Put down the guns
I remember a period when we were so concerned with our students well being and health that we decided to hire an art therapist to provide the arts teachers with some skills to help identify students who were extremely troubled.
When I read this article I was reminded of that time and how we as a K-12 staff needed to empower ourselves to make an attempt to help. Did it work during that time? I am not sure but something that I am sure about is the fact that we recognized a problem and did what was in our power to try and make a difference.
In John Wilson’s blog in Ed Week, Feb. 8, guest blogger Deb Shoemaker writes a post called Put Down the Guns, Pick Up the Crayons, Deb is an Art Therapist and believes that more guns don’t make schools safer and that they are only band-aids in combating some problems.
She believes that Art Therapy is an option. “It provides a two-prong solution: trauma recovery and prevention. With professional facilitation, drawing provides a safe outlet to communicate what children often have no words to describe, and it engages children in the active involvement in their own healing, providing a sense of control.”
me arts ed 