A project idea..

[ScarletBegonias]

Soon I'll be teaching art to teenagers again and this year I want to do an art project in honor of the victims of 9/11 to decorate the walls library at our school for the 10 year anniversary. The only classes I could do this in would be my beginning art classes and it would probably be their first "big" project. Giving them a big project so early on might come back to bite me, because usually many of them are confident. However, many of them seem to like collages (flipping through magazines seems to be fun for them, lol) and I think I could go that route with this one.

The reason I am posting a thread on here is because I don't know how to best approach the topic of 9/11 with them and what movie, if any, I would be able to safely show. Unfortunately, I think all the movies that teach the truth would get me in trouble, but those that gloss over it all with lies would be safe...I don't want to cause too much drama for myself with this, but I would like to have the students do a project that is related, if I can get it together. So, if anybody knows of any documentaries on the subject that they think could work or has any other ideas of how I can approach this, I would really appreciate the brainstorming help. Thanks!

Edit: Hmm, I'm thinking they will have a purpose to make something if they can relate it to an injustice they or someone they know has experienced. This could be a lot to ask for for the beginning student, but perhaps not if it's in the form of a collage. Hmm...I like this idea...

 

[aragorn]

The reason I am posting a thread on here is because I don't know how to best approach the topic of 9/11 with them and what movie, if any, I would be able to safely show. Unfortunately, I think all the movies that teach the truth would get me in trouble, but those that gloss over it all with lies would be safe...I don't want to cause too much drama for myself with this, but I would like to have the students do a project that is related, if I can get it together. So, if anybody knows of any documentaries on the subject that they think could work or has any other ideas of how I can approach this, I would really appreciate the brainstorming help. Thanks!

I'm not sure what you're suggesting here, but showing the students a 'documentary' that is mostly lies is IMO not a good idea - why woud you want to do that? I understand perfectly the delicacy of your situation, one must carefully choose the right strategy, especially as a teacher with many students. As a teacher, on one hand one would like to utilize the position and opportunity to "spread the truth", but on the other hand if you 'overdo it', you're labeled as a crack pot and you could be gonzerooni from the school/university etc.-depending on your contract.

The C's have said something like: "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." I guess depending on the stability of your position(can you be fired just like that?) you could choose to "go big", showing/teaching what you think is the most objective truth of the 911 thing. Or you could choose a more subtle strategy, choosing a little less loaded topic at first, like maybe 'narcissism', and see what the response will be from coworkers and students. IMO the best thing we as teachers can teach the youth, if they want to listen, is to think for themselves. IMO, in order to "jump start" them you can use many, less controversial topics. One of my coworkers said something useful the other day: "The best way to lecture is not to lecture-you just start discussing things with them [students]."

I think that by choosing a topic like 911, you must be ready to take some heat in whatever manner/angle (presenting the official lie woul be of no use, don't you think?) you present it. And in that case I would really take care that I would know all the facts, double or thriple read all the central material. Heated up discussions with colleagues and students are sure to follow with that topic, so being well prepared with knowledge would be nice.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

The reason I am posting a thread on here is because I don't know how to best approach the topic of 9/11 with them and what movie, if any, I would be able to safely show. Unfortunately, I think all the movies that teach the truth would get me in trouble, but those that gloss over it all with lies would be safe...I don't want to cause too much drama for myself with this, but I would like to have the students do a project that is related, if I can get it together. So, if anybody knows of any documentaries on the subject that they think could work or has any other ideas of how I can approach this, I would really appreciate the brainstorming help. Thanks!

I'm not sure what you're suggesting here, but showing the students a 'documentary' that is mostly lies is IMO not a good idea - why woud you want to do that? I understand perfectly the delicacy of your situation, one must carefully choose the right strategy, especially as a teacher with many students. As a teacher, on one hand one would like to utilize the position and opportunity to "spread the truth", but on the other hand if you 'overdo it', you're labeled as a crack pot and you could be gonzerooni from the school/university etc.-depending on your contract.

The C's have said something like: "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." I guess depending on the stability of your position(can you be fired just like that?) you could choose to "go big", showing/teaching what you think is the most objective truth of the 911 thing. Or you could choose a more subtle strategy, choosing a little less loaded topic at first, like maybe 'narcissism', and see what the response will be from coworkers and students. IMO the best thing we as teachers can teach the youth, if they want to listen, is to think for themselves. IMO, in order to "jump start" them you can use many, less controversial topics. One of my coworkers said something useful the other day: "The best way to lecture is not to lecture-you just start discussing things with them [students]."

I think that by choosing a topic like 911, you must be ready to take some heat in whatever manner/angle (presenting the official lie woul be of no use, don't you think?) you present it. And in that case I would really take care that I would know all the facts, double or thriple read all the central material. Heated up discussions with colleagues and students are sure to follow with that topic, so being well prepared with knowledge would be nice.

Thanks Aragorn! Yeah, I have been thinking that the 9/11 subject might be too much of an emotional subject for me to handle at the beginning of the year, but also that it will be ten years and a good time for them to get their gears going thinking about it and other injustices. However, I am not able to go all out and teach it the way I'd like to so perhaps it's not worth the effort to design an entire project over it. Maybe I just have to let the anniversary go by and just talk about it with my students instead of trying to work it into a project. Hmm, still thinking. Thanks again for your insights!

 

[andi]

Scarlet, I understand how you feel yet I must ask : why do you feel you need to take immediate action without due consideration of the implications. I my opinion, you are acting according to the emotional impulse - mechanical in its nature , and from here what will happen is not in your control.

An analogy to this would be a soldier who goes to battle after the first few days of his enrollment in the army and goes fully in it without weapons to defend himself and no real life battle experience. A sad journey awaits such a soldier don't you think ?

This is not ment to discourage you to take actions regarding your situation, more like look before you leap.

With that, I very much agree with Aragorn here.


edited.

 

[Voyageur]

[quote author=Aragorn] "The best way to lecture is not to lecture-you just start discussing things with them [students]."[/quote]

Hi Scarlet, shared the same thinking as Aragorn here, perhaps ask them to pick a topic and then what it means to each and why, how it is best conveyed in art. Maybe the students will, depending on the topic, suss out some deeper learning's and artistic expression on their own, given access to good data, with you moderating so to speak; just a thought.

 

[Gertrudes]

Another possibility would to focus on the 9/11 solely from the perspective of the victims. Maybe taking is as a sort of memorial for the victims and their families, how they were all impacted, and leave it at that. I'm not sure if this would work though, so fwiw

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Scarlet, I understand how you feel yet I must ask : why do you feel you need to take immediate action without due consideration of the implications. I my opinion, you are acting according to the emotional impulse - mechanical in its nature , and from here what will happen is not in your control.

An analogy to this would be a soldier who goes to battle after the first few days of his enrollment in the army and goes fully in it without weapons to defend himself and no real life battle experience. A sad journey awaits such a soldier don't you think ?

This is not ment to discourage you to take actions regarding your situation, more like look before you leap.

With that, I very much agree with Aragorn here.


edited.

Thanks andi and I can see what you mean. Teaching has been a battle every day to eradicate apathy and I work with a generally low-income population that is more focused on surviving than anything else, which makes it difficult. I honestly don't think the ten year anniversary would phase my students much if it wasn't discussed, but who knows. They were just very young when it happened, like 5 to 8 years old.

I also recognize that my desire to honor the victims in this way has stemmed from my emotional center, but I have been thinking about this for weeks and still think it would be a good lesson if I can get it together. The problem is in figuring out how I can do it without becoming emotionally overwhelmed over it and your analogy of the soldier is good for me to reflect on. Thanks!

Thank you also, Parallax and Gertrudes! Both are very good ideas and help me to mold this thought. I think my students have been victims and/or known victims that they might want to honor with art. I think art can be used to help heal a community and that I could inspire my students to be inclined to want to honor someone in this way, because of that.

Hmm, so I really like this new idea and I have a new idea for the project now too. I could have them play with watercolor paints early on and I developed a successful art project for my Art 2/AP Art class that I think would build the beginning art students' confidence levels with painting.

I'm getting excited and think this would not require much emotional involvement over 9/11, but rather just touch on the subject. I would like to show a movie though too, if I can find one. Maybe there is a documentary out there that interviews the victims and shows how lives have been affected, something to that nature, hmm...