Rationale and Objectives
Walking into McClellan Elementary, located in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, one might well feel inspired by the diversity of the student population and its celebration of all cultures. As the fifth grade teacher at McClellan, I know I am. And I know students are too, but this inspiration is short lived once school ends. Bridgeport is quite radically diverse, roughly comprised of 34 percent white, 34 percent Asian, 27 percent Hispanic, 3 percent African American, when compared to other neighborhoods in Chicago. The same is true for McClellan Elementary. Our student population is made up of 43 percent African Americans, 33 percent Hispanic, 12 percent White, and eight percent Asian. This diversity is very uncommon in Chicago as you’ll learn later in this unit. At McClellan, the core values we strive for are inclusion and tolerance as well as student voice. Students feel they are reflected in curriculum and that their voice matters, and as a result they take pride in our school and the culture we created together. Once students leave the building, though, this changes. Students have valid reasons not to feel safe in their community. What upsets me is that perhaps because of the violence, they don't feel any sense of pride or belonging in the community. Whether students just come to Bridgeport for school or they live there, I want all students who attend McClellan to feel that their neighborhood represents them and that they are proud to be a part of it. I also want students to know that they can create change in their community, despite what they may think. In this unit, student will learn that their voice matters and they can use their voice to make change, through the mediums of poetry and other works of art, to make their community and city a place that represent them.
In this unit, students will explore ekphrastic poetry about works of art together with other works of art, gaining the confidence through meaningful, authentic, and extensive discussion, to create their own visual and verbal artworks. Inspired by local artists and art, students will explore ways in which the art they create can be used as activism to create change they want as well as a way to preserve cultural identity. Finally, students will collaborate and create a work of art that preserves our own culture as a school and neighborhood as well as bringing about an inspiring change in our community.
This is an integrated unit for both language arts and social science targeted for fifth grade. In this unit, there are several themes to unpack, such as activism, injustice, discrimination and racism, identity and so much more. The unit is set up to ensure that students are active participants and taking an active role throughout the entirety of the unit rather than being spectators. The unit is broken up into four parts. Part one will serve as an introduction to ekphrastic poetry. Students will explore ekphrastic poetry, gaining confidence through meaningful and extensive discussion, interpreting ekphrastic poetry both by from well known poets and also by student poets. Finally, students will create their own ekphrastic poems using local art as inspiration. Part two is focused on how to use works of art for a greater purpose. Students will learn how this can be done from the artist Latoya Ruby Frazier and her body of work titled Flint is Family 2016, a work of art intended to raise awareness about Flint Michigan’s water crisis. Students will then become activists themselves, creating a work of art to raise awareness about an issue they care deeply about in their neighborhood or city. The third part of the unit will question why we need activism in our community, city and beyond. This part will also analyze the impact of using art as form of activism. Students will learn about the history of three Chicago neighborhoods, Bronzeville, Pilsen and Chinatown. They will understand that discrimination was inflicted on the people of these communities and understand from their public art how the art they create can be used as activism to create change they want as well as a way to preserve cultural identity. The final part of this unit will require students to use everything they learned about activism, works of art as empowerment, and ekphrastic poetry to create their own mural that will represent the class as a whole and as individuals. Students will accompany the mural with an individual ekphrastic poem discussing the mural’s meaning from their point of view. The essential questions students will explore are what are ekphrastic poems, how can art be used as a form of activism, why do we need activism, how has art preserved culture, and who are we as one and as a community? With these questions to guide students’ learning, they are sure to be active participants as they use this unit to create change.
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