My 650 art students are a majority of non English speaking. Visual expression is a universal language which gives our English Language learners the opportunity to share their stories and celebrate their culture with their classmates through artmaking. I see each student for 1 hour each week.
Many of our students are refugees.
Because artmaking time is so valuable while in the art room, this project will give them the opportunity to extend and share their artmaking skills and "artmaking" language with their classmates. This, in turn, will offer them comfort in their own classrooms and freedom of expression. The traveling classroom sketchbook will be welcomed in the homes of each student and invite family involvement back into the classroom. Their artistic stories may then be shared with classmates of the same grade level, and as a completed project at the end of the year, they will be celebrated with all other classrooms in the school and become archives of the school library. Digital records of this project will be posted on the school's Art4cast Wikispace. What better assessment tool than to be posted on the world wide web. This can be nothing but a successful project when this diverse population is not being tested, timed, or graded.
My Project
ALL students love art. Never does a teacher at my school miss art class. My visual art program is a "side-by-side" teaching model which engages all teachers and specialists during an art lesson. The traveling sketchbook program allows teachers and students to be involved together, as a family, supporting family. Art skills integrated with core subjects in the regular classroom will inspire personal expression - keeping the love for learning alive.
This project is important because design is everywhere and young learners know this - whether they are African, Burmese, Asian, American.
They know their culture is about design - design is the future. When their expression via design can be published and shared, they know they have made a difference in this world. When they are published - via sketchbook contribution, and further on the web - their value as an American increases.
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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. Mitchell and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.