Johnson/Buchanan
unmasking
How can unmasking different layers of ourselves be a force of self-awareness and self-management?
Tell us the story of your project
Mrs. Johnson and I felt that journaling was a great outlet for the students. It was a mechanism that we used to address the students' feelings without overstepping boundaries and providing a space for them to release their thoughts and emotions. The idea of journaling paired with Mrs. Johnsons' experience with a seminar focusing on unmaking birthed our concept and base for our project: UNMASKING. Every class started with journaling and illustrating their feelings followed by answering a writing prompt. We gave students the space to talk about their feelings and answers to the writing prompt after the sessions were over, for those who were interested in a share-out. We participated in a number of team-building activities afterward and plunged into the idea that we are all compiled of "layers" that define us and make us who we are. The outcome was creating masks that represent the different layers of who we are and the beauty of unmasking these societal expectations to the innermost true self.
What was your approach to teaching?
We wanted to address our summer classes with a focus on SEL standards where students are able to develop awareness and self-management skills through their emotions. We used social awareness and interpersonal skills to maintain positive relationships and incorporated two goals as the foundation to our approach:
Goal 1: to develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success.
Goal 2: use social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.
To achieve this goal, the students were assigned to journal their feelings: encouraged the students to reflect on their feelings and how they could proactively change the emotions that they have if it was not positive. And if they are positive, how do you maintain that positive emotion throughout the day? What control do they have that would lead them to have a positive and successful day? After the student selected the emotion they were asked to put a movement to the emotion and we compiled movements to express their feelings.
Alongside journaling, we focused on games and activities to make students focus and be aware of their peers. The final stage was unmasking...recognizing we have layers that make us the people that we are!
How did you collaborate with your STA,
if you had one?
We collaborated with our STA (Mr. Spicer), in many ways. Throughout the program, he was the liasons between the teacher/teaching artist and the students and provided the students with a reliable person to depend on when they were overwhelmed. Not only was he a conduit between the instrutors and students, but he also led story time with the younger students, participated in theater-based activities and games that enriched the students awareness and team building capabilities. Mr. Spicer also facilitated conversations based off of our SEL Journal entry share outs.
Mr. spicer + our 6-8th graders
mr. spicer dancing with the students
How did you incorporate your manifesto into your project?
We incorporated our manifesto within our project by allowing the students to be free to express themself fully without being judged. Many of the questions introduced while journaling evoked imagination and manifestation of things they desired in the present and future.
MASKS
WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Our students working on their masks.
THURSDAY community BIKE RIDES
Every thursday, Ms. Leana and Ms. Nicholson organized a community bike ride that we all loved to participate it!
the ocean dance
The ocean dance is an improvisation dance that the kids created to represent the layers of the ocean.