The first thing I see when I step into the room is Michelle Obama lurking in the corner. I don't realise at the time, but it's lucky I caught a glimpse, as plans are afoot to move her into the storage cupboard...
Enough about lobster and lighthouses. The real reason I am in Portland is to spend the day at the Telling Room. (https://www.tellingroom.org/) I first came across the Telling Room in April 2018 whilst scrolling and scrolling and scrolling through Google results, in the fledgling stages of my research. I remember sending the link to a friend with the message "LOOK AT THIS PLACE!!!!!" or something similarly understated. Essentially, it was love at first sight.
The Telling Room is a gorgeous space situated in the Old Port region of downtown Portland. Established in 2004, the non-profit organisation's aim is to empower and build confidence in young people as they find their voices and identities as writers. To do this, they run a number of incredible programmes including Young Writers and Leaders, a nine-month-long writing and leadership programme for refugee, first generation, and immigrant high schoolers. (There is a large, growing population of Central African refugees in Portland.) The Telling Room also offers the Young Emerging Authors programme, where a small group of fellows are selected (through a rigorous application process) to write, edit and publish a book within a year. Everything they offer is free of charge to participants.
Their philosophy includes trying to ensure they hear every student's voice, every day. They very much believe in recognising and celebrating the small successes along the way in the writing process, as well as with their incredibly impressive publishing programme. Moreover, fun factors highly in the Telling Room's approach: there is minimal front-of-house, didactic instruction but, in a typical session, games and activities go hand in hand with focused writing time.
WAIT! Scroll back up! Do you see that heavenly morning sunlight hitting the wooden floors? Swoon!
When I arrived on Tuesday morning, I met with Programme Director Nick Whiston, who had kindly arranged my visit. Nick is realistic about the fact that schools' budgets are often not kind to the Arts and, as a result, opportunity for creative expression in schools can be limited. As with other teaching professionals I have met, Nick feels that the No Child Left Behind Act - and, latterly, Every Student Succeeds - is noble in its intention but is problematic in that it pushes for teachers to achieve academic targets at the expense of social and emotional development. Additionally, in teacher training, little time is afforded to the teaching of teaching writing. (That might be the clumsiest sentence I've ever written. Forgive me, for I am old and weary and can find no other way to express what I mean.) Further, in the school curriculum, writing doesn't always seem to be prioritised. For example, an elementary school teacher has only three twenty-minute blocks per week dedicated to teaching writing skills. In the Telling Room, Nick acknowledges that they have the luxury of space and one-to-one mentorship that allows young people to "get their voice out and be listened to." He believes in the need to cultivate confidence in young children by creating a supported environment where it is safe to experiment and mess up. Nick feels that when this support "is reinforced and reinforced and reinforced" in a young person, "they can carry that on forever".
I had the privilege of joining the morning staff meeting, which wasn't too dissimilar to my own departmental meetings in school, other than the business side of things. ("Growth" and "monetising" is not my lingo.) In the meeting, the upcoming, annual Show and Tell fundraiser was discussed. If I am to implement some of my ideas back home, fundraising will be vital, so I enjoyed hearing about the ticketed evening, where an MC hosts and there are performances as well as a silent auction. There are also plans to expand the current Writers Block programme further, training new Teaching Artists and delivering sessions further off-site, whilst still providing them free of charge. My favourite moment of the meeting was that there was time scheduled on the agenda for a personal check-in, to share any news with colleagues. Clearly, voice is important to all at the Telling Room.
It was in the same meeting that Michelle Obama's fate was decided. In 2015, the Telling Room received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program award from First Lady Michelle Obama in the White House. Can you imagine! Since then, a life-size cardboard cutout of Obama has presided over the room. Time has taken its toll and she's now a bit past her best; her knees are not what they were. I hear you, girl. And so it came to pass that she should live out the rest of her days in the cupboard. Happy retirement, Michelle.
In the afternoon, I spent a joyous hour with Director of Publications, Molly McGrath and four brilliant young writers - Emma, Alexa, Devon and Nina, who are partway through the Young Emerging Authors programme. They are currently readying their work for editing and publication and, based on the snippets I was treated to, I cannot wait to read their finished books. One of the girls mentioned how scared she was when the programme began, but now "the nerves are all gone." Molly led the writers through the daunting task of writing their book's blurb. I soaked up her expertise along with the girls! (A good blurb should evoke a vivid sense of story and have some kind of emotional tug. It should mimic the style of writing within and should exist in harmony with what the book conveys through the title and cover.) The girls will be given ownership over their publications by being involved in the entire process, right down to whether the book's pages should be cream or white!
My day ended on a high with the Young Writers and Leaders programme, where 15 young writers arrived to work on projects with older mentors. The session began with everyone gathering in a circle and sharing their name with the group, breaking down the sounds and syllables to ensure everyone could pronounce it. The rest of the circle then repeated the person's name back to them. This ensures that no one has to accept a mispronunciation of their name, just because it may be unfamiliar to others. According to Lead Teaching Artist, Marjolaine Whittlesey, the Telling Room always uses a circle because everyone is completely equal; it is a leveller. When the goal is to have a student share their work, it is important to have them share themselves first. Within the first few moments of the session, everyone's voice has been heard and everyone has connected with others. Marjolaine asserted that this was a "low-barrier" activity that everyone can "buy into" before said barrier is incrementally increased and students can begin to, for example, share a sentence they have written with the group. She acknowledges that sometimes young people will not be willing or able to share anything in a session but the thing they need is to be in a safe space.
The beauty of this week's workshop was that each student verbally explored story options while their mentors took notes. Marjolaine spoke with me about the importance of celebrating a young person's personal narrative, particularly when they are, at first, unable to see the value in what they have to share. For example, someone from rural Maine could fascinate with stories about snowmobiles, something they may take for granted but could transport their readers and listeners to an unknown world! Oral storytelling is a powerful medium and I loved that the entire session allowed for ideas, feelings and memories to be articulated and teased out before even planning to commit them to paper. My ice cold heart must be beginning to thaw because I found something incredibly moving about seeing young men paired with older men, sharing their stories. I'm not quite sure how to articulate that yet (I'm a newcomer to the landscape of emotions) but it touched me.
What a day. What a place. What an inspiration. Endless thanks to Nick, Marjolaine and Sonya, in particular, for being so welcoming and so generous with your time.
Next: 826, Boston.