Semester 1

How has your Planning Form (Big Idea/ Inquiry Question) [embedded above] changed in the classroom so far this year? What have students added to the inquiry?

***Our club started in February 2024, so we are answering all questions for the Spring 2024 semester***

We started out with the goal of incorporating all the tools of the Makerspace (graphic design, 3D printing, laser cutting) but found that students were most interested in…Sewing! Our students renamed our club "Sewing Club" or "Talking Sh*t while Sewing Club" This was our first semester and it’s been very student-driven. We started with machine sewing and completed a few projects. Then one day, our classroom was too hot and we decided to sit outside and learn how to embroider. We found that embroidery was extremely appealing and approachable to students, because of its relation to drawing and ease of personal expression. It was also a practice that we could teach new attendees quickly so that they could seamlessly join the group. After a few introductory projects (tote bags, scrunchies, pincushions, pillows) we let students choose their own projects. For the last few weeks, driven by student interest in creating images of solidarity with the Palestinian  people, we have been learning about traditional Palestinian embroidery and figuring out how to make keffiyehs with the school sewing machines.

What are the specific school needs identified by your group in the December PD? How will you use the class’ Big Idea/ Inquiry Question/ Artmaking Practice to address them? Please be as specific as possible.

Students at North-Grand need:

• Safe spaces for students to be after school, either at school (CAPE, other clubs) or in the neighborhood

• Positive interactions with adults 

• Spaces for peer-to-peer sharing and community building

• Adults to go to for emotional support and home-environment challenges 

• Homework help and academic support

• Feeling like they are part of something positive within their school and community

(These are all things students find through participation in CAPE clubs)

Challenges faced in meeting these needs:

• New, strictly enforced food policy: students are not allowed to bring food into the school, which means they must choose between getting food, or participating in after school clubs

• Security culture: security staff stand inside and outside the building at dismissal and yell at students that they must leave the school premises immediately. Students are not allowed to leave (to eat mostly) and come back into the building

• Students face challenges with their home environment, including housing precarity as housing prices in the neighborhood increase (economic struggles at home make paid programs more appealing)

• Students face challenges with transportation home from clubs, as many rely on parents or finicky CTA busses

We will use our club as a space where students can be safe and welcome in community with one another. Our sewing and embroidery practice has been very meditative and served as a space for students to wind down and decompress after the school day. 

Below, share photos and/or videos of select class activities. Specify what students are engaging with and learning (artistically, academically, and/or SEL), in reference to your Big Idea/ Inquiry Question. You may add different blocks from the right-hand side menu.

Machine Sewing

Hand Embroidery

How did students respond to their involvement in the Perspective(s) exhibition? This may include: artmaking, curation, visiting CAPE Family Days or Teen Night, discussing their experience, or other.

The deadline for the exhibition came early for us due to the late start of our club, but students finished as much work as they could in order to show it in the exhibition. They were really excited to see their work represented, and enjoyed looking at the other art work. People were impressed with their embroidery skills, which was good for them to hear!

What skills did students leave your class with?

Students learned how to use a sewing machine, how to hand-sew, and how to embroider. Students have learned a range of embroidery stitches and made embroideries for themselves and other people. They've also learned how to look at an image of a sewing or embroidery project on the internet and figure out how to make a version of their own.

Show evidence of this learning through photos and/or videos of select class activities. Specify what students are engaging with and learning (artistically, academically, and/or SEL), in reference to your Big Idea/ Inquiry Question. You may add different blocks from the right-hand side menu.

Teen Night

Research & Machine Embroidery

Group project of learning about the symbolic embroidery on the Palestinian keffiyah, and trying to translate stitches into a pattern we can make using the embroidery settings on the school sewing machines. Our goal was to lead a workshop at the school, but it took us too long to figure out and we ran out of time!