If I Were a Camera: Some Possibilities for Visual Arts in a Reading Classroom

Introduction Beginning my professional practice as a first year developmental reading teacher at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, I endeavored to construct a student-centered environment where individuals are directed towards the acquisition of academically and personally beneficial literacy skills. Stuart is one of the most ethnically and economically diverse schools in the country. My students have demonstrated an extensive need for instructional intervention. To this end, my school has undertaken a far-reaching and unequivocal effort to improve the comprehensive reading abilities of its students. My role in this effort is challenging in scope and invigorating in nature. I am attempting to integrate planned, purposeful and conscious strategies into the reading repertoires of my developing readers in hope of manifesting “the goal of deeper, more elaborated learning” (Pintrich & Johnson, 1990, p. 86). Through early self-assessment measures my students reported a view of reading which can be described as a dictatorial and externally imposed activity. My students felt they gained little from reading in terms of information, pleasure, or interest. They seemed to have missed the power of reading as a joyful, compelling and personally fulfilling activity. Consequently, my students tread academic waters laced with dissonance; they manage to find equilibrium far beneath their potential. Can I bring the joys of reading into the lives of my students? I want to infiltrate this dissonance and close the gap between current achievement levels and potential achievement levels.