
way. The tiles serve not only as a way for students to demonstrate that they were
indeed “there,” but the tiles also allowed students to become a part of a living history
and to make a positive statement about their individual existence up to that point.
Other ways in which schools in general attempt to solve the need of leaving
one’s mark includes sanctioned and unsanctioned activities. Unsanctioned activities
include initials carved on a tree or school desk; as well as, bathroom graffiti. Examples
of school sanctioned activities include individual and group photographs, yearbooks,
sports accolades. Trophy cases work in much the same way. However, having students
create tiles leaves a more visual, more inclusive and more substantial mark, especially
after 40-plus years. The tiles become the most inclusive activity because “you did not
need to be Phi Beta Kappa, star on the varsity team, win the chess competition, or be
voted ‘Promo Queen’ to be significant to the school” (Chalfen, 2007, p. 37).
All of the students interviewed commented on the importance of the tiles as
being meeting and sharing points. In other words, students had a visible, functioning,
commonly known place to meet. When the students were interviewed, they often
mentioned the tiles as the first place they would visit when returning to reminisce or
share. “During reunions the tile walls provided an immediate shared agenda linking
the past to the present” (Chalfen, 2007, p. 38).
Last, the tiles have created a permanent connection between former students
and the school. Because each tile is simply one small piece in an oversized mosaic art
installation, the meaning of the tiles both individually and collectively has become
14
something tangible that remains meaning-rich and infinitely important to the
thousands who have taken part.
The tiles, and the walls they created, constituted lasting connections to the
school….Senior tiles are a unique and defining feature of graduating from the
school – a practice that links all generations of students that have passed
through the doors and provides a tangible legacy of our time spent at BB&N.
(Chalfen, 2007, p. 39)
The extent of current research on the topic of school-family-community
partnerships leads to similar findings that partnerships correlate directly to many
positive outcomes for all parties involved. In one study, from 2007, Steven Sheldon
examined 138 elementary schools in Ohio to see if partnerships result in improved
attendance. Sheldon examined 69 schools that implement strategic partnership
philosophies and practices and 69 comparable schools that did not. The schools that
did use school-wide partnership practices “demonstrated increased student attendance,
compared with similar schools that were not using this approach” (p. 273). Finding
that these actions lead to improved attendance lead the author to make further claims
that improved attendance could also help “students perform better on standardized
achievement tests, decrease the likelihood of students dropping out of school, and
reduce the likelihood that students use tobacco, alcohol, or illegal drugs” (Sheldon, p.
273).
Another study looked at ways in which partnerships could affect math
achievement in students. Beyond the persistent barriers, which will be discussed later,
15
this study “supports the expectation that subject-specific, family involvement activities
will likely affect student outcomes in the target curricular subject” (Sheldon &
Epstein, 2005, p. 196). Sheldon and Epstein found significant improvements in math
achievement scores when school-implemented practices that boosted family-schoolcommunity partnerships to specifically affect math achievement. They suggested that
achievement gains in all areas were possible when those areas were specifically
targeted (Sheldon & Epstein).
In an article entitled “A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School,
Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement,” authors Henderson
and Mapp (2002) summarized 51 studies that demonstrated positive gains when
schools used and implemented partnerships in many areas of achievement. The study
continued, “When families members are involved in their children’s education,
children are more likely to earn higher grades, enroll in rigorous classes, go to college
and have better academic-achievement-related behaviors, such as good social skills
and regular attendance at school” (Henderson & Mapp, p. 214).
The importance of creating, maintaining, and manipulating school-familypartnerships is presented in the literature as being of paramount importance. From
creating a school culture, or living history and becoming a permanent part of the
school, to improving attendance, to improving achievement specifically in math
achievement but in other areas as well, the current research suggested these
partnerships were being undervalued in the current education model. Johnson, Pugach
and Hawkins (2004) stated their findings clearly:
16
Without an active partnership with families, school always will be limited in
what we are able to accomplish. Developing partnerships in one of the most
important goals that our schools can undertake....Forming meaningful
partnerships with families is one of the most important collaborative
partnerships teachers can develop. (p. 11)
Barriers to School-Family-Community Partnerships
In most of the literature the researcher found, a portion was dedicated to
reporting the ever-present barriers to creating, maintaining, or fostering partnerships.
As presented in the first part of this section, numerous benefits accrue to building and
maintaining school-family-community partnerships; however, key barriers are present
at many levels of the developing a partnership process.
In an article entitled “Perspectives on Parent Participation in Special
Education,” Lynch and Stein (1987) wrote about ever-present barriers to schoolfamily-community partnerships. The study discussed barriers from both sides of a
potential partnership: family and professional. From the familial side, the article
presented logistics, communication, and misunderstandings of schools that created
feelings of inferiority, and uncertainty about their child’s unique problems.
Professionals identified barriers that included parental apathy, lack of time, lack of
expertise of professionals, and feeling overburdened and devalued (Johnson et al.,
2004). Logistical problems included, but were not limited to, work, time conflicts,
transportation problems, and child care.
17
Barriers seen by the professional side, although present, were often seen to be
less grounded in reality and greatly overblown. “Although in a few schools parents
may be apathetic or indifferent about being involved, school personnel often seriously
exaggerate this attitude” (Johnson et al., 2004, p. 7). Furthermore, the authors stated,
“Sometimes the experience that parents have had with schools (either their own or
with a previous child or even a sibling) have not been positive, so the parents avoid
interactions because they expect all interactions to be equally negative” (Johnson et
al., 2004, p. 7).
Other research supported the notion of an embellished feeling of apathy
towards families and parents:
Unfortunately, school personnel often view children of color, especially those
who live in concentrated poverty, from a deficit perspective. Research
indicates that school personnel often believe that families of low-income
children of color are not interested in their education, assume that parents are
dysfunctional, and frequently blame parents for their children’s academic
challenges. (Bryan, Julia, Henry, & Lynette, 2008, p. 2)
“Involvement Counts: Family and Community Partnerships and Math
Achievement and Working Together: Lessons Learned from School Family, and
Community Collaboration” developed similar yet more specific barriers in their
respective arguments. Sheldon and Epstein (2005), authors of Involvement Counts:
Family and Community Partnerships and Math Achievement, cited three major
barriers to family-school-community partnerships that exist on top of the barriers
18
presented above. The first additional barrier was that math, unlike some other
disciplines, becomes increasingly more difficult and more complex and “parents may
not have the content knowledge or teaching skills needed to help their children”
(Sheldon & Epstein, p. 196). Second, changes in the way math is taught and the
developmental ages of when math is taught have changed dramatically since parents
or grandparents (who may have become primary caregivers to the student) were in
school. This could also leave families feeling inadequate in helping their student or at
their school. Third, teachers have not been taught how to teach adults how to work
with their children (Sheldon & Epstein). These barriers can be seen as relatively new
developments, while other research tackles barriers from a historical perspective.
In terms of dealing with students with serious emotional or behavioral
disorders, schools have historically kept families uninvolved. Although this view
appears to be dissipating, the system has been slow to change.
Changes in service philosophy, including increased emphasis on providing
care in the least restrictive setting, greater attention to involving families…and
the emerging focus on building on existing strengths, as opposed to the
traditional deficit-based approach, have provided impetus for collaboration.
(Cohen, Linker, & Stutts, 2006, p. 421)
What Works in School-Family Partnerships
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 required the formation of
school-family-community partnerships in Title 1 schools. Under the law, schools have
been required to implement and form school-family-community partnerships and
19
involvement policies. Although the current research suggested that the building of
school-family-community partnerships provided many benefits, these practices have
taken a back seat for numerous reasons, including, but not limited to, a lack of
funding, lack of planning, and the over emphasis on testing and test score analysis.
Even though the growth of partnerships has been slow across the nation, some studies
suggest that clear activities and models can work to boost school-family-partnerships
and student achievement. The studies reviewed suggested many activities that would
both boost family involvement and student achievement.
The aforementioned article, “If Tiles Could Talk” (Chalfen, 2007), breaks
down the importance of the BB&N tile project into five important themes—leaving
one’s mark, substituting virtual for real presence, meeting and sharing points,
reverence for tradition and a living history, and a permanent connection to the school.
“From cave paintings to urban graffiti, humans have consistently demonstrated
a need to make a territory, a location of presence, to consciously leave a trace, to say:
‘I was here’…Leaving evidence of our existence is a persistent human trait” (Chalfen,
2007, p. 37). Throughout time it seems that every culture or people, group of
individuals decade after decade and even century after century have left their mark
either legally or illegally. This senior high school tile project aimed to give students a
place to leave their mark, because, as time has told, people will find a way to leave
there mark. When given the opportunity, they can and will leave that mark in a
positive way.
20
The second theme this article recognized was the act of substituting virtual for
real presence. In 2004, the school raised money through donations to renovate the
building that housed the tiles. The renovation would have destroyed many of the tiles
because of the way the oldest tiles were mounted so, the school worked with alumni to
create a “virtual online tile wall.”
The third theme was the tiles function as meeting and sharing points. When the
remodel and eventual demolition were announced, many students began to write to the
local newspaper and give their reasoning for why the tiles were so important to them
individually. Almost without exception, each student mentioned the idea of the tiles
being a safe, inviting, place where one could take his/her family year after year, a
place to visit to being back memories like no other place on Earth.
The fourth theme was the reverence for tradition and “A Living History.”
Chalfen (2007) suggested that school had a responsibility for maintaining and
transmitting tradition. For example, school yearbooks will freeze time to allow for
future and past observations of people and traditions. The tiles served a similar
function.
The previous theme (theme 3) suggested tiles were a means of bonding
between alumnae in the here and now; in this theme (theme 4) students noted
connections between present and past characterized the display as an
institutional method of respecting tradition. (Chalfen, p. 39)
The fifth theme recognized a permanent connection to the school. No matter
how long ago a tile was created, student after student that was contacted by the author
21
or by the local news agencies reiterated similar feelings of a connectedness to their
school because of the tiles. As one student put it:
I honestly believe that the Tiles have provided over the years one of the
strongest
ties to alums once they have graduated and it would be a very sad if that
connection ceased existing. Whenever I have brought a friend to the upper
school and showed them the Tiles, every single one of them has commented on
how they wished their school had something similar to provide an on-going
connection to their school (Chalfen, 2007, p. 39)
The following articles address specific things schools can do outside of a tile
project to increase the school-family-community partnerships.
In an article entitled, “Involvement Counts: Family and Community
Partnerships and Mathematics Achievement,” authors Sheldon and Epstein (2005)
breakdown all school-family-community partnerships into six general types. Then,
they give specific examples of each general type of partnership.
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Table 1
Types of School-Family-Community Partnerships
Type General
Specific
1
Helping families establish supportive home environment
Parenting
for children
2
Communicating Establishing two-way exchanges about school programs
and children’s progress
3
Volunteering
Recruiting and organizing parent help at school, home
or other locations
4
Learning at
Providing information and ideas to families about how
Home
to help students with homework and other curriculumrelated materials
5
6
Decision
Having parents from all backgrounds serve as
Making
representatives and leaders on school committees
Collaborating
Identify and integrating resources and services from the
community to strengthen school programs.
(Sheldon & Epstein, 2005, p. 197)
Although the above mentioned article focused specifically on partnerships and
how those partnerships lead to specific activities and how those activities led to higher
mathematics achievement, the types of partnerships presented are similar in other
research. In each of these types of partnerships there are hundreds of possible
23
activities or actions that can be used; however, “schools must choose which
partnership practices are likely to produce specific goals and how to implement the
selected activities effectively” (Sheldon & Epstein, 2005, p. 197).
The Sheldon and Epstein (2005) article found that in Type one, the most
effective partnership was evening workshops. “Evening workshops for parents were
rated far more effective than daytime workshops, perhaps because many parents
worked or could not easily go to school during the day” (p. 197). This finding further
confirmed research from “Strength-Based Partnerships: A School-Family-Community
Partnership Approach to Empowering Students” (Bryan et al., 2008). In this article the
researchers found family nights to be the most successful.
Some of the programs we have planned and implemented successfully include
Great American Teach-in (Where community members come to the school to
share and answer questions based on their profession), Red Ribbon Week
(Drug Free: the Healthy Way to Be), Read and Feed Night, Black History
Month Concert and Celebration, and Math Night. (Bryan et al., p. 6)
The findings were illuminating. Children, as well as families greatly enjoy these
activities. However, more importantly, these activities promote values and strengths
such as optimism and finding purpose.
Johnson et al. (2004) published an article entitled “School-Family
Collaboration: A Partnership.” Focusing on the specific ways in which schools must
go about beginning partnerships, the article presented numerous actions that could be
taken to build school-family partnerships. However, none of them would be uniquely
24
effective in isolation nor would any of them be effective if a genuine belief that
schools and families must be partners for everyone to be most successful was not
present.
Handbooks, announcements of special occasions, newsletters, regular progress
reports, occasional notes, and telephone conferences are all effective only to
the extent that you have worked hard to connect with families and have made
the relationship between teacher, school, and family a priority for all. (Johnson
et al., p. 9)
Another article, “Working Together: Lessons Learned From School, Family,
and Community Collaborations,” (Cohen et al., 2006) expounded upon the notion of a
set of belief systems that must be in place for partnerships to be effective.
The characteristics of successful collaborative efforts reviewed herein must be
taken into account when developing programs and partnerships to better serve
children….While structural challenges exist, the formation of collaborative
efforts provide us with tools to take ownership of the these children’s wellbeing and to provide them with more effective services. (Cohen et al., p. 423)
Specifically, Johnson et al. (2004) outlined handbooks, announcements of
special occasions, newsletters, regular progress reports, occasional notes, telephone
conference, and formal and unplanned conferences.
Cohen et al. (2006) outlined specific attitudes and behaviors beneficial to
effective collaborations: avoid an “us versus them” mentality, formalize roles, avoid
25
organizational barriers, develop partnership language, take a long term view, allocate
sufficient resources, consider co-location of services, and require accountability.
Chapter 3 has explored the theories and practices of the arts in education. As
well, the benefits, barriers, and concrete examples of family-school-community bonds
and partnerships have been presented to ensure the understanding and immense value
of developing such partnerships in an educational setting.
26
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
This project is an Alternative Culminating Experience for a Master of Arts in
Education: Curriculum and Instruction with an Elective Emphasis on Arts in
Education. The project follows Pathway III: Developing a curriculum, program, or
performance related to arts education or arts in education. This project, entitled Tiles
Forever! A Student Tile Project to Foster School Pride, hopes to create a communal
place, foster school pride, and give the students of Village Elementary School a place
to express themselves, as each graduating sixth grader from now on will create a tile
based on the most important people, artifacts, and goals in their lives. This project was
conducted using Narrative Inquiry methodology. Narrative Inquiry is a type of
research which has been used throughout history to give firsthand accounts of
experiences. “Narrative has depicted experience and endeavors of humans from
ancient times. Narrative records human experience through the construction of
personal stories…People make sense of their lives according to the narratives
available to them” (Webster Mertova, 2007, p. 2). The ultimate goal of Narrative
Inquiry, as with this project, is the improvement of classroom instruction. “In this
regard, the focus is not to inquire about the students’ experiences simply for the sake
of knowing about them; the purpose is to improve practice and change the status quo”
(Knowles & Cole, 2008, p. 155).
[Narrative Inquiry] is increasingly being used in studies of educational
experience. One theory in educational research holds that humans are
27
storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives. Thus,
the study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world.
This general concept is refined into the view that education and educational
research is the construction and reconstruction of personal and social stories;
learners, teachers, and researchers are storytellers and characters in their own
and other's stories. (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, p. 2)
This methodology uses teacher stories, observations, journals, other writings,
photographs and primary source conversations as evidence to illuminate the project.
This chapter, as well as the one that follows, will be written using first person
accounts.
Context of the Project
I am currently a sixth grade teacher at Village Elementary. This is my fifth
year of teaching and all five years of my teaching experience have been in sixth grade
at Village. I became a teacher for the same reason as many others: I had a great
teacher who changed my life. I also became a teacher because school was never easy
for me. Because I struggled in school, I can provide insights into what struggling
students go through, and I can help them through many of those struggles having been
there myself. Last, growing up in North Highlands, the exact same neighborhood
where I now teach, gives me a unique perspective on what the children and families of
Village Elementary go through on a daily basis.
Village school is a community school, surrounded on three sides by single
family homes. The North West side of our campus is blanketed by Elkhorn Boulevard,
28
a major thoroughfare connecting Rio Linda with North Sacramento, through North
Highlands. We currently have 488 students in K-6, but that number fluctuates daily as
students come and go. For the 2008/2009 school year, our ethnic demographics break
down as follows: 14.6% African American, 1.8% American Indian, 10.1% Asian
(mostly Hmong), 36.2% Hispanic, 37.3% White. Village Elementary is a Title One
School, meaning we receive extra monies for reading support. Village also has 84% of
students on the free or reduced lunch program and a high student mobility rate. Of the
23 students in my class, only four have been enrolled at Village since Kindergarten,
and only three others have been at Village since first grade. The students that we have
can be challenging, but for the most part they are wonderful and have strong familial
support.
Last year, Village underwent a remodel in which we received a technology
upgrade (including Smart Boards in every classroom), as well as a few cosmetic
upgrades. Although these upgrades did not change the overall look of the campus (the
outside of the buildings were not structurally improved nor were they painted), the
improvements inside the classroom have been substantial. First, Smart Boards were
installed in every classroom. Smart Boards are interactive, internet-enabled,
whiteboards that can be used to show or play regular lessons, animated lessons,
internet resources, TV, games, or music. The Smart Board installation also included a
microphone and speaker combination. Having a large classroom voice and since
classroom management has never been an issue for me, I felt the speaker/microphone
would be needless. Our principal insisted that we use the microphone everyday
29
beginning with the first day of school. Although I was reluctant because using the
system presented a plethora of problems, nevertheless, I did as I was instructed. After
about a month of working through kinks and bugs, I fell in love with the system. First,
although I am loud, the system is consistent, and every child hears more clearly no
matter how close or far they are from me. Furthermore, it saves my voice. Now I can
talk as if every student is right next to me. This year I have a student who has partial
deafness in both ears. Her mother has been slow in getting her daughter hearing aides,
but this system has been extremely helpful to her. This student routinely reminds me
when the microphone is not on or when I have turned it off while talking privately to
another student.
The insides of all classrooms were painted a deep red and royal blue
combination that gave the classrooms a new feeling. This remodel also included the
student-use bathrooms. Previously the bathrooms that the students use had not been
upgraded since the school was originally built in 1958. The bathrooms were upgraded
with new stalls, new wash stations, new air hand dryers, and high polish metal mirrors.
The students almost unanimously rated the inclusion of mirrors as the best upgrade, as
our school has never had mirrors in our student-use bathrooms.
The students participating in this project are from the two sixth grade classes.
There are 23 students in my class and 24 students in my teaching partner’s class.
These are very small classes compared to what we are used to having. Although there
is no clear reason why these classes are so small, it must have something to do with
the poor economy. The smallest class I have had in my five years is 31, and my
30
teaching partner, who has taught at Village for 25 years, remembers having classes of
28 and 29. Teachers at our school have suggested that because our school is
surrounded by homes, and so many people are losing their homes, that many of our
families are moving out of our neighborhood and into apartments located within the
boundaries of other schools. This partial explanation does not account for individual
grade differences, as the fifth grade similarly has two classrooms, but each class has
32 students.
Ethnically, we have a mix of White, Latino, African American, Hmong,
Russian, Ukrainian, and Pilipino students. The students generally get along with each
other and enjoy playing soccer and basketball all together, at recess and at PE. After
school, generally, 5 to 12 students return to the school to hang out, play tetherball,
basketball, or soccer.
The Project
The goals of this project were three fold. First, I wanted to create a visual
mosaic that would be added to year after year, even after I have gone. Second, I hoped
this project would become a source of pride for students, families, and staff. Third,
this project was intended to allow students a visual voice to record the most important
people, artifacts, and goals in their lives. With the support of my administrator, I
hoped this project would become a long lasting landmark of Village Elementary. The
plan was to have every promoted sixth grade student complete a tile that would be
installed inside on the cafeteria wall. As the years pass, the tile project would continue
31
to grow, creating a communal meeting place inside our cafeteria and a grand mosaic
over time.
This project had many steps. To begin, I first introduced this idea to families at
family conference time. I told each family with whom I met that their student would
be the first student at Village to participate in long lasting tile project. I told them of
the aforementioned goals and the steps that would follow. Each family was excited for
their students to begin this process. The week following conferences, I introduced the
project to students. Meeting with the whole class, I told them of my project. I started
first with the tile. I told the students that each graduating sixth grader from now on,
would have a tile that would be put up in the cafeteria. Many students were excited to
be the first class to start the project. In fact, students wanted to start painting that same
day, but I informed them that painting a tile was step three; and before they would be
able to paint, they first had to write an essay and then they would have to design their
tile on paper.
The three major steps in this project began with writing an essay. My partner
teacher and I had each student create a word web and write an essay about the most
important things in their lives. Students were instructed to write about the four most
important things or ideas in their lives. As we read through draft after draft, three
common themes emerged from every essay: family (mostly parents or grandparents),
friends, and pets. The fourth topic showed some degree of variance among the sixth
grade classes. Twenty-one students wrote about music, 12 students wrote about their
future career, 11 students wrote about future educational goals, two students wrote
32
about video games, one student wrote about vacationing, and another wrote about a
movie.
After completing the final draft of their essays, we gave the students art paper
and had them design their tiles based on their essay of the most important things in
their lives. The students were instructed to include at least two of their most important
things, their name prominently, and colors that were significant to them for any
reason. Students then drew their tile on one piece of art paper four times. They drew
their tile four times in order to practice drawing their symbols in a small area and to
gain experience painting those same symbols. Students were given four class periods
of 40 minutes each to finish this part of the project. A few students in each class did
not finish this part in the given time and had to work at home and during their recess
time to finish the project by the Friday after it was began. After completing their
drawn tiles, students were given water colors to paint. Painting went well and students
generally did a good job of working with the medium. The paper painting part of the
project took over two weeks, which was double the amount of time my teaching
partner and I had expected.
When all drawn tiles were finally painted, the long process of ceramic tile
painting began. Even though the paper-painting part of the project took longer than I
had expected, I think it helped many of the students become more familiar with the
medium and more confident in their overall painting ability. Because the paperpainting used water colors, I showed both classes how to use the ceramic paint. I
instructed the students to squeeze a paint dot the size of dime on to their paper plate
33
that could be used as a palette. Then, students were to return the paint bottle to the
painting table before they started to paint so that other students could use the colors,
because we only had two of each color. As far as instruction on painting, I showed the
students my finished tile (see Appendix A). I showed them how I painted people, used
colors, and how I included some other imagery. Students painted and were generally
successful. A few students changed what they wanted to include on their tiles and that
slowed the process down because they had to clean off their tile, redesign what they
wanted to include, and repaint. Having just come back from a week long field trip to
Sly Park Outdoor Environmental School, many students, and both teachers, wanted to
include images of the trip on their tiles.
After all tiles were painted, I took the tiles to a locally owned business that
helped me finish the tiles for free. The finishing process also took longer than I had
planned. I planned on a two or three day process, but the process took nine days. After
the firing, I brought the tiles back to Village, and the custodian and I installed them in
two days time. Installing the tiles was fairly simple. First we marked lines so that we
could keep the tiles fairly straight. Because these were the first tiles to go up, all future
tiles will be based on the lines of the current tiles. We took extra care to make sure the
lines we used were straight and that the lines were as near vertical as we could get.
After setting our lines, we set out the tiles in a random pattern on the floor in the same
way they would do on the wall. I had painted four extra tiles to put at the top for the
year 2010. We started with those tiles and worked methodically. After I painted the
backs of each tile with the Liquid Nails, the custodian placed them on the wall. The
34
Liquid Nails website says that it takes about 24 hours to set up, but that fully drying
could last seven days depending on elevation and temperature. After placing the tiles,
we covered them with a tarpaulin so that they would not be disturbed; and, if any of
them fell from the wall, they wouldn’t be damaged. None of the tiles fell.
With the tiles installed, I was able to have a small unveiling to students,
families, staff, and district personnel during our whole-school afternoon sing.
Afternoon sing is a once-a-month time in which the entire school gathers in the Multi
Purpose Room to sing songs and have a good time. At one of these events, the
principal, Mr. Miller, asked me to give a very quick overview of the project. With an
mp3 drum roll, the tarp covering the tiles was removed and everyone cheered. The
project was a little underwhelming because the wall space being used is huge, and the
tiles took up very little of the wall. As the project is added to, it will have a much
greater impact.
This project already has had a noticeable impact on a few students. One
student has undergone a great behavior change. A second student, who has had
challenges both behaviorally and academically, has seen great promise in this project.
A third student, who has moved many times now feels like she has a place that is all
her own.
Last year, in fifth grade Brian had a difficult year. (The names of all students
have been changed) Brian had six office referrals (major infractions), 11 citations
(minor infractions), was suspended four times, and sent out of his classroom or missed
recess at least twice a week. Brian has a very difficult home life. Brian’s parents are
35
separated, but both live in homes near the school. The children (Brian and his three
siblings) choose where to stay the night, whenever one of the parents is not home.
Although they try to be the best parents they can, both have trouble with drugs, and
Brian’s dad is currently in jail for possession of a controlled substance and assault.
Brian is not the perfect student, but he comes to school every day, ready to learn and
do his best. His homework is never done, but he understands that it must be finished,
and he will stay after school or do it during his recess time. After I first introduced this
project, Brian was the first to ask questions. He wanted to know why we were doing it
and why the tiles would be up for such a long time. One day, while Brian was staying
in to finish his math, he asked me why I thought the tile project would be important. I
told him all of the reasons mentioned in previous chapters of this essay. He told me
that he was excited to do his tile. He said that he had never been excited to do a school
project. Every day my students write in their journals every day. If they want me to
respond to them, they turn them in and I respond. Brian turns his in everyday, and I
write back every day. Brian wrote that he felt this project was important because he
would always be remembered. In response, I asked him how he thought he would be
remembered. He wrote back saying that most people would remember him as a bad
kid and that mostly people did not care that much about him; but he would happily
remember Village, and he would come back to visit. I responded that I would not
remember him as a bad kid and that I thought he had time to change other people’s
opinions. Brian agreed and wrote that he would work hard to change people’s opinions
of him. Since this journaling conversation, Brian has been overly pleasant to the office
36
staff, the ones who primarily dealt with him when he would get sent to the office.
Brian also joined student mediators, where he supervises younger kids during their
recess. Brian has taken to heart everything that I have wanted this project to become.
Elijah came to Village when he was in second grade and his sister was in sixth.
His sister had made some threats to her old school, so they moved her to my class. His
sister had her troubles, but I bonded with Elijah immediately. Elijah also has a difficult
life. He lives with his mom and his mom’s boyfriend. This family has moved three
times since being at Village, including once in last two months. Elijah often comes to
school unhappy or upset. He gets into arguments with his older sister, older brother
and even his mom. Elijah’s mom also has an eight month old baby. Elijah resents the
baby because she takes up so much of his mom’s time. As a student, Elijah works on
modified assignments most of the time, meaning his assignments are the same as other
students, but they have been shortened or he has been given extra time to complete
them. He has been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
which prevents him from being able to concentrate for long periods of time or to stay
focused on an independent activity. Because his mom is so busy, she has yet to get
him the medication he needs to be successful. Elijah has enjoyed the quiet painting
time in class. In conversations, he has said that the time we take to paint is his favorite
time in class. Because it is quiet, he feels like he can concentrate, and he has been able
to finish his painting at the same rate as the other students. Painting seems to be
therapeutic for Elijah. Also, in writing his essay about the most important things in his
life, Elijah put down his family. In his journal he wrote that even though they don’t
37
always get along, he loves his family, and he wishes they could get along like other
families.
Dejah is new to our school. She came to Village from the Bay area when her
mom moved to be closer to her family. Dejah has been to seven schools in her life, and
she thinks her family will move again before the school year ends. In her journal,
Dejah wrote that even though she has made good friends over the years, she doesn’t
feel like she has a home. She wrote, “I move so much that I don’t know where I’m
going.” She was glad to have a project that would last and be a place that she would
always remember.
Chapter 3 has provided an overview of the project, a narrative of the teacher’s
personal history, the context of this project and its goals, the process of creating the
tiles, and descriptions of the students and teacher.
38
Chapter 4
REFLECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Beyond this Year:
Unexpected Challenges, Cost, Time, and Expertise
This project was not without its expected and unexpected challenges.
Challenges included cost, time, and expertise.
Going into the project, I knew there was going to be a cost. Because of a lack
of planning on my part, I had to purchase all of the materials with my own money. The
tiles were not expensive and were purchased from Home Depot for $0.96 each. Tile
paint was more expensive. I bought 20 paints for between $7.67-$10.95 each.
Although this was an expense, it was expected. One unexpected expense was paint
brushes. At school we had a huge collection of paint brushes, and I expected to find
paint brushes that were usable; however, the paint brushes we had were not effective
in painting in the medium or on the small 4x4 inch tiles. Paint brushes for 45 students
cost another $37, but just like the paint, I now have brushes that can be used and will
not be a repeated expense.
All of these expenses could have been lessened or even avoided. For example,
both Home Depot and the tile store offer discounts to non-profits and school projects,
if given enough advance time. Furthermore, my current district, Twin Rivers Unified
School District, offers a program called Project Dream, which funds numerous
projects, trips, and activities. In the past I have submitted paper work for field trips,
but I missed the deadline for this project.
39
Time was also a challenge. First, not having paint brushes stalled the painting
process for four days. Then, some students changed their minds as to what they were
going to paint, which slowed down the final firing process. Now that I have the correct
paint brushes, that will not be a concern in the future. Allowing students to change
their minds is a greater concern. I believe that students should have the option to
change their minds, because their tile is going to be on display to a lot of people for a
long time; however, once a student’s final design drawing has been approved and
painting has begun, they will not be allowed to change in the future. Next year, I will
make sure to let them know of this provision early on in the process so that their
transition from paper-painting to tile-painting will be smooth.
The students we worked with this year were very inexperienced painters.
Working with inexperienced painters slowed down the entire process. Because the
students wanted their tiles to be perfect, they continually washed them and started
over. Although I can see this as an issue, the solution for it is difficult. First, my
partner teacher and I have already agreed to have next year’s class practice painting at
the beginning of the year to build skill, confidence, and familiarity. However, if a
student dislikes his/her tile, even if it is late in the process, I would still allow that
student to rinse their tile and restart.
This project has been a great undertaking. Even though there have been some
significant challenges and setbacks, the overarching goals and this experience has
been greatly beneficial for my students, their families, the school culture as a whole,
and for me. Children come to school to learn much more than just how to read or
40
write. Through this project, students have had opportunities to explore themselves as
individuals and artists. By exploring themselves in these two areas, students have
grown in ways that would not have been possible without the project.
As a teacher, I have also grown. When I first started as a teacher, I had many
ideas that I wanted to make a part of my classroom. One of those ideas was to allow
students time each week to draw, paint, or create in some way. As the years have
passed, I have gotten further away from that ideal. In the era of excessive testing and
accountability, I am unsure of how much I can incorporate my original plan, but I do
know that I can do more and allow students more time to freely explore themselves as
artists and as individuals.
While working on the different phases of this project, a few students have
made comments in conversation or in their journals about the importance of being the
first to start this project and the importance of the longevity of the project. Although I
always talk to my students about the importance of the future and planning ahead, this
is the first activity that has lead students to really think about their futures and what
they will be like in five, ten, or fifteen years. Because of this project, students started
to ask more questions about college and their future. Two have even begun
researching career paths and how to get where they want to be. The greatest,
unforeseen benefit of this project so far, has been the importance to the school
community. Many school personnel have complimented me and the sixth grade
students on the display. One teacher said that her fourth graders were excited and
anticipating being a part of it. One student in particular, who has a sixth grade brother,
41
said that he is very excited to create a tile when he gets to sixth grade. Every morning,
our students line up outside under an overhang or go inside the Multi-Purpose Room
(MPR) to eat breakfast. Since the tiles have been installed, many students, not all of
them sixth graders, eat breakfast right next to the display. Also, every morning many
of the sixth graders enter the MPR and check out their tile and the tiles of their friends.
Many of the younger kids bring their parents into the MPR and show them the tiles
that they are looking forward to making one day. The goal of creating a communal
place for meeting with this project has already begun.
This project began with three goals. The first goal was to create a visual
mosaic that would be added to year after year. Now that I have gone through this
entire process and seen the pitfalls, I know, with the support of my administrator, my
teaching partner and an excited class of incoming sixth graders, that keeping this
project going will be much easier each year that we keep it going. The second goal
was for the installed tiles to become a source of pride for students, families, and staff.
In the preceding paragraph, I detailed how the second goal has already started to come
to fruition. As the project grows, I hope that the excitement surrounding it also
continues to grow and that many previous students will return to visit their tiles.
Furthermore, as the project grows the development of feeling like a whole school
community will start to take hold. The third goal was to allow students a visual voice
to record the most important people, artifacts, and goals of their lives. By installing
these tiles, the visual voices of 48 students are already being heard and with each
passing year, another set will be added.
42
This project reiterated the fact that children need to be exposed to all areas of
learning, including about themselves and the arts. In a time when money is extremely
tight and budget cuts have already taken place. We, as educators, administrators,
public officials, and nationwide leaders, must stick together to do what we know is
right for children and to give those children the best we possibly can. When we lose
music teachers, art teachers, art programs in junior high, high school, and college, we
do a huge disservice to these kids. It is my recommendation that teachers stick
together to keep or return to programs that incorporate the arts and better prepare our
students for life beyond test taking.
From reviewing academic literature on educational theories and their practical
application to narrative description of the implementation of the tile project, this
endeavor has been a long process that has begun to have a lasting impact on students,
families, and staff at Village Elementary. Paralleling a project researched in chapter
two, following current research based around community-family-student partnerships,
this project tied together some integral pieces to help Village Elementary school
become the best school it can become.
43
APPENDICES
44
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Appendix A. My Finished Tile ................................................. ……………..…….. 45
Appendix B. Student Tile A, Drawing ..................................................................... 47
Appendix C. Student Tile A, Finished Tile .............................................................. 49
Appendix D. Student Tile B, Drawing ..................................................................... 51
Appendix E. Student Tile B, Finished Tile .............................................................. 53
Appendix F. Final Tile Installation .......................................................................... 55
Appendix G. Just the Beginning ............................................................................... 57
45
APPENDIX A
My Finished Tile
46
My Finished Tile
47
APPENDIX B
Student Tile A, Drawing
48
Student Tile A, Drawing
49
APPENDIX C
Student Tile A, Finished
50
Student Tile A, Finished
51
APPENDIX D
Student Tile B, Drawing
52
Student Tile B, Drawing
53
APPENDIX E
Student Tile B, Finished Tile
54
Student Tile B, Finished Tile
55
APPENDIX F
Final Tile Installation
56
Final Tile Installation
57
APPENDIX G
Just the Beginning
58
Just the Beginning
59
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