Reed Students Excel In Expression Without Words

By Larissa Lytwyn

Imagine having to tell a story entirely through images, devoid of any text.

This was the recent challenge for sixth graders enrolled in Reed Intermediate School’s Students Engaged in Academic Leadership Skills (SEALS) program, part of the district’s Gifted and Talented Educational Services (formerly known as the “Discovery” program).

The new title, notes Assistant Superintendent of Schools Alice Jackson, reflects the district’s goal to provide gifted students with a “continuum of services.”

“The aim of the project was for the students to share their viewpoint on a social issue they felt strongly about, without using words,” explained sixth grade teacher Donna McGough, who teaches the Reed SEALS program with Kim Calero.

Students could use any medium, from PowerPoint presentations to two- and three-dimensional posters and sculpture.

Despite meeting only once a week for 90 minutes (part of the school board’s cost-savings decision last spring to prevent the program from being cut altogether by having it taught by full-time teachers outside school hours), the students worked ceaselessly to produce projects Ms McGough described as “impressive.”

The students even presented their projects to Board of Education members during their last board meeting April 1.

The range of social issues discussed, Ms McGough said, was notable.

“We had everything from what you would expect, such as the War on Terrorism, to issues including global warming,” she said.

The students, she added, all have strong opinions. “It was a challenge for them to communicate an opinion, an issue, without using words,” she said.

Students, including Scott Boisvert, Drew Robinson, Nicole Vournazos, and Nicholas Dinielli, agreed.

“It was definitely a challenge to do this project without words,” Nicole said.

She decided to do her project, a PowerPoint presentation, on global warming because, she said, “Iit was an important issue not getting a lot of attention lately because of other things, like the war in Iraq.”

“Doing this project made me learn a whole lot about this issue,” she said. “I got to understand the process of how global warming works.”

She divided her project into how global warming worked, including its causes, and solutions.

“I think there are several ways we can help stop global warming,” she said, “such as using battery or solar powered cars and relying less on [automotive] transportation.”

Another student, Alex Israel, also did a project on global warming, “Global Warming is Bad.”

Scott Boisvert also did a PowerPoint presentation. The title, “We Can Only Hope for Peace,” reflects his antiwar stance. “I think war is hurtful for everyone involved,” he said.

His presentation included images from the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States as well as more recent photographs from Iraq.

“At the end of the presentation, I included people holding peace signs,” he said. One girl had a peace sign drawn on her forehead in thick black ink.

“I used a lot of my pictures from sources I found on the Internet,” Scott explained. Doing the project, he said, reinforced his pro-peace beliefs.

Drew Robinson’s project, “The Road to Peace,” had a theme similar to Scott’s. But Drew decided to express his ideas through making an actual road beginning with the fall of Saddam Hussein to ongoing present-day conflicts in Iraq.

He drew a winding road on poster board, marking key points with images of Saddam and one particularly stirring photo of Iraqis and Americans flashing peace signs from a single bus.

The images, he said, were all culled from the Internet.

“I wanted to make sure the road was winding to reflect that the road to peace is never straight,” Drew explained. “The project was difficult because I am a very verbal person and it was hard to not use words!”

Nicholas Dinielli’s project emphasized the dangers of smoking. He chose to express his ideas through a three-dimensional image of a coffin replete with images conveying the detrimental physical effects of the habit, including damaged lungs.

“I think it is so important for people not to smoke,” said Nicholas, “and I wanted to make sure that my project emphasized the ultimate consequence: death!”

Alex Kron’s project, “Put Down Your Gun,” was also expressed through three-dimensional figures, using clay. His focus was to encourage tougher gun control measures in the United States.

Lila Kohrman-Glaser’s topic was unique, “Logging is Like a Crime to the Forest.” Lila took the specific practice of logging to reflect her concern over environmental abuse.