Ethnography

Naomi Curran

Mr. McCallum

Quest English 9

12-8- 2014

The Picture of Education:

Observing the BHS Arts Magnet Program

Preconceptions

“The Buffalo High School Arts Magnet Program.” This kind of fancy title gives you high expectations. It produces the image of a highly distinguished school, filled with interesting, intelligent students bursting with creative energy. It sounds like it could be an expensive private school, but it's really just a part of a regular high school.

This program integrates the arts within core classes as a learning tool, to teach kids in an unique

way.

I wanted to observe this culture, because I go to the same school that all the Arts Magnet students do, but I know almost nothing about how the program works. I think the arts infused classes are a really cool idea and I want to see how they are differ from my classes.

Another reason this group interests me is because of how it is similar to Quest. Quest is a program for gifted students. Both of these programs are for people that learn in a different way. The Quest students are often separated from the rest of our grade. Because we are together so often, we became really close to one another. The arts students’ classes are also separated from others, I wonder if they are as close as we are.

The Arts Magnet program is free to anyone that wants to join.  I think it would be interesting to see how groups form within the class. Do groups of friends join the program together or are new friendships made through these classes? Would someone join arts magnet alone if they knew their friends weren't joining? I may not be able to answer this through observation but it's still a question I have.

I expect this class will be less distinguished than the name sounds. These are arts classes, so I think there will be more learning by doing, and I will see more chaos than in a regular classroom. These people are also probably creative thinkers, with lots of ideas, so there will be lots of noise. I expect most of these people to be more toward the outgoing side.

I am excited to see the way that Arts Magnet classes differ from traditional classes and how the students learn in their own ways.

Background

The current Buffalo High School was built in 1997, but the Arts Magnet program didn’t begin until the 2005-2006 school year. In the first year of the program, there were about 90 students enrolled. Now there are around 250 students in the Arts Magnet program, spanning from ninth to twelfth grade.

The Mission of the Arts Magnet program is Academic Excellence through Artistic Inquiry. The program integrates the arts within core classes as a learning tool. Different people learn in different ways, these kids learn by relating the arts to what they do.

The Arts Magnet website says "The curriculum is based on the belief that the arts teach essential skills for the 21st century."

A wide range of Arts Magnet classes are offered. There are core classes like English, Social Studies, and Science. The other classes are divided into five categories: Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Applied Visual Arts, Literary Arts, and Media Arts. Some classes include dance, sculpture, interior design, poetry and film.

I am going to be observing a ninth grade Foundations class. The Foundations classes are based on the creative process and students individual interests involving the arts.

Observations

Monday, October 13th

The Arts Magnet room was in a dark hallway made up of gray cinder blocks and a gray cement floor. My footsteps echoed quietly off of the empty walls as I made my way quickly to the classroom. The door to room number 101 was big and wooden and opened heavily. A bright, cheery room greeted me inside, and I was immediately confronted by the smell of paint. I walked past rows of wooden tables towards the back of the classroom. I tried to be quiet, but many students still looked up from their work to watch me. It was the second month of class, they knew who was supposed to be there, and I wasn’t one of those people.

I sat down on the cool cement floor in the back of the room, leaning against the wooden cabinets behind me and trying to ignore the curious glances.

A lady stood pacing the front of the room as she spoke to the students. Her long, slightly silvery black hair and round glasses gave her a motherly look. She was the teacher, Mrs. Deb Bestland.

Mrs. Bestland was explaining the classes upcoming field trip to the theatre. She made sure to tell the students to be on their best behavior, unlike last time. Most of the students sat staring at their tables tiredly or messing around with their pencils.

Mrs. Bestland told the class to dress formally for the trip. This triggered an excited burst of chatter, contrasting the dreariness from a minute before. After calming the class down, a final round of questions were answered:

"Can we bring man purses?"

"Can I bring chapstick that clicks closed?"

Then, the class moved on.

Mrs. Bestland gave the students two minutes of free time before they started the next topic, adding that if she didn’t give them time to check their phones, they would do it anyway, except during class. The class immediately started talking and laughing loudly.

As the students happily took advantage of their free time, I looked around the room. This was definitely an art room. There was dried paint everywhere I looked. On the tables, the back countertops, and on the cement floor. It smelled like paint, too.

Above my place on the floor were lots of wooden cabinets. I was sitting under the one labeled 'Old Brushes'. Some of the other cabinet doors had swung open, they held stacks and stacks of dirty paint trays and hastily put away paint bottles. Drying on top of the cabinets were canvasses of half-finished art projects in every color.

The purple walls were covered in more student art. Paintings of geometric shapes were displayed next to pencil drawings and colorful portraits of flowers. Posters of color wheels were hung on every wall.

The students sat on tall metal stools that squeaked loudly on the cement floor every time someone moved. The stools surrounded rectangular tables. Out of the ten tables around the room all but two were occupied by only girls. The class consisted of four boys in all, the majority were girls.

Through the mess of noise I heard snippets of conversation.

"Water broke..."

"His girlfriend..."

And an angry, "...Left my phone at my grandmas!"

A few short, mousy haired girls stood up, laughing, to take a group picture together.

Mrs. Bestland stood at the front of the room and started counting down from five, everyone was expected to be quiet by zero. The students all scrambled to finish their sentences before she got to one. At zero there were still a few students speaking. Eventually Mrs. Bestland regained the attention of the class and reminded everyone to put away their phones.

She paced around the room and between the tables as she began to explain the next assignment. A bored looking girl in the back row with bleached blond hair looked back at me, wondering why I was there, before lazily returning her attention to the front of the room.

The students were instructed to get into groups of four. They found this to be very difficult. After a few minutes of loud arguing, yelling and complaining, the groups were formed. Their assignment was to talk about "What makes you uniquely you." Mrs Bestland repeated the directions several times, asked if the class had questions and then repeated the assignment a few more times. She repeated the assignment one last time and then let the groups discuss.

I walked up to the closest group, careful to avoid bumping a table full of clay sculptures, shaped like tiny buildings. A petite girl with a high voice thought her personality made her herself. The rest of the group thought that their facial features and clothing made them themselves.

As I walked around to different groups, I noticed that most of the students were off topic, some worse than others. Some kids were balancing books on their heads while others were talking excitedly about other things.

"Dirt biking..."

"That's so stupid!"

"Oh, you read those?"

"The walking Sabrina!"

"You used to be the quietest thing ever!"

The teacher counted down again and the class did not quiet down at all until two. The class shared what made themselves unique. Most of the answers were appearance based,  like hair, glasses, piercings, and clothes.

The class grew louder and more chatty over time, after a while the teacher decided to try something different to quiet them down. She took out a mouse puppet. The class immediately reacted, cheering and talking excitedly, the puppet was a big deal. Mrs. Bestland explained that whoever had the mouse could talk. If you didn’t have the mouse, it wasn’t your turn to talk. The class got surprisingly more respectful and the discussion continued.

Mrs. Bestland told the students that they were going to narrow the topic down. She related this to a camera lens, they were making the lens smaller, so the topic was less broad. Now they had to talk about things about themselves that if you changed, you wouldn't be yourself anymore.

The students once again started their discussions loudly. I wandered over to a new group and listened. It was a group of four girls all with colorful hair and clothes. One girl had red and black hair, a black plaid shirt and tribal leggings. She said that her religion made her herself.  

A chair tipped over and everyone gasped, they were still very easily distracted.

Most groups that I observed were distracted and asked me why I was there. A girl with white blonde hair and bright blue eyeshadow asked me rapid fire questions about all aspects my project. After trying and failing to have her talk to her group about the topic, I moved on to a different group.

The class collectively decided that the things that make you unique are your religion, decisions and morals. Along with your eye color, hair and fashion.

Mrs. Bestland suggested that your past could make you unique.  The class somehow turned this into a discussion about her past. They had so many questions about her past and her relationship with her family, that she eventually had to tell them it was none of their business. She then gave them some "Quiet chat time" This quickly turned into loud chatting time.

I grabbed my backpack and left the room while the class was still talking ‘quietly’.

Conclusion

When I walked into the Arts Magnet room, I had no idea what to expect. I was interested to see how the arts blended with academics. I was surprised to see a classroom not too different from my own.

The most infused part of what I saw was the analogy to the camera lens, but I know that there are lots of other infused parts I didn’t get to see in my short time there.

The class’s energy level was a contrasting mix of sometimes quiet and tired, sometimes loud and distracted. I guessed that they would be loud and outgoing, and I saw that some students were much more outgoing than others.

The students were in groups within the class, so I couldn’t really tell how the whole class’s relationship was. The students seemed to get along with the people around them well and contribute to class points together.

The Arts Magnet students are a group that shares a common interest in the arts that brings them together. They are able to learn together in a unique way that helps themselves and their classmates.