Responding to UNESCO's nine ideas for public action in education in a post-COVID world

By: Alex Zacarias*

Given that we are currently dealing with two global pandemics—COVID-19 and systemic racism,  preparing for whatever is next in education I believe begins by putting Social Emotional  Learning (SEL) first. Because the pandemics are forcing educational providers to re-invent  themselves, Social Emotional Learning should be front and center in all our decisions  regarding educational programs and systems. And one of the best ways to do this is by not only teaching  the sciences, but also incorporating the arts in how we educate youth – STEAM, not only STEM. For  example, to help address the present and future needs of youth I was involved in a 4-year  study funded by the Wallace Foundation called the Youth Arts Initiative*. The model leveraged  a partnership between the Boys & Girls Club of America and Professional Practicing Teaching Artists like  myself, a filmmaker, as mentors to collaborate, create and honor Youth Voice in the process.   

Since I was a kid, I always loved the sciences and the arts. I learned photography watching my father  catching moments of life of family, friends, and events with his camera. Also, as a kid I was quite  comfortable with cutting open a dead squirrel that was brought to me by other kids in the neighborhood  who knew that I was weirdly into the science of biology, always fascinated with what makes us tick.  When I was a tween my parents signed me up to a local Boys & Girls Club in Chicago to keep me out of  trouble. At the time I was a ‘lost’ kid from a blue-collar undereducated immigrant family living in an  underprivileged neighborhood. Fortunately, and unbeknownst to my mother, she had signed me up to  an after-school program at this Boys & Girls Club that was a martial arts program - an “arts  program”! The guidance and experience given to me at the club literally saved my life. I was fortunate.  Unfortunately, the same systemic barriers I faced when I was a kid, still persists today during toxic  times.  

In my early adulthood, I nurtured my love of science as a professional Cardiac Catherization Technologist  and an Electrophysiology Technologist at the University of California San Francisco hospitals. My work  dealt with people who were suffering from diseases affecting the “plumbing” and “electrical” processes  that makes our hearts tick. During that period of my life a mentor mentioned that you can always go  back to school and re-invent yourself into a new career. After a number of years dealing daily with life  and death decisions, I decided to pivot to the other part of me by picking up that camera that I loved  when I was a kid. Today, I am Emmy Award Winning Producer in broadcast television and an  independent filmmaker.  

In 2014 life came full circle for me in a very serendipitous way when a position at the Boys & Girls Club  of Greater Green Bay for a Professional Practicing Teaching Artists and Director of the Digital Visual Arts  Program came my way. This position allows me to teach my passion of storytelling to underprivileged  youth and to become a 'Club Kid' once again. The youth in my Digital Visual Arts Program, better known  as the Creative Crew, are learning to discover their voices through photography and video production.  Also, Youth Voice motivates the youth to take what they are learning to better their lives through art  making and when the opportunity arises to be good citizens of the world and give a voice to those not  often heard in their community.  

There are numerous new things I have learned and am still discovering these past six years as a Teaching  Artist. I’ve learned that when both the disciplines of science and art are added together the learning  outcomes can be quite profound for the youth involved. Often thought of as separate unrelated fields,  by adding these disciplines together we may find the equation 1+1 often ends up something more. 

Where once I was proficient on how the heart works in our body, I am now learning what makes a kid  tick. How the traumas in life can affect youth mentally, physically, and spiritually. In my arts space I  have encountered youth who initially felt broken only to discover that they can, with the right  mentoring, put their own pieces together into something more than they could have imagined. I have  discovered that the arts can be used as a tool to help mend some of those cracks that we as humans all  have. When you add the Arts plus Social Emotional Learning to the mix the outcomes can add up to  much more than one expected. My life experience, discipline, and educational training has provided me  with a unique lens through which I can more clearly see the connections between science, art, and social  emotional learning.  

In my experience the most gratifying situations are in large part due to the good teamwork, support, and fellowship of my colleagues. I’ve found this repeatedly working with a group of folks that are good  at what they do, whether it was a lab of specialized medics, a creative film crew, or a youth-serving  organization. And the biggest gift is that sometimes you literally might save someone's life. Similar to  the sense of urgency I had working with patients, my role now as a Teaching Artist requires me to  become a sort of First-Responder during these pandemic times of COVID-19 and systemic racism for the  youth we serve. It's about knowing and applying the physical science of how to work in environments  with such a deadly virus, knowing and applying the mental and emotional healing one derives through  the arts when dealing with systemic racism and understanding that social emotional learning is the main  key that helps individuals, communities, and the artist themselves survive in the current oppressive  social systems we live in. I believe that the art form I teach helps youth become more empathetic to  others because it requires communication and the power of listening to be able to 'hear' people's  stories. It requires the student to become a team player and for some youth they are still in a phase of  struggling of forming social and emotional coping skills. Also, adding the arts helps in shaping the ethical  and moral questions that need to be addressed in the sciences as we plan on how to reshape a better  tomorrow.  

From my experiences I believe the arts and sciences are more alike than one thinks because in both  settings we are attempting to understand and explain the world we are currently living in. The goals are  the same – why not creatively bring together those disciplines, subjects, and learning traditions from  each field to motivate the learners today even more. The scientific approach helps to determine what is  right and wrong, while the arts help express concepts of right and wrong through interpretation,  representation, expression, and form.  

However, this will require help from a hybrid educator – the Teaching Artist. There are a variety of  discussions, opinions, and definitions of what a Teaching Artist is. For me in its simplest terms it means  that I teach what I know by teaching my art form in the context of life’s challenges. This is especially  important for the youth I work with who are still figuring things out and who have their own personal  challenges. To help support their social and emotional learning, I share with my students my personal  and professional journey so that they understand “that if I can do it, you can do it” – with the right help.   A Professional Practicing Teaching Artist I believe serves as a model of what a 21st century artist is and  can be. It includes being an entrepreneur in your art field, a model for high-end educational  engagement, social emotional caretakers, and community activists serving the greater good.  

The future of education in my opinion would be more fruitful and fulfilling to students if a  more purposeful use of artistic skills, processes, and experiences are used as an educational tool to  foster learning in non-artistic disciplines like the sciences at the same time better supporting their social  emotional learning. With both tools in their kit, educators will be able to go full STEAM ahead.

*Raising the Barre and Stretching the Canvas: Implementing High Quality Arts Programming in a National Youth Serving Organization- Experiences of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America suggest that large, multidisciplinary youth organizations can establish high-quality arts 

programs. https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/raising-the-barre-and stretching-the-canvas.aspx

*Alex Zacarias

Alex Zacarias began his career nearly three decades ago producing Spanish language television programs for Telemundo in Chicago before moving to Northeast Wisconsin in 1998 to produce news programming and educational content for Fox 11 News, WBAY-TV 2, and PBS Wisconsin. An Emmy Award winning producer of children's programming he owns and operates a film and video production company 3N Productions, LLC. He is also a recipient of community awards for his role in helping to empower the growing minority community including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award and Mayor's Civic Award.

In his current role as Digital Visual Arts Director since 2014, Alex Zacarias has been recognized with the Visionary Award as a Teaching Artist in the Youth Arts Initiative Program at the Boys and Girls Club Greater Green Bay. The Creative Crew members in his program work on digital video productions that teaches youth the fundamentals of the filmmaking process while imparting technical skills associated with camera work and editing, Youth Voice storytelling, project management and entrepreneurship.