Friday, August 31, 2012

Wreck This Journal Redux

I haven't written much here about my teaching work, a one-day-a-week job trying to infuse some English and history into the lives of four local tweens and teens. Since there's only so much reading and writing three non-bookish guys can handle, I try to stick to about four hours of formalised schoolwork, and then some more relaxed projects -- or even a trip to the skate park.

For ten-year-old F though, my lone bookish girl buddy, no amount of work is too much. So I've been sharing with her my copy of Wreck This Journal (introduced here and here) and we've used it as a launching pad to create our own wrecked journals in cheap, endearing composition books. It's a non-compulsory part of the school experience, so at first F was the only one to really take the bait. "Wreck a journal?" she said, her eyes huge and gleaming. But when we flipped open to a random page and attempted to follow its instructions ("Give this page to a friend. Ask them to do something destructive to it. Don't watch"), the boys were intrigued -- and more than willing to assist us in our destruction. Although only one of the boys has succumbed to the temptation and insisted on his own journal, it's become a process that the others are actively interested in. They actually fight to pick a page from the source book and challenge us to obey whatever it says.

One of the best parts of all is the fact that there are no rules, which means we have to scour our imaginations for our own creative interpretation of the instructions. When I brought along a recent copy of Frankie to cut up and use in collages, F was aghast. "I can't cut up your beautiful magazine!" she said, "That'll ruin it!" I assured her that this was exactly the idea. Even cooler, the fact that we aren't striving for a certain standard of perfection means that no page is "right" or "wrong". If this was a worldview, it'd be dangerous. In learning to boldly try new things with paper and paint, however, it's just fun and a grand challenge.

[Brilliance of brilliance: the folks at Penguin have released a teacher's guide for exploring Wreck This Journal. You can find the downloadable pdf at author Keri Smith's blog.]

Edit: boo! The pictures are all pixely! I don't know how to fix this, but if you click on the images, you can see them in all their hi-res glory.

10 comments:

  1. I literally just checked your blog about 5 minutes ago, thinking, "I'm so keen for the next Danielle post!"... and just like that, it appears!!! Beautiful.

    And love this post! I found the idea of "Wreck This Journal" so totally intriguing - I actually ordered the book for myself online, a little while back. But I still can't bring myself to wreck it, which totally defeats the purpose of exploring and imagining without fear of being wrong! Sigh. Will need to get some guts and just DO it...

    SO cool that F and the boys have connected with it - what a GREAT idea for teaching and building creativity, Danielle! Love your pics. Thanks for sharing this little snapshot of your teaching work :)
    xx

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    1. I love it when that happens!

      You really bought it? I think that's fabulous! Maybe one day -- in the magical one day -- when life slows down a little, we can arrange a journal-wrecking date. It's so much fun, but it's definitely scary taking that first step. I recommend cracking the spine of the book -- always something I find really hard to do.

      Love!

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  2. This is awesome, what a great way to get all the kids interested in creativity! :)
    There are still some surprises here, so just as well you have a blog or there'd be parts of your life I didn't know about, and that would not be good.

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    1. That's cool that there are still some surprises, even though we feel like we tell each other everything. That means there are layers of interest and intrigue, ooh la la!

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  3. Oh this reminds me... I need to pull out my journal and do some more wrecking!!

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    Replies
    1. Oh yes, do! You should share the pictures with us all when you do...

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  4. I wonder how Jesus would define his worldview?

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    Replies
    1. Something super concise and cutting, I suspect.

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