Background & Rationale
Frank W. Ballou High School is located east of the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, D.C. and is a part of Ward 8 in the District of Columbia Public Schools. Most of Ballou’s student population has been touched directly or indirectly by substance abuse, violence, and death due to gang activity and gun violence. As a result, many of our students have experienced the loss of friends and family members. Academically, Ballou ranks among the district’s lowest-performing high schools on core measures. Truancy is also a rampant problem as well; nearly 9 in 10 Ballou students missed a month or more in classes last school year for unexcused absences, according to school data. Ballou High School has recently been reconstituted for the second time in six years. Reconstituting Ballou is the District’s method of overhauling a low-performing school. Low teacher retention in the district, especially at Ballou, has fostered an apathetic culture among the students. This unit will create excitement about art and increase engagement in my classroom.
Increasing student engagement in the classroom is an important part of transforming the climate and culture of learning at Ballou High School. When students are excited about learning and engaged in an activity, learning will take place and discipline problems will be eliminated. Ultimately, student engagement in my classroom will also give me the pathway to raise the rigor with the outcome being a higher mastery of learning the material presented in my curriculum.
Mastery of skill and knowledge is not the only purpose that an art classroom can fulfill for students who experience frequent emotional and physical trauma. An art classroom can also provide a safe place for expression and self-exploration. Students can discover hidden talents and interests that inspire and validate that they exist and their existence matters. It is an important community for many of my students who live in group homes, have incarcerated parents, or face homelessness. So, although this unit addresses academic and artistic experiences, it is also my goal that at the end of the unit, students will use this experience to transcend trauma and loss, to gain self-awareness and self-esteem, and to feel part of our community.
This curriculum unit will span a period of three weeks and is created for a high school art class that meets for 70 minutes every other day. However, I believe that many elements of this unit would be useful to other areas of study such as English language arts, creative writing, literature, history, and social studies courses at the high school level. The primary thematic purpose of my curriculum unit is to increase interest in the visual arts by making them relatable and relevant to their daily lives. Although Ballou High School is located only a few miles from the Smithsonian Institution, most Ballou students have never ventured to the other side of the Anacostia River to walk through the Smithsonian Institution’s nineteen free museums and art galleries. Teaching in a city filled with a vast array of rich historical and cultural resources, I want my classroom to be that place of inspiration that will ultimately increase cultural awareness and interest in art and history, resulting in my students visiting the museums and art galleries that reside in their back yard!
One of the strategies of this unit will be a field trip to the National Gallery of Art so that my students can see first-hand illuminated letters and other artifacts that resemble tattoo art. In the teacher resource section of the curriculum unit, I will list a few of the resources that are on display in the National Gallery of Art collection.
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