This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
About My Students
Mya and Dakota are two students that are eagerly leading this project. They were given an animal phyla assignment in Oceanography and wanted to know if they could also incorporate their work in art on the project. The Art teacher and I decided to let the students do a collaborative project.
Part of the girls' animal phyla requirement was to do an illustration of their animal and they wanted to incorporate it with what they were about to do in art. They asked if they could choose their medium and I said yes. They each decided to recruit other students to get more creative in their projects as well. So we have a growing number of students who are working on a collaboration between Oceanography and Art. The project is growing bigger and expanding as they discuss and come up with more ideas. Students are also bringing Art into the STEAM aspect of our school by doing this collaboration project.
Students will be able to build artwork for their art portfolio which is preparing them for college and their careers. They are also having to learn to meet the requirements of different people at once which is a lot of on the job training and real-life problem solving that most have a hard time with. I am glad that we are both able to work together to help these students develop these skills and see the beautiful works of art that they will create as they learn more about the animal kingdom. They also are learning how to write multiple grants since this is becoming a multi-level project.
In Their Own Words
We are trying to meet the criteria specified by our art instructor and meeting the standards of our class as well as incorporating the science of oceanography by using different animal phyla as our subject matter for our art pieces that we choose. We hope to build up our art portfolio for college through these pieces as well as learn how to work with the demands and restraints of two instructors at once.
We first started with our basic needs on the project but now that our project has grown, our ideas have expanded. We feel that we can inspire and lead our peers into joining us as well as spring them into developing a project of their own when they see our success. We want to lead by example. We started small but made sure we had the basics for our art class for drawing. As our group grows and we choose different mediums, we are having to expand our project.
Most schools now have stopped funding the art programs, but our school has an amazing art teacher and program and we want to not only take advantage of it but we want to show her that we appreciate all of her efforts. This is why we are wanting to collaborate with other areas to show art should be incorporated into all main core areas. Students have higher test scores and function better when they are given a creative outlet and there is nothing more creative than art! Please support art!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. McCook and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
