Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 13, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Inner City students find what they need at . Russell breaking the Cycle David Janson left helps teacher Brian Mckinnon do some moving. Well this is my daily journal. Yesterday my Cousin got me into a scrap with some big Guy but we were All drunk. I heard my cuz say a to get me you gotta go thru my Cousin a then the big Guy jumped up and said a lets go for Quot i thought about it and said a Why grabbed him by the shoulders and i picked him up and knocked him Down. When he got up he hit me in the forehead with something. He nicked my head then that is when i turned around and i fell Over the Coffee table. My Cousin and his Stepdad grabbed that Guy and dragged him out the door. A this All happened on saturday afternoon. It could have been by Mike Maunder and Gordon burling for the free press John Penace a Grade to journal at . Russell vocational High school gives a glimpse of the violence and family troubles that Are daily realities for Many inner City youth. It also gives a glimpse of a school that a helping inner City kids Deal with those realities. . Students use journals poetry writing Art drama and music to Deal with issues that touch their daily lives. A programs like these Are frills in an Ordinary school but essential to a kids life Here a says Tom Roberts .�?Ts advertising Art teacher. Penace 17, came to . Four years ago from Kenora. The Art room and the weight lifting room became his haunts. He was part of an Art program run by Roberts in which kids painted 25 murals downtown. His Eagle now soars above Pioneer Avenue. This year he mentored 13-year-old Edwin traverse at Shaughnessy Park school helping him create a mural for his school. Penace would have graduated this june but a family troubles took him Back to Kenora. Roberts has been trying to reach him for the last month about a possible summer Job but Penace has no phone. A when i talk to my friends about what we Deal with Here they just done to understand a says Roberts. A most people Are horrified they done to really want to i a no phones no permanent addresses 80 per cent of kids coming from unemployed single Parent families Many girls with babies of their own kids dropping in and dropping out of class taking eight years to Complete High school partying drinking violence gangs a they re All daily realities in the lives of inner City kids. But so too Are the teachers and programs at . Russell school. Willow Henrikson arrived at the school five years ago with a new baby daughter. She was fleeing an abusive Boyfriend. A i had no idea what i wanted no aspirations at All. I think there a a Cycle i was born into. My Mother had me Early. She a a single Parent on welfare working when she can. I moved out when i was 17 and had a baby. A i dropped out of several High schools. I was doing a lot of drugs and . Got her hooked on a Community drama program. A i loved the real life of the plays and going out into elementary schools to perform a she recalls. The plays Are written by . Students about issues like violence and teen pregnancy. They re performed interactively with elementary students at inner City schools. . Also provided her with Strong relationships with several women. A i looked up to a lot of the female teachers. They had hard lives too and they made a after my second baby i saw i had made the wrong choices and began changing. I quit alcohol and drugs. I found support groups to help me Deal with my personal struggles. I got to know my mom again. I set up a mothers group at school. A a in be chosen to keep my kids and Foster a baby boy. Its my responsibility now to take care of us the Best i can. I done to want my kids to repeat the Cycle. People seem to think that we want to live like this. Well we done to want to live like this and . Helped me to Henrikson graduated this year and has been accepted As a student at the Winnipeg education Centre a program of the University of Manitoba designed to develop inner City teachers and social workers. A i made it a she says. A i want to take what in be Learned from . And add my own experiences to become a another student headed for University this year is David Jansen. He arrived at . When he was 14 years old the year his father committed suicide. A my Mother always worried about me a he says. A she was scared i was being led into drugs and gangs at . But really i was being turned on to acting and Jansen began writing. First stories and memories of growing up in the North end. Then poems about his dad a was i lie in slumber i dream Many dreams and one that lingers in the brain keeps forcing me to dream it until i Wake and a tear Rolls Down my Cheek and hits the Pillow. My dream is of my dad the one who gave me life i dream that he is still alive and we have the greatest time but then i Wake Willow Henrikson with daughters Baglee i and Mercedes 4, is Stod Ging to become a teacher. At icb., he discovered teacher Brian Mckinnon and William Shakespeare. Mckinnons teaching of Shakespeare is legendary. It includes muppet movies Shakespeare festivals elizabethan Root Beer Rock versions of Hamlet soliloquies acting and writing More acting and More writing. Quot David has a great gift for drama a says Mckinnon. A and teachers have a responsibility to nurture Mckinnon believes the barriers Between inner City kids and University Are considerable. He arranged for Jansen to attend University of Winnipeg drama sessions last year to gain Confidence. He helped him Register. And this summer he a working with Winnipeg businesses like . Robinson plumbing and heating to raise a scholarship for Jansen and other inner City kids who want to pursue Post secondary education. Mckinnon has close relationships with several other students who Are still climbing the ladder at ., and Are often on the verge of falling off. Chris Bruce is torn Between his life As an Active gang member and his life represented by .�?Ts classes and work. Because of missed classes he a officially a �?o911�?� student meaning teachers Are supposed to phone 911 if he appears. But he has maintained his tie with Mckinnon partly for the relationship and partly because he a Good at poetry. This is a poem written by Bruce and Amanda Johnson As part of a class on rap poetry a Cornin through my area i m Gonna have to Bury a cur stomp your head and shoot you dead. God bless the children though it was business never personal. Of you have stole my dope you would never got smoked twelve gauge to the brain bring your family some pain you have messed with me because now i have to mess with you now you re dead and gone so Long a this images Are powerful and come from his real life a says Mckinnon. A a that a what poetry it also Speaks of the biggest problems . Is facing. Although teaching practices and programs have remained excellent for several years attendance has dropped As the Indian posse increases the violence in the area around the school. A curb stomping and �?o12-gauges to the brain Are not images that attract students. Aside from gang affiliations Bruce has had positive work experiences helping to redecorate the old Palace theatre on Selkirk Avenue and now working on renovating inner City housing. Its work he Learned to do in carpentry classes at . All students at . Take three weeks in academics and then three weeks in classes like advertising Art mechanics music cosmetology carpentry and six others. Bruce took part in an . Building trades program that moves out into the Community to renovate run Down inner City housing. A Success with kids has to be measured in individual terms Quot says principal Wally Stewart. A students come with different needs and teachers have to respond. But it has to be More than nurturing. Its when caring meshes with the Best teaching practices that we get a Best teaching practices is a big part of the philosophy at . This year an american curriculum association made up of 200,000 professionals chose ., along with schools from Kansas City and new Jersey As a Model in inner City teaching. A recent professional development Day at the school was led by Helena Hodges an american who has taught in every ghetto in new York from Bedford Stuyvesant to the lower East Side. She told teachers that .�?Ts programs were using teaching practices successful in High poverty High crime areas anywhere. A lot of those teaching practices revolve around programs like Art drama and poetry writing that use students real life experiences rather than academic exercises. Hodges presented research showing that most inner City students Are not learners who begin their learning with lectures. Some Are tactile learners who need programs that emphasize touching and constructing. For instance John Penace Sart murals and Chris bruces carpentry. Some Are Kinaesthetic learners who need Field trips and real life experiences. For instance Willow Henrikson and her love of Community drama. And some Are visual learners who get turned on by Reading and looking at things. For instance David Jansen Shakespeare and the puppets. But the starting Point for All these learners is a trusting relationship with a teacher. For instance Greg Czemerynski. He came to . For the Chance to perform music in the schools vocational music shop. But he a still there because last year when he afford a damage Deposit to move into his own place principal Wally Stewart came up with the needed $130. Greg will graduate from . Next year. He a saving Money for University. He also wants to pay Back stewarts $130. Quot but the real payback for me will be his Success a says the principal. Mike Maunder is a Winnipeg writer. Gordon burling is a recent graduate of . Russell vocational High school ;