Julie Weiss is an education writer with a commitment to social justice. She holds a Ph.D. in American studies, has taught at the college level and now develops curricula, textbook materials and assessments.
How does a school community deal with the violent loss of a student? Unfortunately, this is a question my school has had to answer too often. Still, no matter how many times I’ve been through it, trying to understand my own pain while holding space for my students to feel theirs is something that pushes me beyond my capacity as a teacher.
Students examine the history of political art. They then create their own murals, political cartoons or posters, demonstrating an understanding of social justice issues.
A powerful collection of Civil Rights-era photographs is on display now through August 2010 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. If you can’t organize a class trip to the museum, consider taking your students on a virtual tour of the era.
Students create visual self-portraits that contain symbols representing the student’s identity, beliefs, values or areas of interest related to diversity, anti-bias or social justice.