Each year, students studying Art Education at UIUC are paired with a cooperating teacher at Prairie-View Ogden North/South to create and teach a 7 week art class. I was assigned to the 2nd grade class, which I observed and taught once a week from Jan. 24th - April 27th. I created a 7-week curriculum with the focus of exploring identity, environment, and the relationship between the two. In each lesson, we explored different questions surrounding the various facets of identity and environment such as: what do our surroundings reveal about our identity? How does our identity and environment change? and Where do we feel most vibrantly ourselves?
Object self portraits were the introduction to our exploration of identity and environment. We thought of objects that surround us in our daily lives, and how they represent who we are. The goal of this activity was to begin drawing connections between our physical surroundings and our personal identities.
Weeks two and three we furthered our exploration of identity by creating zines that tell stories about our lives. Students learned to fold and cut their own 8-page zines, which they filled with tales of their past, present, and future. The objective this week was to recognize how identity and environment can change over time, but our past, present, and futures selves all impact our current identity.
Weeks four, five, and six we worked on our most complex project yet. The students created miniature dioramas of environments (imaginary or real) that represent their identity. They were encouraged to get creative and include many aspects of their identity, even if it meant the environment depicted became a made-up or dream space. The goal of this project was to envision environments that allow us to be our most authentic selves.
Week seven we completed our final project for the class which reviewed everything we've learned about identity, environment, how they change, and how they interact. Students created collaged maps of their brains, using many bits and pieces to create one complete image of their mind and identity. The objective of this lesson was to signify how their identities are similarly made up of a vast number of different factors, all of which culminate to make them, them.