About LASF: Contra Costa Sun Articles

Docents - The Heart of the LASF

By Sandy Mouat
CORRESPONDENT

To discover the true heart of the Lafayette Arts and Sciences Foundation, one need only be present in a classroom when the LASF docents arrive, bringing dedication and enthusiasm to their workshops with the students. The docents conduct enrichment activities carefully coordinated with the classroom teachers’ ongoing curricular schedule.
       Over fifty docents work in the four Lafayette elementary schools and Stanley Intermediate School. Most are professional instructors or artists, who provide a full schedule of Science, Social Studies, and Art classes. They are an organized and talented work force performing a labor of love.
        Science docent Debbie Newcomb presents "Blood and Guts", an in-depth study of the systems of the body, to fifth grade students. At Happy Valley Elementary School, twenty-nine sets of curious eyes are fixed in anticipatory gaze as Newcomb unpacks her supplies. Awestruck gasps are heard as she reaches into a giant ziplock bag and pulls out the entire upper respiratory system of a sheep, ready for these future surgeons’ forays into exploration and discovery. Soon "oooh"s and "cool!"s fill the fidgety silence.
        No children lose interest, no eyes wander, no one is whispering about recess. All are eager to get their little fingers into the fray. They are practically climbing over each other to get a better look, as Newcomb gives them clear instructions as to how they are to proceed with the dissections they are about to begin. As instructed, the students carefully follow directions without any disrespectful "fooling around". There is chattering, but all conversations are focused on the activity.
        "The success of this lab often has a lot to do with the expectations placed on the students by their classroom teacher. If he or she is fully supportive and excited about the workshop, usually the kids will follow suit," Newcomb commented.
        Two days later, Newcomb visits Springhill School, to conduct Chemistry labs in the fifth grade classrooms. The students in Robb Fisher’s class participate in a lab assignment where they use the scientific method to identify substances in coded containers. Newcomb teaches them to work carefully and explains that their results will not be reliable if the test materials are contaminated.
        LASF art docents conduct workshops in a wide variety of subject and media, from landscapes, waterscapes, realistic cave drawings, animal studies, and self-portraits, to experimentation with the styles of many famous artists, and the art of many other cultures. The children are always joyously immersed in the art activities, as evidenced by blotches of color on itchy noses and smudged hands.
        Art docents Joy Rosenberg and Dorothy Owens bring a presentation of Chinese New Year to first graders. As they weave their magical tale of Chinese cultural history, the six and seven year olds at Burton Valley Elementary School are transfixed.
        "Miss Joy" and "Miss Dorothy" have brought a van load of visual aids for the lesson. After four years of working together on the Chinese New Year unit, they have developed a well organized system and an enchanting presentation. Each plays a particular part in the lesson. Owens begins by comparing our American traditions about New Year’s to the different traditions of China. Rosenberg joins in to describe all of the beliefs and special ways the people prepare for Chinese New Year, actually setting a traditional table and describing the foods and utensils used to prepare the meal. They show the students the Chinese calendar and many symbols of Chinese New Year; most are treasures found on shopping trips to San Francisco’s Chinatown.
        When they meet with the children for the second part of the unit, Owens and Rosenberg lead them in dances and song, help them create papier maché lion masks, and show a video of the Chinese New Year parade.
        It is a class full of energy, conducted by two ladies who epitomize the ideal of nurturing teachers for young children.
        "I have as much fun as the children with Joy and Dorothy. I love their organization and enthusiasm", said classroom teacher Georgi McLain.
        Springhill Elementary School students in Dennis Begg’s fourth grade class create clay relief sculptures of dog’s heads and learn to draw animal art in the style of Roy De Forest. The idea first began as an enhancement to"Mutt Month", a favorite theme of a former Springhill teacher. Docent Holly Eliot shows De Forest’s body of work in a slide presentation and displays a large, colorful reproduction of his painting "Country Dog Gentlemen". The students choose one of the dogs in De Forest’s painting to draw, and then fill in the "negative space" around it with either an aboriginal or echo shape background. The purpose of the exercise is to have them draw the whole animal. After, they are allowed to work on sketching just the heads of dogs, horses and cats.
        "I’ve chosen De Forest because I prefer to teach about artists who are living, and are from California." said Eliot, a former art teacher with the Orinda School District, and now an art instructor for ten different teachers at Springhill and Happy Valley School.
        "The students also learn about the work of George Rodrique, the Cajun artist made famous by his ‘Blue Dog’."
        The LASF Social Studies program has also grown and changed. Social Studies docents Barbara Butlin and Pati Connett present a fascinating program about Alaska to third grade students. It is a full day of activities, beginning with an introduction to Alaska, when each student makes an Alaskan flag of their own to take home and help them identify the Big Dipper and the North Star and understand their great importance to the people of the north.
        Butlin and Connett show them authentic Alaskan artifacts, and present a slideshow on the culture of the Inuit. The students learn all about the daily lives of the Inuit; their appearance, clothing, homes, transportation, food, recreation, and art. The story of the Song of Sedna, which explains the importance of the sea in the life of the Inuit, is told using masks as props. The students learn four Alaskan games that demonstrate how the Inuit children exercise their lungs and bodies in a tight space during the long winter months. Each child creates an authentic-looking Alaskan mask, learning to use papier maché materials as though they were using clay, to shape the features of the head and face.
       Butlin has been with the LASF since 1982, joining just a year after the organization was founded. She helped to develop the early Social Studies program. She taught the Alaska unit alone until eight years ago, when she hired Connett, a professional artist and interior designer. They’ve worked together on the project ever since, although they used to teach the program in shorter sessions, over four days in a three week period. They now present it as a team, all on the same day.
        Both Butlin and Connett find the program extremely rewarding.
        "We are really excited about the opportunity to present a total immersion experience for the third graders of Lafayette on the culture of Alaska. The students come away with a deep understanding of the people of Alaska when they are able to integrate so many ‘hands on’ aspects of the Inuit."
        "This is one of our favorite classes to teach! We have students in college who tell us they still have their Alaskan masks hanging in their rooms."
        LASF docents bring all of the materials needed with them. The self-contained workshops are packed into boxes stacked high onto carts and dollies. They set everything up, and when the activity is finished, they pack everything away again for the next class.
        In a sixth grade CORE class at Stanley Intermediate School, docent Sarah Leonard reviews facts about the ancient civilization of Egypt before conducting an Art activity where each student creates a papier maché Egyptian sarcophagus. The seventh grade CORE class participates in a book-binding workshop during which they sew pages together and bind them to a cover, to create beautiful, keepsake books for their writing assignments.
        In another Stanley classroom, a Science docent may be presenting a chemistry workshop while another may be teaching the students about circuits and electricity, acid rain, or meteorology.
        The LASF docent coordinators work closely with the principals and teachers to plan the programs and evaluate them. The best evaluation may be the fact that years later, the students still remember their docents and the fun and intriguing lessons they brought to their classrooms.

2/24/99 Reprinted with permission. Visit the Contra Costa Times on the web at www.contracostatimes.com.

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