For older students something would have to change. They were unlikely to be impressed with creating small picture books yet the task had to fit the skills they already had. I recently spoke to some young offenders to encourage them to take part in the excellent PEN writing competition but they were intimidated by the quality of what other prisoners had produced. They switched off. The gap was too great.
Working with young people in Pupil Referral Units, I needed to find a structure that would engage students – and these were often profoundly disengaged young people who would walk in and out of my workshop declaring “this is shit, this is shit” before finally settling. They needed a quality result. Most were wary of their lack of skills in the tasks I was setting them. They’re not stupid; they know where their skills are in deficit.
An earlier project in HMYOI Reading had encouraged students to create their own superheroes. It was fun but I have no particular drawing skills and so, even though we had some excellent support from comic artist, Ilya, we were all a little embarrassed by the results. This all took place before comics got their own laureate in 2014.
A better way, which we used in the PRUs, was to work up the students’ ideas into a script, and then commission Ilya to draw up a page. Some teachers were wary of this. They wanted the young people to draw the comics themselves. I managed to persuade them that commissioning would be a better approach. In a short project it just isn’t possible to get students’ drawing skills up to the level that they would be comfortable with. Using Ilya again gave the students the chance to focus on reading other comics, and honing their stories, some of which were done in groups, and some by single students, depending on the particular PRU. The results were great both in terms of the students’ engagement and in the quality of the results.
“This is the best! I can’t believe he [the artist] did our story!” PRU student
“I didn’t think that the students would like someone else realising their ideas. I was wrong, they loved it.” Teacher at Guildford PRU
“This is good. I’ve never seen them so keen.” PRU teacher
“[the students gained] collaborative writing skills, and how to develop a coherent story line. [also] speaking and LISTENING to each other’s ideas.” PRU teacher
It wasn’t always plain sailing. Students in some groups could immediately spot a good idea and accept it was better than theirs – others found this more challenging… but all loved the end results. Quality wins every time. Read Write Imagine.
There were other benefits. Mr Bomb was unique as it was a complete story on one page. Afterwards the teacher told he was delighted as this student was usually impossible to engage in anything. He was someone who would store up his anger and then go off somewhere and create havoc – exactly as in his story. Having the finished work signed by the artist gave the teacher and the student an opportunity to talk about his anger, and how it could be managed better. Plus he was a star. Everyone in the PRU loved Mr Bomb.