On writing a book

 Forgot to remember from whence this photo came.

The class wrote a book. The students were all shadow children, those who fell through the cracks and weren't making it in the mainstream.

At the Manhattan School for Career Development, students 15-21 learned basics in the morning during their first year and experienced various hands-on careers, on a wheel, in the afternoon. By the second year, they had narrowed their preferences and spent their days on the job, learning the math and reading and other skills needed within the framework of their career choices.

One major trait of these students was their lack of interest in much of anything.  Learning opportunities were presented within an "interest" beckoning context.

Writing a book, beginning with a brainstorm of possible titles to focus visual art forms, students created "scenes" they wanted to be included in their book. The drawings revealed the stage of development, not to be confused with IQ, of each student. The eight students' conceptual development ranged from six years old, to highly symbolic spatial sense - slow processing to rapid repetition of design.

Each student told the story of their drawing as I wrote each word they said onto butcher paper and taped it onto the huge chalk board. Then we proceeded to fashion the pictures/stories into a cohesive story.

I typed it up, made copies, and we spent a few minutes each day for a week or so editing the story. Two boys wouldn't participate, so from the beginning, they were "assigned" to print and assemble the final product when it was ready for publishing.

Two students typed the story and printed the pages during their afternoon career experience. Each printed page matched one of the pictures.  I was able to find a color xerox machine in the neighborhood (a rarity in 1989), and with my own money (also a rarity in 1989), printed 12 copies of each picture.

The two boys printed the books, then collated and bound them in their afternoon class. They proudly delivered a copy to the Principal, and then distributed one to each of their fellow classmates. The students carried their books around for a week, pulling it out of their lockers each day.

Every once in awhile, I am tempted to publish the book. It would be a good children's book about how these shadow children feel. For me, it was an exercise in spiritual empathy. When I offered a suggestion for improvement, it was received with overwhelming approval. The human beings felt they were in a safe place. If they disagreed, we discussed it until we agreed. Their ability to imagine, I found to be  incredibly well developed.

Their pride in creating a book, was worth it all. These students were not even able to read a book yet - or couldn't before they wrote this one.  I don't know what came next. It was the end of the school year and I moved to Florida during the summer.

How have you found ways to accomplish the impossible and have fun while doing it?