2. Connecting Culture and Community: Earth Day 2016

Connecting Culture and Community: Earth Day 2016

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

*Students and teachers are engaged in active, purposeful learning. Active Learning

I heard the director of “In Real Life,” a middle school community partnership program in Asheville, North Carolina speak. She asked my students to think about something they love to do, or participate in, or watch. She shared that many of us became interested in a hobby or skill we love today when we were in middle school. We may have learned to sew or cook, or fish, or fell in love with football, or music, or reading when we were in middle school. Middle school is a breeding ground for life -interests! By focusing on students’ culture and community, we can make learning more engaging.

This week one of my students shared that he is learning to fly fish. He loves fishing and decided to teach himself. He said, “I didn’t catch anything, but it was fun.” At the end of the day, another student, several actually, are learning to play the guitar and are learning to paint with watercolors. On our team, other students are running track and playing city league. These activities and experiences are enhanced by community organizations, the local park service, and county events. One of the features of our region is the quilt. On buildings throughout the county and western North Carolina there are quilts. In fact, there are quilt trails throughout western North Carolina (http://www.quilttrailswnc.org/). We have quilt squares on all of our schools and the school board, on businesses, and on buildings throughout our community.

I used this cultural element of our community as to engage my students in an Earth Day banner competition. I shifted the focus of EOG Boot Camp to geometry so students could work together to design an Earth Day banner. Each design included a one-inch border. Students worked in pairs or in teams to design their banners. They had four days. Every day about fifteen minutes was devoted to working on the banners. At the end of the week, all of the banners were displayed and students in each class voted for the top three banners and then voted for a banner from a different class. Sixteen banners were selected.

Using the muslin fabric, each banner design was traced. We created a coloring book of the images.

Students then painted the fabric using watered-down acrylic. A total of thirty-five students were working on the sixteen panels. (It was a little crowded.) We worked with the art teacher. On Friday, we used “Club Time” to allow students to trace their banners and began painting with shades of blue. During lunch and advisory over the next three days, students and their partners painted. On Wednesday, while students were being assessed, I sat at the back of the room and began to sew the panels together. I found out that many of my students’ have family members who sew. We ended up with a quilt top.

Our next piece will be to have every student on our team create a quilt square to put around the border. We will use their initials, find the angles of the letters and have them decorate their own quilt square. We will then, in theory, sew the border on the quilt top and actually quilt the banner. (There is a lot of math in quilting!)

Since this project, at the end of the day, between car rider dismissal and bus dismissal, I have students say, "Can we paint?" 

"You bet we can!" I say... but we use water colors instead of acrylics. (:

Advice

1)   Middle school is a time when our students will develop habits and interests for life; we must embrace opportunities to inspire our students. Electives, clubs, sharing your own interests and hobbies that are beyond academics will make a difference.

2)   When you are in a city, look up the Chamber of Commerce to find out what events are planned.

3)   Find out what activities your students are engaged in. Use their interests to make connections with them as people and to make connections with your content.

4)   Use community events as a focus for learning. Find out what competitions are available. This information can be found through the district office or your local administration team.

5)   Collaborate with other teachers. This project would not have happened without the support of the art teacher.