Creating Authentic, Reflective Experiences for Students

The issues addressed in chapters 17 & 19 of Art Education for Social Justice focus on tapping into a student's history and experiences while in the artroom to enhance their understanding of and relationship to the artwork they create. In these two chapters, students were confronted with the need to express and share their thoughts and ideas on important issues, sometimes requiring research in order to do so. Perspectives were awakened and reformed. They reacted to the assignments with increased involvement and a drive to want to make art. These projects had been reinvented to address the social conditions the students were living in. A self-portait project evolved into a drawing of a soldier killed in the war currently effecting all our lives. The famous and generally well-received PostSecret project began by Frank Warren became the basis for a school-wide junior high project about hopes, wishes, and regrets. Students were guided to make more authentic work that reflected themselves. Alexandria W. Zettler expressed this idea in chapter 19 when she wrote, "we should create art about what we know, about who we essentially are. We should address our own social, cultural, political, and emotional points of view" (146). Creating assignments with these aims in mind means students will learn to be more reflective of their beliefs and reflect on the beliefs of others.

How can you get your students to move beyond the everyday issues to think more critically about their community and the world they live in?
To get students tuned into their environments is a daunting task. Depending on their level of development, they will have varying concerns encompassing their minds and distracting them from the realities of their society. Thus, to stimulate them into that proactive mindset required to engage in the curriculum requires a lot of planning on our, the teacher's, part. We must incorporate activities into the curriculum that allow the students to research and discover for themselves what is happening in their communities and society at large. They need the opportunity to reflect on what they are learning and develop informed opinions. By providing experiences where many viewpoints are represented, they will challenge their perspectives and become more aware of the concerns of other peoples. After building a foundation of mutual respect and understanding of others' viewpoints, we can channel those ideas into a greater understanding of the human race. With any luck, we will foster in our students the want to contribute what they can to make life better for all the world's people.

What did these teachers do to help them reach success?
These teachers were striving to build a deeper connection between students and the work they were creating. They made what the students were doing meaningful, and the students in turn put more of themselves into the projects. I enjoyed in the student's response to the project "Hopes, Wishes, and Regrets" when she said, "When we make a piece of art out of someone's secret, we have to try to figure out what the person was feeling so we can express it through the artwork. I also tried to put my own personal feelings into the artwork to help me connect with the person that wrote the secret" (131). The teacher made it possible for the students to experience empathy first-hand, and in doing so, build stronger relationships with their peers. The students' reactions to the project, their greater enthusiasm and motivation to continue making art, is very rewarding as an art educator. I hope to elicit such responses from my students when I begin my career.