Cultivating Learning: Community Building Through Art

A week or so ago, I was able to participate in a Smithsonian educator's series called "Cultivating Learning". It was such a fun process to go through and I am honored that I was asked to present. Since this session was in September, I decided that community building was the topic to explore since so many educators are thinking about ways to build community with their students at the start of a new year. 

In my classroom this year, I tried something different to start thinking about community building, and we started by exploring some art. I dove into the Learning Lab and continued my search for community resources through which we could explore the idea of building a classroom learning community. This is a different lens that I hadn't thought of before in my previous searches for community resources on the Learning Lab. My ever-changing and growing collection on "Community" can be found here. 

After a lot of looking and pondering, I decided on to start with this piece, Children at Play taken by Hiram Maristany. We explored this artwork after starting with several days of Chalk Talks, responding to questions about community. 

I thought that this picture would help the students in my class think about how they interact with each other in different ways. I also thought it would go well with the thinking routine "See, Think, Me, We", a part of the ArtC project. The ArtC project aims to have users think about how art can help spark inquiry into the forces of civic life and how we aspire to live together (ArtC Handbook introduction). Since one of my goals for the first few weeks of school was to have the students think about how they were going to "be together" this school year, it seemed like a good place to start. 

When exploring this artwork, the students connected it to a school and thought that maybe the students were at recess. They thought that there might be adults in the background watching them,  but not interacting with them. The students brought forth the idea of playing alone and with others and how there is a time for both. We pondered how we would make space for that to happen and for everyone to be able to make that choice every day at recess and in the classroom. It was a powerful conversation.

When I was thinking about the Cultivating Learning session, I wanted the participants there to be able to have the same kind of experience as the students and explore a similar type of picture. I finally decided on this one:

 The full title is Ribbon-Cutting for section eight houses on Duncan Street, renovated through HUD. Residents pay according to their ability from $25 to over $200 per month. Butcher's Hill, and the photographer is Joan Clark Netherwood. I loved this photo for many reasons - the lighting, the people, the questions it brings up (Why is one door closed off? What are the people waiting for?) -  but once I discovered the story behind this photo, I know it was the one to use for this session. Joan Clark Netherwood was one of three female photographers who took pictures in a Baltimore neighborhood over a period of about 5 years from 1975-1980. The East Baltimore Photography Survey was part of a wider photography survey across the United States.  I think the best part of this is that this photo is part of an exhibit "Welcome Home: A Portrait of East Baltimore 1975-1980" that is currently (until January 17, 2022) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). The curator of the exhibit talks about these photographers and the impact they had on the community at the time.

I get excited about the process of choosing something to share with a group. I feel that it's important to think about your reason for why you are choosing a particular piece of art to examine. 

• Does the subject of the artwork connect to your big idea?
• Does the artist have a connection to your subject or the identities of students in your class?
• What about the history of the artwork is appealing to you? What will help the students connect and dig in?
• What kind of thinking do you want your group to do? What routines could help lift that up?
• How are you going to record the process?

These are just a few questions I ponder as I think about using art in the classroom. The Learning Lab collection for this session is here.

The Cultivating Learning: Community Building Through Art session is below and I talk through a lot of the process outlined here. I couldn't have done any of this without Tess Porter, an extraordinary educator at the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology and Learning Lab master!