Narrative Fragment as Inquiry Into Teaching

Abstract

I remember how the fifth grade class stood in the hallway, waiting to enter our elementary art studio in anticipation of art class time. The students carried their seed journals with them, the composition notebooks they used to develop ideas for creative writing during writer’s workshop time in their homeroom class. “Good morning, everyone. Go ahead and continue where you left off last week. I will come around to visit you and talk with you about your art ideas.” The students rushed into the classroom and opened their portfolios to look at their work from last week’s art class. Kelly bounded toward me. “Now can I start my sparkles?” she asked. “Yes,” I nodded. “The sparkly paint is there on the counter.” During the previous art class, students began developing a self-directed art project that originated from an idea they had recorded in their seed journals. “Seeds” were themes of personal interest and idea starters for future development in creative writing and visual art. Both Erica and Kelly elected to use paint as their medium-of-choice to convey ideas they had previously described in their creative writing seed journals. I observed as Erica and Kelly gathered their brushes, water, and paint and sat down together. Kelly rubbed the pad of her index finger sensitively over the chalky texture of the dry tempera paint. She pointed and touched, “I like the color right here. It looks like the root is real and then it comes out . . .” “Whoaoooh!” Erica interrupted with a worried, shrill energy in her voice. “What’s happening?” Kelly looked over at Erica’s paper in time to see her complete a fresh, wide, stroke of yellow paint over the first layer of dry, dark red paint. Mary Elizabeth Meier Mercyhurst University