The Challenge of Teaching in After School Programs

Since the passage of Proposition 49 a few years ago, school districts throughout California have been scrambling to offer after school programs that incorporate the arts. In my county (Madera) the school district has initiated Club YES, where children can stay until 6 p.m. Twice a week for a month, artists from the Madera County Arts Council PACES program (Presenting the Arts to Children in Elementary Schools) teach two classes, back-to-back.

My first few years were frustrating. I was in multi-purpose rooms with other activities going on, and often lost my voice trying to yell over the noise. Then I learned to ask for what I needed: a classroom. What a difference! Besides the children feeling "special" because they get to be with "the artist", the group is able to focus, listen, write and share their work without competing with wrestling or snacks.

The second challenge I faced was the fact that not all the children stay for my second hour, especially in winter when "walkers" have to leave before sunset. The first time I was left with three second graders I felt that my time was being wasted, but I soon learned to enjoy the children who were there, and we had a wonderful time writing, drawing, talking.

I've also learned to engage the helpers, who used to sit idly by monitoring their incessantly annoying walkie-talkies. Now I ask that they turn the volume down and participate in the lesson. At first they were shy but now I get them to write with us and share their poems. This has definitely raised them in the children's esteem.

Another problem is what to do with the children's work. In classroom residencies or PTA sponsored After School Writing Clubs I keep all the work until the last day, when students compile it into a book that I hope parents will save forever. But in the regular after school programs I may see one group of children only once or twice. At once school I saved all the work and left it with the supervisor, but it got lost. At another school I saved everything until the last day, only to find that there were two "tracks" and half the kids where no longer there. So now I let the children take their work with them each time. Some put their poems neatly in their back packs. Some want to give it to me as a gift and others crumple it up or just leave it on the desk altogether. This is when I take a deep breath and remember "process not product". Then I grab the poem and

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