Collages serve as an entry point to the process of learning. In my experience as a teacher, they have served as an aid for expressing feelings which learners have had trouble revealing verbally. They have an incredible value as a device for reflection and exploration. For example, one GED essay topic asked the students to discuss the many roles that they play. I invited the women to look through magazines and find pictures that portray their duties and feelings toward the different roles they play for their families, friends, and selves. I remember one woman, in particular, who most often would have trouble putting one sentence on the page. She found a picture of a woman with arms like elastic bands, which were being pulled in several directions by various people. She wrote that the picture described her feelings exactly, “[l]ike rubber bands pulling to their limits and on the verge of snapping.” This speaks so vividly of how the women often feel. They are used as objects and pushed, pulled, and bent until they feel broken. Not only are their bodies attacked, but their spirits are also put down more and more. The vicious cycle of impairment continues as their emotions are affected and later their minds. The collage not only reactivates the writing process, but it also frees the body, lifts the spirit, liberates the emotions, and unblocks the mind.

Collages are also extremely helpful for goal setting as well. In all of the core curriculum classes, goal setting is an important but challenging task. Horsman states “issues of control, connection and meaning are central to literacy learning as they are integrally connected to the tasks of setting goals, increasingly a central aspect of how literacy programming is being organized (2001).” Although goal setting may prove difficult and need special care, it is an essential element for gaining a deeper sense of self. By creating a pictorial representation of a self that can achieve goals, the women are able to give meaning to what they are working towards in their educational journeys. They see the goal and then connect with it. After creating a goals collage, we encourage the women to put this collage in a special place where they will see it every.