Art Teacher Visits Japan

Patti Brigman Brings Culture Into Classroom

Last updated Friday, November 21, 2008 7:38 PM CST in Our Town

By Bettina Lehovec
THE MORNING NEWS

"The advantage I have as an art teacher is I don't have to follow a set curriculum," she said. "I can teach the standards in many different ways."

A hallway display shows Japanese-inspired art pupils created before she left. The ink and pastel drawings feature delicate colors and precise designs. They depict snow-capped mountains, schools of fish, floral arrangements and Buddhas.

Children also completed Japanese-style paper cuts earlier this year. Future art projects include Japanese brush painting, weaving and sculpture. Origami, kirigami and fish printing are part of the standard art curriculum.

Brigman's classroom reflects the year-long emphasis on Japan. Paper parasols and lanterns hang from the ceiling. A Japanese doll, a teapot and a cherry branch adorn a shelf. Wall posters show works by European masters influenced by Japanese art -- Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

Brigman lived in Japan for three years as a child. Her father was stationed on the former Tachikawa Air Force Base in Tokyo. When the opportunity arose to revisit the country through the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program, she jumped at the chance.

"I just always have had an interest and affinity for Japan and the Japanese people," she said.

The Japanese government began the teacher program in 1997 as a way to say "thank you" for the Fulbright scholarship program initiated by the United States after World War II. More than 6,000 Japanese graduate students have taken part.

Brigman learned while on the trip that the teachers program has been discontinued. Her group was the last to receive the benefit.

Treated Like Royalty

A group of 158 school teachers and administrators met in San Francisco on Oct. 12. They met with the Japanese consul general and flew to Tokyo the next day.

Their first week was spent in the capital city, getting grounded in Japanese culture. They dined for seminar sessions with government officials and educators and toured the Diet, the national legislative building of Japan.

They took a driving tour, visited shrines and attended a performance of Japanese theater. A free day took Brigman and some others to the Big Buddha of Kamakura, a 13th-century bronze statue that stands 44 feet high.

"I saw things I had seen in pictures," she said. "It was amazing to see them in real life."

The teachers were treated like royalty throughout their stay, Brigman said. Five star hotels, sumptuous meals and dedicated handlers and guides made her feel like a V.I.P.

"I don't believe I've ever felt so important," she told students on the blog she wrote while she was gone. "This trip is so nicely planned out and we have been so well taken care of, that I may be a bit spoiled when I return.

"Not one moment is wasted and we have very little free time, but none of us want (that). We are all too enthusiastic about seeing all we can see and learning all we can learn about Japan."

After their week in Tokyo, teachers split into groups of 16 and traveled to host cities for a nine-day stay. Brigman's group flew to Uki City in Kumamoto prefecture (the Japanese equivalent of a state) on the Island of Kyushu in Southern Japan.

The group visited a teachers training college and three schools -- an elementary school, a junior high and a senior high. They observed children in the classrooms and met with school officials, teachers and parents. Parents spoke freely about issues of concern. Among them were testing, bullying and other social issues.

Children in Japan are not immune to these woes, Brigman said.

Education is compulsory through the ninth grade. Nearly all students continue, but they're separated according to what kind of training they'll need. Students choose an occupation in junior high school.

American teachers expected to see a strong focus on academics, Brigman said. They were pleasantly surprised to notice the care teachers have for the whole child.

"It was nice to see that teachers have as much passion for kids' physical and mental health as they do for academics," she said. "No matter what, they love that kid."

Shopping Among Highlights

Brigman is still catching her breath after the action-packed tour. The trip was such a rich and varied experience, it's hard to pick a favorite part, she said.

Highlights mentioned on her blog include a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market at dawn, riding the Tokyo subway for the first time and shopping in the youth-oriented Harajyuki area.

She also enjoyed an overnight home stay with a family in Uki City and a night in a Japanese inn, or ryokn (pronounced yokan). The teachers dined on traditional dishes cooked at their tables. They soaked in outdoor hot springs at the foot of Mount Usu. They slept on futon-style mats and woke to a Japanese breakfast of rice, fish, pickled vegetables and miso soup.

In Tokyo, Brigman met with a Japanese art teacher who had contacted her through an e-mail list they belong to. They'd arranged a meeting. Nearly 40 art teachers took part -- half of them from Japan and half from the United States. They were "kindred spirits," Brigman said, sharing the same passion for art and the same sense that art should be more highly regarded in the school curriculum.

Some very basic matters caught Brigman's attention. A slide show on her Flickr account is titled "Toilets and Bathrooms." Some toilets were high tech, with seats that warmed and played music. Others were traditional, requiring users to squat.

Bathing was a ritual. People showered off before they entered the tub, Brigman said. During her home stay, she bathed first. The same water was reserved for family members.

In the schools, Brigman was struck by the practice of children cleaning the building. Every child had an assigned task. Some swept the yard. Others ran down the hallways pushing folded towels. In 15 minutes, the work was done. Teachers called the service work "education of the heart."

In the end, it was the people she met who made the biggest impact, Brigman said. A woman she met on her subway trip to the Big Buddha became her Japanese "mother." The 20-year-old son of her home stay parents reminded her of her own sons.

People in general were helpful and friendly, Brigman said. She always felt safe.

The teacher brought back five-yen coins for her 835 students. The coins have a hole in the middle. Children strung them on colored yarn and tied them around their necks. They also crowded around her table of souvenirs, examining postcards and books and batting a paper ball.

Brigman's trip fits in with the growing appreciation of global influence in Northwest Arkansas, said Marsha Jones, an assistant superintendent for the Springdale School District.

"Children come from all over the world to Springdale," Jones said. "Patti's experience of going to Japan enhances her ability (to teach) by bringing back that particular strand of that particular culture.

"She can tell us what's unique and what we can learn."

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