Katelyn Durst

ARTS 555
06/08/2016
Part A

Reflection of Change:
Part A

When I think about the community I work within, I feel incredibly blessed. I have been
positioned in a workforce where I get to engage with youth ( high school students primarily) and
allow them to step into their potential through positive relationship building and restorative
justices practices within classrooms and their own personal relationships. However, I feel like
incorporating arts from a transformative community perspective is something I am still learning.
Currently, I have opportunities to teach poetry both within a creative writing perspective and as a
therapeutic practice. One thing I want to learn, based off of the Yellow Cow video is simply the
confidence to lead a classroom in positive interactions with art pieces and art making. I would
like to implement what Jim Borling called making myself bigger in this context, not in an
authoritarian way but in a way where I feel confident to convey a message or call students to a
certain action. Ive had many students tell me I should be less shy and step out more so I
definitely want to take that valuable critique and put it to practice.

Additionally,I often see that students do not view themselves as artists unless they have already
experienced being praised in that way from a young age. At a high school level it is often

difficult to incorporate new ideas and activities because youth often are plagued with apathy. I
regularly see boys and girls with their heads down and hoods up with no interest in interaction
with fellow classmates or the teacher. One way to change this interaction or lack there of would
be apply this technique from the readings, Artistic activities create an environment in which
relationships can be built and change can take place or be worked out. ( Corbitt, Nix-Early,
2003, p. 64) I believe this tactic is vital to the environment I work in because students and
teachers often have low expectations of one another and assume the worst from each other. I
believe one way to get this theory to work out in the classroom would be to incorporate activities
that demand participation from students. Choosing activities that students could relate with on a
personal level may be the best way for this theory to have its biggest impact. Activities like
theatre of oppression , deep breathing, poetry and spoken word or music may be most beneficial
to youth at that age. Maybe having youth also answer questions about what theyd actually like to
be doing as well. In order to incorporate these principles, I would need people who have an
allegiance to this cause. Perhaps that would mean teachers, fellow youth workers, students and
alumni who are committed to these concepts being implemented. Ultimately, it would not come
down to what art or participatory activities I think would work best but things that the students
wanted to happen so that they could have ownership. When the students catch wind of this
movement and use their voice, theres no stopping what could happen within this school, the
school district and city at large.

References
"Art Investigation with Anette Jacque." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 June 2016.
Corbitt, J. Nathan., and Vivian Nix-Early. Taking It to the Streets: Using the Arts to Transform
Your Community. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2003. Print.