Photographer as Observer - School staff at work

SCHOOL STAFF AT WORK

My initial goal for this project was to photograph colleagues of mine at different schools where I work: Options High School, Concordia University and the Yeshiva Gedola. I wanted to photograph members of the school staff in their professional space, which implies their office, classroom, or in the staff room. It was difficult to coordinate this, because as teachers, we are trying to accomplish a certain amount of tasks within a day and it is easy to get sidetracked by students, administrative duties, or impromptu problems that need to be dealt with. It is difficult for a teacher to stay in one place for too long. My strategy for taking the photos was to document them as they were working, or during a moment of rest. Within the photographs, you get a sense of what different spaces in the school that the teaching staff uses look like. These spaces are either communal, private, or somewhere in between. In addition to this, the photographs show how members of the school staff use their space so that they can organize their thoughts and workflow, be it an established space or a temporary one. These spaces frame their activities and reveal aspects of their working habits and personality that might have otherwise not been visible had I simply asked them to pose for a traditional portrait.

Through my role as photographer and observer, I was able to establish a different relationship between myself and my subjects. Being the photographer (observer) was a new way for me to connect to these people, and in turn, a new way for them to connect to me. Because the portrait was informal and not a posed photograph, I felt as though my subjects were not really bothered by my presence (or they didn't show it) or intimidated by me taking their portrait. I found the interview component to be even more intimate than the taking of the portrait. I had one simple question for everyone to answer, which was “What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?”, and the diverse responses that I got were very honest and inspiring. Some of the answers, despite seeming simple in their content, were imbued with a great deal of personality, intellect, humour and/or emotion. I feel like I was able, through this project, to not only better understand how my colleagues view themselves as an intrinsic part of the functioning of the school, but also to learn more about them on a personal level; to see more of the person behind the professional. 

I would like to give a big thanks to all my coworkers who took some time out of their busy day to help me with this project. 

Options High School

Options High School is an outreach school in the English Montreal School Board, situated in Ville-Émard. The student population is composed of at-risk teens in grade 10 and 11. I teach Visual Arts there one day a week, and I have been teaching there since January 2016. Options hosts a strong team of core subject teachers and resource staff that strive to provide the right framework for the students that attend the school. Also, two staff members let their dogs roam the hallways, which is really special and therapeutic for the students and the staff.

I photographed six staff members from Options, but only five were interviewed due to time constraints. The teacher that I was not able to interview is Elizabeth Annesley (featured below). She is an English and History tutor who was previously an English teacher at Options.

Elizabeth Annesley, doing preparatory work for her English tutoring.

Name: Michael Carignan

Role at Options High School: English and Ethics Teacher

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: I’ve been working in this environment, in this actual neighbourhood, for 16 years now. This is my first year at Options, but I was at a school just down the street for 15 years. So, I think what I’ve been able to do, as my career develops a little more, is get a sense of what they go through in their day-to-day lives, and I use that. I myself am also learning-disabled. I have ADD and a mild case of dyslexia, and I had to overcome those obstacles. So given the fact that a lot of our students have those obstacles, I teach them ways to get around, to try to use their strengths and that they can try to achieve on a day-to-day basis, not just inside of the classroom, but in general, and I know that it’s not just about the subject, it’s also about life and teaching them skills, so I do take the time to do that as well. I have lived in this community for a long time too, so I get a sense of relating to what they are going through, basically, and I teach them with that in mind.

Michael Carignan in the English classroom.

Name: Penny Arns

Role at Options High School: Head Teacher for 2017-18 year, teaches History and handles administrative duties, budgeting, discipline, etc.

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: I have worked with [at risk] youth for 15 years, and I think that it’s an important place for a lot of kids to have a place to come to that is like a safe place, a soft place to land, but it needs structure, and it needs some limits and I think that that’s the tricky balance that we are trying to sort out right now. You know, and kind of support them positively, but with limits...and get them to graduate.

Penny Arns, preparing for a History lesson.

Nom: Marie-Hélène Gagnon

Rôle à l’école secondaire Options: Professeure de français (langue seconde) et fait la cuisine avec les élèves (en français, bien sûr)

Qu’est-ce que vous pensez que vous contribuez dans votre rôle à Options?: Comme je suis plus jeune, je pense que j'emmène un côté aussi où les élèves peuvent plus se confier à moi, j’ai l’impression. D’une certaine façon, je suis la personne ressource pour ça. On crée aussi une différente relation. Sinon, je pense qu’enseigner le français dans une école comme ça, je suis peut-être le seul modèle francophone que les élèves ont dans leur milieu ou même dans leur vie. J’ai pas l’impression qu’ils parlent vraiment en français ailleurs qu’avec moi à l’école, donc c’est pour ça que j’essaie le plus possible de parler français, ou juste, qu’ils me répondent aussi en français, mais même si ils me répondent pas français, de toujours communiquer en français pour qu’ils aient un modèle francophone dans l’école. Je pense que c’est pas mal ça que j’emmène de différent. C’est ça, c’est sûr que l'âge aussi, ça me donne une proximité que d’autres enseignants ont moins, donc je sens aussi qu’on connaît les mêmes choses, la musique et tout...ça rapproche.

Marie-Hélène Gagnon, the French teacher, helping the students prepare a meal for later.

Name: Adolfo Vasquez

Role at Options High School: Lab Technician (science experiments💥💥💥 )

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: I think that I am bringing the more practical part of science, cause they get all the theory, and sometimes they don't see the relationship with the real world, so by doing the labs they can actually see what science is, and maybe it can inspire them to go into careers in science or something.

Adolfo Vasquez, taking a rest with Diggum (one of the Options dogs). During this time, the teachers were waiting for parents to arrive for Parent/Teacher meetings. 

Name: Beverly Walsh

Role at Options High School: School Secretary

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: In addition to the basic role of keeping administrative files in order, I am also kind of playing the role of grandma to these students. That’s a big part, for me, of what I do. I like to chat with them. I don’t have to have any expectations of them like the teachers do, so I enjoy their company and their conversation.

Beverly Walsh, at work in her office.

Concordia University

My current professional link to Concordia is through being a research assistant for Juan Carlos Castro and Ehsan Akbari. Many teachers in the school’s faculty are part-time and share an office space within the school. This is the case for Ehsan. I was unaware of this fact at the time when I was taking the portrait, and I ended up photographing him in Juan Carlos Castro’s office after a meeting for the MonCoin project. Here is my interview with Ehsan.

Name: Ehsan Akbari

Role: PHD Candidate and teaching ARTE 498 (Art and Technology in Art Education)

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: An interest of mine is how to bring technology into education in a way that enhances pedagogy, so just dealing with that intersection with teaching, and technology, and art-making. And, contributing to how technology is used, and also contributing to digital literacy within the field of art education.

Ehsan Akbari, working on his laptop.

Yeshiva Gedola

The Yeshiva Gedola is a private all-boys school that hosts an intensive Hebrew and secular educational program for members of the Orthodox Jewish community. It is truly two schools in one, meaning that the students undergo an education in Talmudic studies and they fulfill the Quebec curriculum. I have been teaching art since the Fall of 2016 to students from all the high school grades. The high school has seen many positive changes over the time that I have been there. They developed their special education program, renovated their Visual Arts facilities and are modernizing many aspects of the school. I photographed three of the main persons responsible for all of these exciting changes, in their workspaces.

Name: Joseph Cahill Rooney

Role: Principal for Secular Studies of Senior High School (grades 9, 10 and 11)

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: My biggest interest is hiring the right type of teachers for the school, making sure they are properly treated, that they are payed adequately; and secondly, it's curriculum development.

Cahill Rooney, at work in his office.

Name: Jonathan Yehuda Bitton

Role: Principal of Secular Studies in Junior High School (grade 7 and 8)

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: I got into this as a member of this community and also as a parent. I have kids in elementary school that are coming up to high school, and that's really what got me involved into this. I was hearing different things about the high school and for me, as a religious Jew, understanding how the people that are part of this school see things religiously, and being a religious person in a secular world, everything that entails. I understood, and I understand, and I think that I share this with a lot of friends in the community that secular studies play an important role in society and in general, and even for religious Jews, and that's really what I came in to do, and that's what I feel that I am contributing to this school. That means really raising the bar for secular studies, that's my goal, that is what I want to do, because a lot of our students are eventually going to have to face the real world; not everyone is gonna live a religious lifestyle, in a bubble. Our kids are going to be exposed to the real world, and we want to make sure that they have the tools to deal with that later on, and that's what I am here to do, and that's what I feel that I am contributing. It's a very long process; I feel like I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I feel like I have contributed with little steps, and there's much more that I have to do to get to where I think that the students need to be.

Jonathan Bitton, at work in his office.

Name: Avraham Biegeleisen

Role: Assistant Principal for Secular Studies of Senior High School (grades 9, 10 and 11)

What do you think that you are contributing through your role within the school?: Well, if the students are where they are supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to do, everybody is happy, and everybody learns. So, I am aiding the teachers in teaching and the students in learning.

Avraham Biegeleisen, at work in his office.