Harbor School Visit

Visiting the Harbor School...I don’t know where to begin…there’s so much to say. Last Friday I went to check out Jozeph Zaremba’s visual arts classroom at the Harbor School in Dorchester. Jozeph, a 2009-2010 TAA fellow, will be traveling to Florence this summer to participate in an arts and creative writing workshop. He’s so excited about his trip he’s already started trying out his new Renaissance curriculum for next year!

Class was already in progress by the time I arrived. Students were separated into four groups…or I should say four guilds; printmaking, anatomy investigation, frescos painting and clay sculpting. Students work in their particular groups and focus on their given medium. These groups or guilds provide an experiential way of learning so that students understand how artists of the Renaissance worked. Each student is an apprentice and must sign an apprentice contract; agreeing to the work that is to be done. Each week students will rotate to a new table to work with a new medium.

I visited each group and checked out the work they were doing. At some tables, like the printmaking and fresco groups, students looked at images of the Renaissance to inspire their work. Students working with clay were creating an image of ‘what learning means to them’ and the anatomy students were sketching fossils and various things from nature such as shells and branches and generating questions about the objects they examined. Mr. Z (…as the students call him!) hopes to parallel this curriculum next year with the Harlem Renaissance.

After grades were recorded(At the end of each class every student receives a grade; Mr. Z looks at each of the student’s work and together they determine the grade.) …Green Light! Yellow Light! Red Light! This is Mr. Z’s signal for: Stop what you’re doing and listen up! On the board were several questions about the Renaissance and students had to shout out the answer cohesively as a group over and over until everyone was saying the correct answers together. And they couldn’t go to their next class until everyone had it. But they got it done and off they went! Hopefully remembering the answers for next time…

After class, I got a tour of the “art department”, which is what it should be called because it’s such a huge, beautiful space. The students usually start in one large classroom to reflect on the previous class and discuss the lesson ahead. They then move to the next room where the art-making happens. Mr. Z showed me several student projects including journals where students keep a log of their art work and written reflections. I also was able to see some examples of the eighth grader’s portfolio covers. Students who are ready to graduate must prepare a portfolio of their work from their entire Harbor School career and present it in front of a panel in order to graduate. Students must design a cover that represents them for this portfolio. The covers are then judged by panelists and several are selected as winners; the judging criteria are not only artistic talent but also merit and effort. The incoming class of eighth graders were working on theirs so I got to a few more examples and one from a student who will be an incoming freshman at BAA next fall!

Several key highlights included:
• Observing a full inclusion classroom; I’ve never been a part of or observed a classroom such as this and it was such a positive and interesting experience.
• Learning about Mr. Z’s content driven curriculum; he works with fellow teachers to create fusion between the academic classes and his art class. For example, students were learning about Hurricane Katrina in one academic class and Greece in another; both topics were used as the trajectory and the subject matter for the students’ art making.
• Learning how Mr. Z calls parents or sends letters of commendation home to praise students for good work. I think that this action is commendable itself-a teacher sending home praise rather than criticism.

The Harbor School’s structure is comprehensive and it seems to be a great learning environment. I had a wonderful visit! So I say, thank you to the Harbor School, Mr. Z and his students!