Vol 18, No 1 (2009)

A century ago, John Dewey and Maria Montessori showed that children thrive in environments rich with activity and problem solving. Communities must tap the youthful “spirit of adventure” declared delinquency pioneer Jane Addams. Creativity is an “antidote to aggression” noted Sylvia Ashton Warner. But modern youth are deprived of these experiences which are essential to cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth. Sedentary lifestyles replace explorative activity which builds self-control and social competence. Play is reduced to electronic stimulation and competitive sports – with the resulting stress managed by medication instead of movement. Schools shrivel into test prep centers where students spit back a canned curriculum. It is time for a revival of art and action.

Sections

Last Child in the Woods

Jennifer S. Jay, John H. Hoover

In Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv successfully articulates a condition that he, in only slightly tongue-in-cheek terms, refers to as “nature-deficit disorder,” highlighting the devastating effects of a lack of nature in the lives of both adults and children.

Empowering Young People Through Service

Amy Kapp

Each year, more than 200 students at YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School in Pennsylvania make a commitment to help improve Philadelphia’s neighborhoods as they work toward their high school diplomas.

Heart to Heart Art

Jerri Shepard, Deborah Booth

Heart to Heart Art is an after-school program developed for homeless children and youth at the YWCA in Spokane, Washington. Pre-service teacher candidates from a local university create meaningful activities that engage homeless students in visual art, music, drama, cooking, and community service.

Industrial Art: Mission to Meaning

Mike Wilhelm

This is a story about industrial art. It is certainly not a story about smart studios and fashionable galleries, subtle techniques and aesthetic beauty. This is a story of sheet rock, nails, and low-grade lumber in the hands of unskilled teenage laborers. While this story boasts of no future museum pieces, it tells a heartwarming story of rare beauty.

Achieving Their Potential

Sally T. Prouty

Seventy-five years ago, Franklin D. Roosevelt took two crises—a decayed environment and wide unemployment—and combined them to form a single success: the Civilian Conservation Corps. In the CCC three million young unemployed men dramatically improved the nation’s infrastructure The CCC gave young Americans living in poverty hope. Today’s Corps give young men and women the chance to change their communities and their own lives.

Waiting for Someone Real

Mark Kruger

Gleaning wisdom from youth care professionals and poetry, this author explores genuine human interactions as the key to successful youth care.

Applying Art and Action

Nick M. Viglione

The education system in the United States is going through change. Consequently, curriculum and instructional delivery are focusing on math, reading, and science. This focus is causing an effect that reduces the amount of arts becoming infused into the school design. An alternative education program in a charter school has created a non-traditional approach to curriculum through infusing the arts into the model while maintaining theoretical structure from a sound mission.

LSCI in a School Setting: Final Results

Larry F. Forthun, Jeff McCombie, Caroline Payne

Although all educators, including mainstream classroom teachers, were able to implement LSCI successfully, the average educator rarely completes all six steps of an LSCI. Suggestions are offered for using LSCI training to support a safe reclaiming school environment.

Growing Emotional Intelligence Through Community-Based Arts

Jill Aguilar, Dani Bedau, Chris Anthony

The community-based arts environment is uniquely suited to addressing the needs of young people in the area of growing emotional intelligence. The arts offer specific structures, systems, and dynamics that allow for the emergence of the emotional adolescent self. Leaders in the community-based arts field must consciously position their organizations and programs as primary tools in the work of the reclamation of youth and adolescent emotional life.

Drawing: An Evidence-Based Intervention for Trauma Victims

William Steele

Drawing is used as a tool to reduce symptoms in those who have experienced trauma, allowing them the focus necessary to regain a sense of control and safety in their lives.

Building Resilient Lives

Kirsten Rose

At Te Puna Whaiora Children’s Health Camps in New Zealand, the approach to helping families reach their potential is radically changing the lives of many children and providing innovative solutions for its most vulnerable and troubled children.

Developing Controls from Within Through Service Learning

Andrew J. Schneider-Munoz

The developmental impact of national service is a newer intervention for youth. Policy influences the ability of the society to guide youth and structure their time with positive and productive activities. Built on the idea that helping one another can prepare and teach youth to regulate healthy emotions and behavior, the classic theories of Erik Erikson, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Fritz Redl are applied to contemporary national service.

Developing Internal Controls Through Activities

F. Herbert Barnes

Many group programs for youth claim to include activities in their repertoire, but the effective use of activities in a group program is not just scheduling an activity. It is creating a total environment filled with life events in which staff and kids are involved together.