Writing for Self-Discovery: Building Resiliency for Teachers and Students

Voices Breaking Boundaries offers workshops that enrich literacy experiences for students as well as for educators. Our next workshop series will kick off on January 30, 2012 for ten sessions on Monday nights, and will culminate in a teacher and student performance that is part of our East End Live Art Series Teachers and Students Speak Out 4. This season's workshops will have an additional perk: participating teachers will have the opportunity of in-school arts workshops in their classroom, and students will also be trained and invited to perform.

Teacher Workshops-Writing for Self-Discovery (WSD):

Using the arts and creative writing as tools for reflection, WSD offers teachers innovative, cross-curricular activities to take back into their classrooms. Teachers will work with a trained artist and licensed professional counselor (LPC) to brainstorm solutions for their daily challenges when students’ personal struggles manifest themselves in behavior and academic difficulties. The workshops’ psychology component provides both theoretical and practical understanding of issues such as projections, reenactments, and displacements. This training is not intended for teachers to take on students’ problems; rather, the workshop equips teachers with knowledge to keep yourself steady as you deal with issues that arise in the classroom.

The spring WSD workshops will be led by performance artist Marcela Descalzi and visual artist Jennifer Palermo (MA, LPC).

Please CLICK HERE to enroll by filling out our WSD workshop registration form. TEACHER REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SIGNED UP!!!

Other benefits include:

• Avoiding emotional or psychological burn-out
• Learning creative strategies and new curricular approaches
• Strengthening relationships with students (and fellow teachers!)
• Creating safe environments optimal for learning
• Practicing stress relieving methods such as meditation and mindfulness
• Becoming familiar with the latest research on trauma, anxiety, depression, and PTSD
• Opportunities to explore various genres, including poetry, short fiction, essay and memoir
• Training from writers with different styles and backgrounds on a variety of writing strategies and techniques
• Developing methods of constructive critique to look more honestly and profoundly at the process of writing
• Having one’s own work reviewed in a nurturing and supportive environment within a community of writers

Most importantly, the workshop blocks out a time and a space for creativity and rejuvenation not for your students, not your families, but for YOU!!

All workshops are held at Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy (900 West Gray St., Houston, TX 77019)

Student Workshops:

Participating teachers will have the opportunity of inviting VBB artists to work in their classroom. VBB’s WSD in-school student workshops will give voice to at-risk, low-income youth by teaching TEKS aligned life skills through art. Assistance outside of the classroom will be provided by WSD’s teacher workshop facilitators. In class, VBB artist instruction will be supplemented by local artists who together with VBB artists will reach out to at-risk youth to train students in multi-disciplinary arts program, including writing, performance, video art and blogging.
The workshops will train students to:

• learn effective communication, independent thinking and proficient problem solving skills and that all instruction follows TEKS guidelines;
• express themselves about the personal issues they face such as: family conflicts and problems in school caused shifting demography as a result of global migration patterns; war refugee status; displacement by poverty.
• gain interest in worldwide events that enable them to better understand issues affecting themselves
• learn how to express their concerns to wider audience through writing, blogging, performance and radio.

For more information, please call the VBB office (713 524 7821) or email VBB’s Assistant Director Joshua Turner (josh<at>vbbarts.org)