6th grade is completing social justice portraits, and I have to say I am so impressed! They were brought into the project with one big question, and 2 learning targets. Our big question this year is “what does art do?” Our learning targets were drawing correct facial proportions, and social justice art. I will post the exact learning targets taken from the curriculum if anyone would like to see deeper into the “why.” So we know what portraits are- it means drawing someone’s face. We worked hard to make sure that we are always improving, and working on measurements. But what is social justice art? Why do some people cringe when they hear the phrase? Why is it important to talk about? I defined social justice art as making sure that everyone in life has the same chance of success as everyone else, no matter what their individual circumstances may be. It means that if we are all running a race, we all start at the same starting line, with the same obstacles to face. We discussed how certain things may cause our track to have added hurdles, while other things may cause our starting line to get pushed back. Some of the examples of social justice causes are below. I added animal activism after some discussions from students about how they wanted to stand up for animals. We also looked at the following examples of social justice art through history. We discussed our question of “what does art do” and talked about what these works of art might have done. The students were then to choose a cause that they connected with, or could feel empathy for. They were asked “who do you want to speak for/ stand up for?” They were asked “what do you want to fix?” They were then asked to design a work of art in mind with the question “what do you want to say?’ This is deep stuff for 6th grade! We had discussions and talked about how this kind of stuff isn’t exactly light and fun, but that it is necessary to have these conversations. We talked about the kind of stuff that they learn in school that will stick with them, and how learning to help and relate to other people is something they can carry with them through life. We also talked about how one person might see an injustice where another sees normal life. This is tricky stuff, and should always be approached with sensitivity.
I was really impressed by the conversations I had with my students, and the empathy they displayed for those around them. Most were able to voice what they wanted to say, and we worked together to figure out how to represent that visually. The end projects are truly art straight from the heart. Going back to our original question, “what does art do,” we hope that we have created art that we can proudly say “art changes hearts and make a difference in our world.” Finished projects coming soon!
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October 2018
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