Centering on waste and consumption, this unit will empower students to connect their personal role in waste production to an understanding of their social responsibility. Using magazine images as the starting point for a long- term project, students will draw deep connections to objects and images that contemporary media construes as “disposable.” The process of slowing down, observing closely, and re-evaluating pop culture images enables students to meditate on the overlooked and generate new meaning. As a counterpoint to this meditative process, students will later explore media that are inherently tied to waste and disposability, such as printing, photography, and stamping. The fast pace and efficiency that these media allow resonate with the theme of waste by mimicking our wasteful habits. Students will devise final projects on an individual basis that synthesize their discoveries, choosing media that strengthen their messages. Ultimately, they will learn to use their art as a political tool to address the social implications of their consumption and that of society at large.
Fieldwork
Mythic Being Project, Grade 9, 2008
We all have a sense of who we are and how we identify ourselves in relation to others, but sometimes people decide they can figure us out just by looking at us. These lessons address the topic of alter egos, and ask students to assume the role of someone other than who they identify as, in order to come to a deeper understanding of how the labels or “masks” we place on others can cover up the genuine aspects of who we are and how we want to be represented.
Mythic Being Project, Grade 9, 2008. Curriculum
Dreaming Project, Grade 12, 2007
Dreaming is the practice of allowing oneself the time and the space to consider future possibilities. As students prepare to leave High School, they are considering what to do next. For many of them, this is the first time they have an opportunity to make decisions about their future. At this time, they are also becoming increasingly aware of some of the social and political problems that exist within their communities, and in the world. This project is designed for them to think through the stages of social change and place themselves as active workers within a particular cause.
Dreaming Project, Grade 12, 2007. Curriculum
