Sean T. Griffin
At the end of Monster Steve comments in his journal on what life is like back at home. He has grown distant from his father and his commentary indicates that he feels a gap with his mother as well. He still looks to film for answers as he comments:
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I have been taking movies of myself. In the movies I talk and tell the camera
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who I am and what I think I am about. Sometimes I set the camera up outside and
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walk up to it from different angles. Sometimes I set the camera up in front of a
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mirror and film myself as a reflection. I wear different clothes and sometimes try
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to change my voice. (279-80)
This section of Monster really goes to the heart of what this unit is all about. Steve is still trying to find himself and is consciously and subconsciously going through the motions to find who he is after going through this difficult experience. His "Who Am I?" art project involves film, mirrors, costumes, voice changes. This very brief, yet interesting scene at the end of Monster is telling. Steve is trying to see himself in a different light, to see what makes him special and unique. He is struggling with his own identity just as many of our students are.
How many of our students really know who they are? How many of our students can honestly portray themselves in some type of media as Steve is trying to do? I lead students in a discussion of what is going on at the end of the story and try to help them to predict what is going on in Steve's mind by asking them to write a final journal entry from Steve's point of view. We share the journals out loud.
Next, I ask students to take out their "All About Me" folders. They take about fifteen minutes to review what they have written during the reading of Monster. I also participate by going through what I have been writing during this time period. At this point I ask students to write a brief cover sheet for the folder. What did they find in the folder? What were they reminded about themselves, their feelings, their memories?
The "Who Am I?" art project score sheet (see Appendix) will provide students with some ideas of how to get going on their project. Ideally teachers provide a model to show students. If you have created the same project that you are asking students to create, they will have a good model to base their projects on.
I ask students to write an art proposal to me in which they outline what sort of art project they will produce for the "Who Am I?" art project. This helps students think through the project a bit and gives me a chance to know where they are with the project. Once they have completed their proposal, I meet with them individually and talk about the project, discussing what materials they will be using and how they will be portraying their autobiographical material from their folder into the artwork itself. I set aside several days for students to work on the projects in class. As with writers in a writing workshop, the artists in this art project will have differing needs as they work their way through the projects. Being flexible, patient and helpful as a teacher at this point will make all the difference in the world.
