Ha Nsa George Thesis Rev7

8/3/2019 Ha Nsa George Thesis Rev7

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STORY

You spend so much time and energy trying to hide who you really are…and in the end,

who are you? It is all very confusing. All the while you really just want to be you,

without any fears. We LDs live a life of deceit – pretending to be like others – and shame

– not wanting to be who we are (Rodis, Boscardin & Garrod, 2001, p. 25)

INTRODUCTION

I have always found inspiration through

my life experiences and through the stories of

people around me. I traveled through Egypt,

Jordan and Israel in between my Fieldwork class

and Apprentice Teaching term over the winter

break, and my traveling experiences greatly

influenced the curriculum I designed for my

action research project. While traveling in these

countries, I began to question the idea of

freedom and what it meant to live an honest,

happy life.

The bus route to Bethlehem was scenic

until I saw the giant wall separating the Palestinians and Israelis. When I crossed the border to

the West Bank, I was heartbroken and utterly shattered by the devastating reality Palestinians

face daily in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The wall in Bethlehem, like the Berlin Wall, is

full of powerful graffiti work (Figure 1), including works of UK artist Banksy, and empowering

Figure 1: Untitled Graffiti on West Bank Wall ,Bethlehem. Jan. 2011. Personal photographby author. JPEG file.



Figure 2: Untitled Graffiti on West Bank Wall , Bethlehem. Jan. 2011.Personal photograph by author.JPEG file.

personal testimonies by Palestinians about the impact of the wall in their lives (Figure 2). I heard

gunshots going off just like fireworks as I stood by this wall. Tension loomed everywhere. In

Hebron, it shook me to my core to see dried blood stained walls, bullet holes on storefronts and

water tanks, and houses demolished to the ground. This scene screamed the story of violence and

the cruelty of humanity. Fear of death was in the air. I couldn’t help but question what it means

to have freedom and peace rather than the realities of terror and death these people face every

single day.

When I arrived home I was overwhelmed and

was still trying to digest everything I had seen and

experienced in my trip. I wanted to share with my

students what I saw and experienced in the West

Bank. I was also curious to see how students with

various disabilities encounter and create limits in

their lives and how they would reflect critically upon

and symbolize their limitations. Consequently, I was

inspired to do a “wall of limits” project with my

students at Thames High School.

LESSON: THE WALL OF LIMITS

The “wall of limits” lesson looked at the controversial security wall between Israel and

the West Bank. I started the lesson showing a map of the world and I asked my students if they

knew where Israel and Palestine territories were. No one knew. Then I showed them another

world map with Israel and Palestine territories highlighted. The students were very focused and



attentive as I showed the next slide of a regional map of Israel and Palestine territories with the

wall going along the country. I engaged students in the topic by sharing the two conflicting

views of the West Bank wall. The wall was built for Israel’s safety, but Palestinians feel their

freedom is restricted and they have been cut off from their own land and resources that they

relied on for daily living. My students argued for both sides: “I don’t know about you but I

would want to feel safe at home,” “How can someone kick you out from your own property?” “I

will put a big wall up too if my family’s safety was at risk,” “Who decides what’s right and

what’s wrong?” etc. Thus we discussed and analyzed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I also talked to my students about how it feels in the US, where we do not have to cross

barriers or walls to travel to another city or state. I asked them to pretend there was a wall going

through Chicago, and how that would change their view of freedom. Students had a lot to say

about this: “Oh, I won’t be able to see my friend,” “I guess I couldn’t visit my family easily,” “I

can’t imagine having a wall through Chicago,” “That would be crazy,” etc.

During my slideshow presentation for the lesson, students saw numerous images of

photographs I took of the West Bank Wall and saw empowering personal messages by

Palestinians and graffiti work as a result of the wall. A few of the images are shown in Figures 3,

4, 5, & 6. In build bridges, not walls (Figure 3), students saw the slogan as a call to others for

peace and unity. In the image of blue tree stumps with their roots exposed in the air (Figure 4),

students felt it conveyed how growth and progress have been shunt down pointing to the

devastating situation at large. Another image had a white dove with olive leaves flying over the

city of Jerusalem with all the walls crumbling down (Figure 5). White dove with olive leaves is

a



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Figure 3, 4, 5, 6 (from top to bottom and left to right respectively): Untitled Graffiti onWest Bank Wall , Bethlehem. Jan. 2011. Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.



symbol of peace and students felt this piece vividly states the need for people to come together

as one. The next picture had two children, a boy and a girl, holding hands while a helicopter drop

hearts between them. Beneath the image, the stenciled text states “call for humanity” (Figure 6).

This image made a strong statement to my students because it subtly asked the viewer to imagine

hearts being dropped instead of bombs and how that would change lives of people on both sides

of the wall. Above all, the image juxtaposed against the reality of the location gave the piece a

universal resonance. Also the text “call for humanity,” is an outcry to others for help. My

students were excited to see these images and analyzed the content behind each one thoroughly.

It gave them a greater understanding of the situation and showed them how narrative art using

powerful slogans, images from daily life, and other symbolic elements can be used to empower

and to promote change in people’s daily lives. They also saw international graffiti artists’

responses to the Wall, including UK artist, Banksy.

Banksy and his works

Banksy, a well-known graffiti artist from Bristol, UK, whose real name and identity is

still a mystery. His pieces generally address serious social and political issues with a keen sense

of humor and satire. He uses satirical street art on public surfaces like walls and streets using a

unique stenciling technique to convey his messages. His black and white stenciled images are

simple and at times whimsical, full of metaphors, forcing the viewer to look at the situation in a

poignant manner.

Banksy’s graffiti works on the West Bank wall (Figure 7, 8, 9) are provocative and

controversial and in line with his other social commentary pieces. For example, Unwelcome

Intervention (Figure 7) depicts two children with buckets and a shovel, with a crack in the wall



showing a serene beach scene. As the title suggests the wall is an unwelcome intervention to the

Palestinians. The children, both stenciled in black and white, seem to be blissfully playing on the

concrete side of the wall instead of at the beach. There is a huge contrast in colors between the

bright, sunny beach and the dull, grey color of the boys and the cold wall portraying

hopelessness. The image suggests children to be blocked off from enjoying good things in life by

being on the other side of the wall and are forced to make the best of their situation. The crack

through the wall looks into a better world and simultaneously creates an ironic statement that

things are better on the other side. The yellow bucket situated in between the boys could be

symbolic to possibilities and happiness. Through this image, Banksy is suggesting tearing the

wall down to let peace and serenity peek in.

In his A Balloon Debate (Figure 8), a black stencil image of a girl is shown flying up

with a bunch of balloons. A balloon debate is a debate in which speakers are imagined flying in a

hot air balloon that is about to crash due to extra passengers and someone must be thrown out of

the balloon for everyone’s survival. Banksy’s balloon debate portrays a girl flying high and

perhaps could fly over the barrier with hope. It provokes a wistful look at freedom long gone by

placing it on the wall. Also, in a typical balloon debate there are many passengers and one

balloon, in contrast to Banksy’s work, there is only one passenger and many balloons. It implies

that the girl will be safe even if one balloon crashes, balloon symbolic of hope, since she has

others that will bring her back to her place. Also, it suggests that no one needs to be thrown out

of the balloon in this debate for other’s survival, hinting on unity and togetherness since there are

multiple balloons to keep the journey safe and sound.



Figure 8: Banksy. A Balloon Debate.2005. Graffiti. Guardian News and Media

Limited Web. 11 Jul 2011.<http://arts.guardian.co.uk/pictures/image/0,8543,-10405256016,00.html>.

Figure 9: Banksy. Stable Conditions.2005. Graffiti. Guardian News and

Media Limited Web. 11 Jul 2011.<http://arts.guardian.co.uk/pictures/image/0,8543,-10405256016,00.html>.

re 7: Banksy. Unwelcomevention. 2005. Graffiti. Guardian

s and Media Limited Web. 11 Jul1.<http://arts.guardian.co.uk/pictures/ie/0,8543,-10405256016,00.html>.



Banksy’s Stable Conditions (Figure 9) shows an image of a horse with it’s head and legs

showing through the two cut outs on the wall. According to Guardian News and Media Limited

2011, this piece compares the West Bank wall to “an open prison” with no freedom but just

enough space to breath. The title Stable Conditions implies the conditions inside the wall are

“Stable like,” when like the horse, people are also cut off from being free and restricted to live as

they wish. This piece tells the grim reality of the immediate situation and forces the viewer to

face what is happening as a result of the wall.

Learning about Banksy and discussing his references on his work to the social and

political issues at West Bank wall were crucial for my students. First of all, students learned

about using graffiti art as a tool to open dialogue about serious matters. Secondly, through

studying Banksy’s pieces, students learned about composition and using symbolic images in a

simple but direct manner to convey messages effectively. Most importantly, students were able

to see how Banksy successfully used his works as a means to convey his thoughts and feelings

toward the wall and made viewers think about the situation in Israel and Palestine territories.

The Wall of Limits: The Processes

After learning about Banksy and other graffiti artists and stencil techniques, the project

turned personal. I invited the students to reflect on the limits and barriers they encounter in their

everyday lives. The reflection went along with a bunch of guided questions such as these that I

assigned for homework one per day: Draw or write one thing you would like to see change in the

world, why? State one thing you have been most ignorant about in your life? Draw or write about

an event when you made a mistake and couldn’t forgive yourself, why not? Draw or write when

you resented someone for doing you wrong, why? How can these things limit you from having a



fulfilled life? These were all personal questions and assigning them as homework gave the

students ample time to reflect and write and also held them accountable for being prepared to

class. There was one incident I had a student got angry about what she wrote and refused to show

her homework. Another instance, I had a student show me his homework and said, “Ms.George,

I don’t want you to think badly of me after reading this!” I had to make it clear to my students

that I am not judging them based on what they wrote but rather it was an exercise for them to

reflect on limits that they came across everyday. All in all, students responded to my assignment

in multiple levels. If someone drew a response, I would ask them to tell me what they drew and

why. Some were thoughtful and reflective while others did the assignment but needed more

input. To the latter group, I would ask questions for clarification and understanding and say,

“Oh, I don’t understand what you mean by that, could you explain to me? I realized I was

learning a lot of things about my students and how I need to navigate in the classroom while I

was teaching.

In addition, I also talked to the students about physical and mental defensive walls that

we all put up daily, which stop us from living a joyful life. I said to one class, pretend Ryan is

mad at Emily for telling on him to the teacher and getting an in-school suspension. Instead of

working things out by talking about what is bothering him, Ryan chooses to put his defensive

wall up. When Emily asks him something he would respond aggressively, raising his voice,

letting her know that he is still angry with her. Emily is not willing to apologize when Ryan

continues to attack her. Now, they are both being defensive with their walls high up. Thus, using

“pretend analogies,” we discussed how mental walls could make one feel just as physical walls

do, by denying us access to an emotional space, and thus hindering personal progress and

growth. Through this project, students explored the idea of freedom and what freedom means to



Figure 10: Stephanie. Wall of limits

(a list of fearful things). Pencil.March 2011. JPEG file.

them. My approach focused on emphasizing their strengths and capabilities, but also critically

reflecting on situations in their world. Students also learned to think critically about what

happens when freedom is restricted, or when mental walls or barriers are built for personal safety

and protection due to fear, anger, and hate.

By creating and transforming a “wall of

limits,” students learned ways of exploring

boundaries and limitations while making artwork.

Their first assignment for the Wall of Limits lesson

was to draw or write one thing they are fearful of

or is a negative in their life. One student,

Stephanie, filled out a whole sheet of paper with

all the things she was fearful of (Figure 10). She

listed getting hurt, tigers, monkeys, snakes, rats,

flying etc. Then, I asked her to pick one that is the

scariest of all and she chose flying. Next, I asked

students to find positive alternatives to their fearful

thing. They had the option of drawing or writing down their positive alternatives and once they

had a concrete solution, students had to transfer their solution into a shape that could be used as a

stencil. This activity required creating a positive imagery toward something they had a negative

connotation with and through finding other possibilities students learned to change their

perspective. For instance, Stephanie was afraid of flying in an airplane but she loved birds more

importantly because they had beautiful wings. So her positive symbol for flying was a pair of

wings. Jack was afraid of seizures. He said he gets them all the time. So, his creative possibility



Figure 12: Sam. Wall of limits (stencil). Charcoal & Stencils. April 2011. JPEG file.

Figure 11: Jack. Wall of limits (stencil). Charcoal & Stencils. April 2011. JPEG file.

for seizures was his pillow and blanket that kept him safe (Figure 11). Another student,

Sam, has MS and was in a power chair. He was scared of zombies, so his image was the shoes

zombies wear, because one day he hopes to walk in one of their shoes (Figure 12). Rodney was

afraid of guns and shooting in neighborhoods around him. His safe place was playing basketball

(Figure 13). He hoped he could visit his neighborhoods and play basketball out in the open parks

one day. There upon, students used symbolic elements and narrative accounts to make sense of

their lives, and their reactions varied from being scared and confused by what they found, to

coming up with creative ways of conquering fears and finding ways around their limits. They

were surprised to find creative possibilities in situations they though were impossible.



Figure 13: Rodney. Wall of limits (stencil). Charcoal & Stencils. April 2011. JPEG file.

Following the brainstorming, and changing negative, fearful things into positive personal

symbols, students learned to create stencils based on their positive symbol (Appendix A). They

were extremely enthusiastic to create stencils after watching a short clip of Banksy’s Exit

Through the Gift Shop documentary, which highlighted his process and stencil techniques.

Throughout the stencil making process, the objective for the activity was keeping the image as

simple as possible while creating curiosity. Several students needed help cutting out their shapes

and they promptly requested help. There were some students who couldn’t follow through their

lines while cutting and ended up with different stencils than they hoped for. They were content

with it and I did not ask them to change their image, re-cut another stencil or make a stencil for

them, it was important for me to have them own their project. I always extended my help in

activities, nevertheless, I let students decide what they want and if or when they needed help

rather than assuming and interrupting their natural learning process.

The next day, students learned about reverse graffiti. Reverse graffiti or

“scrubbing,” is a technique where artists remove paint or dirt from a wall to create an artwork

using scrub brushes, scrapers and pressure hoses. Students looked at reverse graffiti work done



Figure 14: Moose. GoGently . 2010. ReverseGraffiti. Inhabitant.com

Web. 11 Jul 2011.<http://inhabitat.com/reverse-graffiti/>.

by artists such as Dutch Ink and Moose. Moose is a Californian artist (Figure 14) and Dutch Ink

is a group based in South Africa (Figure 15). Their work is described as environmental art where

they create art on public spaces by scrubbing out the grime and dirt on walls. The message

behind their work are also suggestive of being environmentally conscious and swiftly brings

viewers attention to pollution, consumption and other social issues. The students, influenced by

Dutch Ink and Moose’s techniques, made their reverse graffiti work on charcoal covered sheets

(Figure 16, 17) and used their positive symbol stencil to erase out their shapes using an eraser

(Figure 18) as if they were “scrubbing” out their symbol on a grimy wall.

Figure 15: Dutch Ink.Timeline of Westville.2010. Reverse Graffiti.

Inhabitant.com. Web. 11Jul 2011.<http://inhabitat.com/reverse-graffiti-south-african-artists-tag-walls-by-scrubbing-them-clean/>.

Figure 11: Jack. Wall of limits (positive symbol). Pencil drawing. March 2011. JPEG file.



Figure 16 & 17: Wall of limits (reverse graffiti techniqueusing stencils). Charcoal. March 2011. JPEG file.

Figure 18: A Collection of Student Work. Wall of limits(reverse graffiti). Charcoal & Stencils. April 2011. JPEG file.



Figure 19: Wall of limits (in process). Charcoal.March 2011. JPEG file.

Finally, the class was ready to create a wall installation. Students were thrilled to work

directly on a giant wall covered with white paper. Every student got a turn to dirty up the white

paper with charcoal by rubbing, smudging and blending it on heavily. Students who couldn’t

press with charcoal had hand over hand help by an aid or by me. They all worked together

diligently to create a grimy, dirty wall and it was an interactive team process. By the end of the

day, the wall was fully covered with black charcoal and ready for “scrubbing.” Our agenda for

the next day was trying out reverse graffiti technique directly on the wall by “scrubbing”

charcoal using an eraser and

positive symbol stencils students

made the previous day.

Without doubt, charcoal is a

great medium but a messy one –

using it was a very tedious and

challenging task for my students

and myself. I announced to every

class in the beginning that everyone gets a chance to clean up thoroughly at the sink and sponge

clean everything at the end of class. Even then, some students still needed constant reminders.

They would get distracted using charcoal because it would get on their hands, their aprons and

on their clothes (Figure 19). I had to reassure students that it was not something to be fearful of

and that it will wash away.

Students learned not to be afraid of charcoal that day and I learned a great lesson about

limitations. In addition to dirtying up the wall, students started tracking charcoal all over the art



room and in the hallways. The school seemed to be big in cleanliness policy and on a typical

school day custodians are usually out mopping and cleaning hallways and classrooms.

Unbeknownst to me, my charcoal activity started to trace itself from the art room to the hallways

in the form of charcoal footprints. The custodians were livid and they wanted to know why I was

using charcoal in the art room and asked to stop using the medium. They also scheduled and

repainted the whole art room floor as a result of charcoal smudges. That’s when I understood

why none of my students had any prior experience using charcoal at the school. I stopped using

charcoal, spray fixed all the charcoal embedded work in the hope that I can still carry out my

lesson successfully. That was one of the toughest days of my apprentice teaching.

The next day, I tied what I was going through with the wall of limits project and

articulated with my students how in life things that shape our characters most effectively are the

barriers, challenges, limitations, and unpleasant surprises. I asked them to use this as a learning

moment to embrace the difficulties we encounter everyday and look on the bright side. I

recommended using different modes of perspective and patient persistence instead of giving up

so that the situation may offer many chances to test ourselves and learn about the world around

us. I explained to them that a reverse graffiti technique happening directly on the wall was out of

the question since we can’t use charcoal any longer and the charcoal was spray fixed with

fixatives so it’s sealed and dry on paper. So much excitement was built up over creating reverse

graffiti onto the charcoal wall, some students were disappointed by the changes. I had to make it

clear to the class that we will keep moving forward with our wall installation project with

different materials and that it would still be a challenging project with all the activities that are

ahead. My students trusted me and concurred to our new plans. With their support, I moved right

along with my lesson adopting non-charcoal media activities.



Figure 22: Student Work. Wall of limits (collage). Magazine cutouts & Foam Letters. April 2011.JPEG file.

enough to have the background color show through and

hung it back on the classroom wall. The installation piece

was finally complete and ready for show.

In the end, students successfully created a wall

installation piece in response to the disputes and

challenges that come with having no freedom when there

is a barrier. It was a great way for me to start building a

rapport with them as we shared our thoughts and

reflections and struggled to find positive resolutions to

their fearful events. As a result of this project, students started to question events that were linked

with lack of freedom and limitations in their daily lives and reflected on ways things could

improve in the future. Similarly, the “wall of limits” project gave me an insight into students’

lives, their fears and how they perceive the world around them.



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Figure 25: Stacy. Object of frustration. CDcover. April 2011. JPEG file.

projects (Figure 24). Moreover, I facilitated differentiated instruction to implement meaningful

learning. Nyman and Jenkins (1999) also advise “utilizing stories and narratives in the art

education process as a natural extension of historical storytelling” (p. 4). I did this through

teaching students about the West Bank Wall so that they learned about history while reflecting

on critical social issues. Through the wall project, by looking at the way the artists were working

on the West Bank Wall, I negotiated a space for my students to talk critically about their own

limitations and freedoms and gave a voice to the students’ struggles.

As the class was working on the “wall of limits” project, one of the homework

assignments I gave the

students was, “If you could go

back in time, and do one thing

over, what would it be?” Stacy

said she wished she could go

to a “normal” school. I asked

her what she meant by that

and she laughed it off saying

she didn’t know. When I first

started my Apprentice

Teaching, I didn’t know

whom Stacy was because she

was absent so frequently. I noticed that she was showing up to class more often toward my

second week at the high school and was becoming an active participant in my classroom. She is

generally very quiet and shy so it was easy to not feel her presence among the other students,



who had high energy. She was always willing to give things a try and would timidly ask for help

if needed. She didn’t socialize much with her classmates unless it was absolutely necessary. She

would work hard and stay focused all throughout the class period, always pushing her limits with

her artwork by putting in extra time and taking it a step further (Figure 25).

I wondered after our conversation about going to a “normal school,” what “normalcy”

meant in her world. Earlier, in my Literature Review: Addendum, I discussed the story of Lynn

Pelkey, who remembers wanting to be in a normal class. Was Stacy feeling “less than,” like

Lynn Pelkey, and feeling stupid? Did her world include social support, people who understood

her struggles and teachers who weren’t underestimating her potential? Did she want a critical

opportunity to participate in her own learning? Did my projects make her think critically and

inspire her to wonder if there is more to learning than memorizing and doing repetitive tasks?

Differentiated Instruction: Resolutions and Applications in Teaching and Learning

Through Touch Sculptures

Being a keen observer and learner both inside and outside the classroom, I saw a lot of

students use anger as a defense mechanism daily. I sensed in my students a lot of unresolved,

bottled up emotions that they stored inside. The students’ emotional struggles seemed to hinder

their progress in moving forward with their learning. For example, as Schiller (1999) writes,

“typically, life-skills based special education curricula” are what mostly happens during the

school year, where students learn a skill or trade that will further their ability to find a job when

they graduate from the high school. I did not want to concentrate on teaching students life skills

when there was a need for these urgent emotional issues to be addressed through curriculum.

Instead, I designed a “feel it out: resolutions through touch sculpture” project



incorporating a multidimensional perspective in my lesson plan. After reflecting on my lessons, I

realized my projects at Thames High School were not as inclusive as I thought; two blind

students in my first period class were not able to participate fully since the earlier projects

required “seeing” as an active component. Hence, my feel it out touch sculpture project was

inspired by the bottled up emotions students were carrying around at the high school, as well as

by the two blind students. I wanted to create a project that was inclusive all-around and would

meet the needs of all of my students.

Further, we looked at artist Svava Juliusson and how she effectively uses recycled, non-

traditional materials for her sculptures to create a narrative of her surroundings. According to

svavathordis website the artist was born in Iceland, immigrating to Canada at age ten. Many of

her work starts with personal narratives that were transferred into objects. Her current body of

work is a reaction to the accumulation of art-making materials (styrofoam balls, bungee cords,

scraps of linoleum, shards of plaster, cable ties etc,) in her home and studio. Ideas around

transformation are central to her work and the artwork is rooted in her interest in using and

manipulating traditional sculptural techniques with non-traditional materials. For instance, her

Blackbird, and Sko! (everything happens all at once) are made of cable ties, which are tied

together to create clusters (Figure 26, 27). Her sculpture, Svona in Icelandic mean ‘this way’ and

it looks like a wing and is also made of cable ties (Figure 28). Svona resemble things viewers

might associate with a wing or a cloud, or a movement or change. The piece is about idea of

transformation and it could be a reflection about her migration to Canada when she was young.



Figure 26: Svava Juliusson.Blackbird . 2010. Sculpture.Svavathordis Web. 11 Jul 2011.

Figure 27: Svava Juliusson. Sko! (everything happens all at once). 2008.Sculpture. Tinku Tales Web. 11 Jul 2011.

Figure 28: SvavaJuliusson. Svona. 2008.

Sculpture. BrayhamContemporary Art Web. 11Jul 2011.



My feel it out touch sculpture project used found objects such as eggshells, recycled

wood chunks, and tissue paper in addition to Braille to create a relief sculpture that students

could touch/feel while letting their feelings out. Through this project students were able to

explore and discuss everyday frustrations in the process of making sculpture with non-traditional

sculpting techniques and materials. Students were encouraged to take their emotions out on the

eggshells and crack them during the process. Both of my blind students, Linda and Jaime, were

able to participate in this project. Linda was proficient in Braille. She was able to show the class

how to use a Braille machine (Figure 29), and she typed all the titles of the touch sculptures in

Braille, which was an important addition to the relief piece. In the end, through this project,

students found creative ways of dealing with their daily frustrations while creating a tactile,

touch sculpture that required them to feel the surface rather than simply view an object, and have

a multi-sensory level experience.

Figure 29: Braille Machine, Chicago. Apr. 2011.Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.



One of the students, Andrew, who was diagnosed with ADHD, thoroughly enjoyed

letting out his frustrations and rage on his eggshells, similar to Oliver Queen’s experience of

venting his anger onto his toys. Andrew was very pleasant to me and was extremely caring but

had a hostile, violent temperament toward others, and had no problem attacking anyone at any

point for any reason. He was constantly misunderstood by his erratic and spontaneous nature that

turned into a violent rage when he was attacked. I noticed after the “cracking the eggshells”

activity was over, he was so engaged in the process, he went to the eggshell bin (Figure 30),

took eggshells over to the trash can, smashed them, and said out loud, “Ms. George, I am taking

all my frustrations out.” I believed him. Another student suggested that there should be eggshells

to crack at the beginning of every class to let them calm down; this confirmed my belief in

students needing an outlet to let out bottled up emotions constructively.

Figure 30: Eggshells, Chicago. Apr. 2011.Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.



Figure 32: Blake. Mystery solvers. Touch sculpture. April 2011. JPEG

Figure 31: Stacy. The way I am. Touch Sculpture. April 2011. JPEG file.



I believe the hands-on experience with the idea of cracking something while diffusing an

event/emotion can be a fun, critical process that gets students thinking about different ways of

dealing with unsettling emotions (Figure 31, 32). I focused on creating a differentiated

content/process/product/learning environment and curriculum that would facilitate the students’

process of letting out frustrations, confusion, anger, hate, sadness and embarrassment effectively

while learning about new strategies that they could apply to different arenas in their life. In my

Discussion Section, I will comment on how the project represents a unique approach to

instruction for students with disabilities using differentiated instruction, and elaborate on the

“new things” my students learned during my apprenticeship.

Definitions and Assumptions of Disability: a Teachable Moment

Through a differentiated art curriculum, Guay (1999) affirms students are provided “with

ideas that enable each special needs student to creatively express, through art, the ideas and

encounters of his or her life experiences and to meaningfully respond to their own art and the art

of others” (p. 9). Here we see that it is crucial to implement differentiated teaching strategies to

create an inclusive classroom so everyone’s needs are met. As Guay reminds us about the

benefits of a differentiated curriculum, my own assumptions about cognitive disability started to

become evident during student teaching. I got to know my students and realized the term

“cognitive disability,” was a common diagnosis associated with various mild to extreme

disabilities. For example, during a rubbing project, I was unaware of a student’s physical

disability and assumed because he was capable of writing and using his hands that he would have

the upper body strength to do a rubbing activity. Incidentally, I was embarrassed and angry with

myself for not being sensitive and remaining ignorant of his needs and his particular disability.



Critical Definitions of Disability Through Graphic Representations of Frustrating Events

I wanted my students to address the social perceptions of ability and disability through

opening a dialogue about frustrating events they encounter in their everyday life (Figure 33).

The critical focus of this project was inspired by an event that I witnessed on my way home from

teaching. One of my students, Steve, was on the bus that I took. He got so excited when he saw

me and started to turn around from his seat to talk to me. He had very little knowledge of

personal and private space. As he was shifting around to talk to me, he was in the passenger’s

personal space. The elderly passenger was outraged at Steve’s behavior and started to call out all

sorts of profanities thinking he was a regular high school kid with no respect for others. Steve

was hurt and his anger got the best of him. He stood his ground and started to throw back insults

at the passenger and this continued on until Steve got out at his stop. I was shocked; hurt by the

struggle Steve had to face that day and all the struggles that await him throughout his life. Later I

told Steve to be careful of situations like that and watch out for himself and he replied back, “I

have to take care of myself.”

The following day we started a “silent narratives of everyday frustrations” project based

on artist Soledad Arias’s audible patterns artwork. Soledad Arias is a New York based artist

who was born in Buenos Aries, Argentina. As Soledad Arias website 2011 states, she strongly

believes that what we don’t see is just as important as what we perceive. Her silent audible

patterns are a form of subtitled visual narratives of recorded words that were derived from a

series of videos, snippets, and plays. For example, her work titled [lullaby] is a visual narrative

of words in abstraction (Figure 34). Viewers can visualize the audible moment and is

immediately engaged with a dialogue of a moment that’s passed. The piece brings a heightened

awareness of everyday life and invites viewer to slow down and fully experience things around



us. She uses the quiet power of audible patterns to create a greater appreciation of things we

might not see or fail to see in our hectic life.

It was important for students in my classroom to learn about Soledad Arias because her work

was bursting with all the elements and objectives of my lesson plan–there was narration,

reflection, interpretation, stories recreated and a true connection to our place in the world. To

start our lesson on silent narratives of everyday frustrations project, students were asked to think

of a frustrating experience as a base to create a graphic representation of the event on paper.

Students learned about how artist Soledad created her silent narratives transforming words into

graphic forms using lines that simulate high and low pitch. Students used short vertical lines and

long vertical lines to show the pitch and mood of an event, short lines expressing a quieter tone

and long lines portraying an intense exchange. Steve, who inspired me to do this lesson with the

frustrating event on the bus, looked at me and said, “You saw what happened.” I agreed that I

had, but I still wanted him to reflect on what happened and tell the story from his point of view.

He worked on his project and told me, “I was angry at the man for yelling at me, so I yelled back

and then I calmed down on my way home.”

Figure 34: Soledad Arias. [lullaby] . 2008. piezopigment print. Art Lies Web 11 Jul 2011



Figure 35: Steve. Silent narratives of everyday frustrations. Text: I was feeling mad on the busand wanted to fight someone, then I calmeddown. April 2011. JPEG file.

Social perceptions of disability are particularly isolating for children with learning

disabilities because they know they are different, but their differences are not visible. Through

Steve’s artwork (Figure 35), it was wonderful to see the incident and what he was experiencing

from his perspective. The project also empowered him to voice his opinion and reflect on what

happened. The “silent narratives of everyday frustrations” project encouraged students to portray

frustrated feelings on an object by creating motion while examining patterns of their behavior

(Figure 36, & 37). In my Discussion Section, I will draw connections between the students’

work and their reflections on social perceptions of disabilities.



Figure 36: Scott. Silent narratives of everyday frustrations.Text: I got mad at my friend. April 2011. JPEG file.

Figure 37: Steve. Silent narratives of everyday frustrations. Text: I gotmad at this girl that told me she did not wanted to be my friendanymore. I got mad at her why would she say that to me I thought tomyself I did not do anything to her then at 9 th period she told me aboutit and it calm me down she told me that a guy told her that but it was alie then we became friends again. April 2011. JPEG file.



CONCLUSION

Teaching while learning was a very challenging experience. I was wishing and hoping

that I was doing the right thing for my students. I was torn between showing empathy to the

students’ challenges while empowering them to focus on their strengths. As an action

researcher/learner/observer, I figured out ways to use differentiated instruction to create an

inclusive classroom. I used traditional and non-traditional art objects as a means for art making

and gave a range of options to students to tell their stories. Some students became increasingly

attached to my projects and were motivated to cooperate as they began to see the positive results

of their efforts. Throughout my time at the high school, I was constantly on alert for what was

happening in my classes, and in the end I made adaptations to my lessons in order to create a

diverse, unique curriculum to meet the particular needs of this group of art students.

In my Discussion section, I will comment upon how this approach to differentiating instruction

in an art project, by focusing on exploring personal freedoms and limits, represents a critical

approach to art education. Because this approach to art education focused on emotions, it might

be perceived as therapeutic. Therefore, also in my Discussion section, I will show how my

approach goes beyond therapeutic interventions and moves toward valuing and cultivating

students’ critical capacities in art education.



DISCUSSION

Journal entry for the 4th week at Thames High School: At Thames, students are assigned

homework every single class including art. It teaches them responsibility and accountability for

their homework grade. Students reading and writing skills vary vastly so they have a choice to

write or draw their assignment as well as orally repeat them if need to be. One day, when I was

going around checking homework (the homework was about being ignorant about one thing in

your life), one of the students said, I don’t want you to think badly of me after reading this. And

he was so nervous about showing me his work. So I made a class announcement saying this was

a self-reflection assignment and that I am not going to be judging them based on what they

wrote. I said I also say and do ignorant things too so I am not going to think you are a horrible

person after reading your reflections.

I am getting to know my students more and more every day. They are dealing with

everything a teenager deals with daily no matter what their disabilities are. Some wants to be in

the clique with the cool kids, some worry a lot what others think about them and some are very

afraid of failures and would rather give up than try to do something and fail. I realized constant

positive reinforcement and having high expectations are a must to keep them moving forward.

Their lives are filled with so many conflicts and challenges; fortunately I get to hear about them

and learn about who they are as we do art based on their everyday experiences.

INTRODUCTION

Storytelling is a crucial part of all of us. Since it is mostly an undocumented, natural

process in our everyday lives, developing a critical approach to working with students with

disabilities, using storytelling in educational context was a challenge. The students, however,

showed me what was possible, and what they were capable of. Their stories and experiences



served as a catalyst for my lesson plans. As a result, my curriculum took shape and the art

making process helped the students to find and express through storytelling the meanings and

critical significance in their personal experiences.

In my curriculum I used a variety of artists, different concepts and techniques to reach my

goal for each lesson. In The Wall of Limits project, it was crucial for students to learn about

artists such as Banksy, Dutch Ink and Moose. Through these artists’ work, students learned about

graffiti, graffiti techniques, using stencils and reverse graffiti and how to use graffiti as a tool to

open discussions on issues that affect them in their everyday lives. Students also learned to use

charcoal and oil pastels effectively as they learned about composition, contrast, repetition,

pattern, value, layering techniques, and how to use symbolic images to create a personal

narrative.

Artist Svava Juliusson was a great inspiration for the Touch sculpture project. Her

sculptures made with non-traditional materials were symbolic to the idea of transformation,

which was fitting toward the goals and objectives of my lesson. I was asking the students to

create a sculpture using non-traditional materials like eggshells, recycled wood chunks and tissue

paper while letting their emotions out. My goal was to have a multi-sensory level experience

with the touch sculptures. By creating a tangible thing that embodies an emotion and having

students reflect and interpret an event by letting it out I fused my project with Svava’s idea of

transformation in her work. Through the process and techniques of this project students learned

about creating a relief sculpture, and the elements and principles of sculpture such as scale, space

and mass, shape, texture etc. They were also exposed to non-traditional sculpting materials and

were challenged to create a relief sculpture that is interactive. Further students got a lesson about

the history of Braille, did group exercises on Braille alphabets, saw how Braille machine



operates and earned a greater appreciation toward the challenges and abilities the blind students

face.

Artist Soledad Arias influenced the Silent Narratives of Everyday Frustrations project.

Her audible patterns work focused on visual narratives of sounds from the past bringing a fuller

awareness to a moment that’s passed but still exists visually. Like Soledad Arias, students

learned to reflect, interpret and narrate a moment from their past. They learned about abstract art,

form, shape, line, high pitch, low pitch and finally how to create and transcribe an audible

narration visually. This project empowered the students by giving them a voice to their story and

encouraged them to look at frustrating situations with multiple perspectives.

To align my Discussion section with my Story section, I am again using my key terms --

the deficit model, differentiated instruction and critical definitions of disability -- to analyze in

some depth the key events that happened at the high school.

Analyzing the Alternative to the Deficit Model

The term “deficit model” refers to labeling of children with learning disabilities, in the

words of Lynn Pelkey, as “less than.” According to Lisa Delpit (2001), this causes students with

disabilities to believe they are less capable than others since the deficit model focuses on LD

students’ weakness rather than on nurturing their strengths. An alternative to the deficit model,

my approach focused on students’ strengths and capabilities. Through the “wall of limits”

project, students with disabilities were able to learn about a global conflict as well as to think

critically about what happens when freedom is restricted or when physical and mental barriers

hinder our personal growth. In addition, by discussing and analyzing the Israeli-Palestine

conflict, students were able to take into account multiple perspectives of a complicated issue.



They were also able to make connections between the Palestinians’ experience of constraint and

the limits they encounter in their daily lives.

Michalko (2002) calls out to people with disabilities to take ownership and to “ make a

place for disability…through imitating belongingness and acting ‘as if’ we belong ‘in the world

of the normal” (p.173). He points toward creating a collective identity and a disability culture.

The Wall of Limits project promoted a unique social movement building, as Michalko suggests,

in both functional and structural level. The students brought their stories and worked individually

and in groups to create a collective identity with their wall installation and made a place for

disability in the art room. Students were really proud to have their wall installation up. They

would come to the class and point out which part they made and how they made it. I was really

impressed at how some students remembered the techniques we used and how often they would

reference one of the artists we learned to elaborate their conversation about the project to an

outsider. Further, the piece was talking about their struggles and fears, them coming out as

disabled, and not ridiculed for exposing who they are. When visitors came to the classroom, they

would see the wall installation from far and would gravitate closer to see what was going on. I

heard responses like, “Oh, that’s cool!” “It’s huge” “What is this about?” “It looks intense” etc.

It put emphasis on ability and created a space for critical awareness to a disability culture in

narrative form.

Personal boundaries here are also social boundaries in this case. I helped my students

foster this insight by implementing art lessons that taught them to learn to connect with the world

around them using narrative approach in their art making. Students explored their own

limitations and boundaries, mental walls and barriers, and connected what they were learning in

the art room with stories and events from their real life. Subsequently, students were also able to



reflect on their own fears and struggles. I used three different methods, as suggested by Nyman

and Jenkins (1999), to implement “ownership and responsibility” in students’ learning. I used

personal stories and everyday life events as narrative accounts, I differentiated instruction for

meaningful learning, and I invited students to learn about history and global conflict through art

making. As a result, the “wall of limits” project helped students to make a connection between

their everyday lives and the larger world, and also introduced criticality to their learning.

I have learned that by integrating a critical curriculum, giving students the support they

require, and enforcing an inclusive classroom through differentiated instruction, teachers can

focus on strengths and positive attributes rather than the negative ones. Also, this approach can

create a safe space for students like Stacy, who wants to feel “normal.” I speculate here, but as a

researcher looking at her comments and artwork, this is my interpretation. I hope I gave Stacy an

opportunity to see the good in herself, to start accepting herself for what she can do rather than

what she cannot do in her quest to find “normalcy” in her life.

Looking at Differentiated Instruction in Depth

To teach students with various disabilities, as Nyman and Jenkins (1999) stated, my

challenge laid “in presenting information in such a way that (LD) students can understand and

integrate it, as well as in being flexible and willing to adjust materials to proper levels and

approaches” (p. 2). We can conclude from this that teachers need to be attentive to all the needs

and strengths and weaknesses of each student in order to have a successful classroom. In a

school, where some students had physical disabilities I adapted my lessons to meet their needs in

numerous ways: I gave an array of choices in tools and medium that will work best for the

individual’s situation, I used adaptive tools and equipments with students with physical



disabilities, gave oral reviews, used visual media constantly, had students work with partners,

and allowed students to volunteer responses and offer choices for responses. Thus, in my

classroom, I learned to meet students at their level, by nourishing their strengths, and presenting

class materials in an accessible manner so that students could learn the content in a safe space

that would enhance their learning experience to its utmost potential. This required using different

approaches in teaching to reach students of various disabilities; in other words, a differentiated

instructional method was necessary to create an all-inclusive classroom.

I used four different methods of differentiated learning in my classroom: differentiated

content, differentiated process, differentiated product and differentiated learning environment, as

the occasion called for it. I used a wide variety of options to teach what the students needed to

learn by providing aids to keep the content accessible. I created a specialized curriculum related

to the Thames High School student population, which was practical, fun, and critical at the same

time. I used differentiated content by incorporating lessons that addressed students’ needs and

issues that they encountered in their daily lives. This can be seen in my Silent Narratives of

Frustration project where students chose the ‘content’ of their own stories. Thus, by using

relevant material that was applicable to the student body, I invited students to participate in a

topic that they could all relate to. I used differentiated process and presented activities that met

students at their level. For example, I adapted my power points using additional visual guides in

the classroom. I also encouraged active involvement, implemented multi-sensory approaches

(using traditional and non-traditional art materials), provided hands-on experience and gave clear

step-by-step instructions. I waited for visual and verbal cues to make sure everyone understood

what I was saying and why I was saying what I was saying. I also had student self-assessment

sheets for everyone to make sure they knew what the objectives and goals of a lesson was and



thus also created a venue for them to do self-evaluations. I differentiated product by giving

options for students to apply content in multiple ways for different outcomes. I also assigned

homework that asked specific questions based on my lesson. I partnered students for group

projects. Finally, I used a differentiated learning environment technique by providing a safe

learning space for students that promoted different learning styles.

I was able to incorporate all four differentiated learning methods in my classroom

through my “feel it out touch sculpture” project. Through creating a relief sculpture students

were able to explore and discuss everyday frustrations in the process of art making; thus, I made

use of differentiated content in my lesson. As I mentioned in my Story Section, I sensed in my

students a lot of unresolved, bottled up emotions that hindered their progress and movement

through the world. I tried to meet my students at their level, and gave them a venue to let their

bottled up emotions out through using found objects and materials like eggshells, recycled wood

chunks and scraps of white tissue paper. Thus I used differentiated process in my practice,

working with the students’ understandings and skills while providing different levels of support.

I also applied differentiated product in my lesson by incorporating Braille as a

major component of the sculpture. Students were able to touch the sculpture and read out the

transmitted emotions similar to someone who is familiar with Braille. Students also learned

about Braille and watched Linda type on a Braille machine. Moreover, incorporating Braille text

for title in their final piece added a multi-dimensional aspect to the touch sculpture’s tangible

quality and merged different media together. Lastly, I created a differentiated learning

environment in which students felt safe to let their frustrations out and were not judged or

labeled as they did so. Students were able to gain insight into their unsettling personal situations

through expressing those feelings and coming up with creative solutions. Thus the project



diverged from being a therapeutic setting to becoming a learning environment where critical

reflections and processes could take place.

Examining Critical Definitions of Disability

Social constructions of disability were apparent in my experience at Thames High

School. I realized other peoples’ interpretations of what disability is varied according to

situations and circumstances. As Longmore (2003) mentions, we as a society, have refused to

acknowledge disability as a normal part of life. This is evident in the limited accommodations

and accessibility for people with disability in physical spaces. Further, segregating and

dehumanizing the disabled for what they lack, and disregarding their voices and opinions in

social spaces for not fitting the norm, limits the experience of the disabled in the non-disabled

world.

This can be seen in the charcoal incident, which was one of the big challenges of

working on the wall project. I had to respect the norms of the school, make compromises, and

change my plan for the lesson. I stopped using charcoal, spray fixed all the charcoal embedded

work and found other ways to complete the project. It was a learning moment for me, ironically

enough, a learning moment of limitations, imposed by the external environment. This experience

shows how external environment can sometimes disenable all of us regardless of disability. I was

disappointed by not being able to complete the project as I hoped for, afraid of how my students

will react to a major shift to the project, and confused at being reprimanded by the school

custodian for using a traditional art medium. It was not my students or my limitation that caused

the conflict, it was the custodian’s disapproval toward the material that led to a change in the

project. Nonetheless, I knew I had to sway with the changes, remain optimistic and maintain my



enthusiasm and effort despite delays and setbacks. I am speculating here, but from this

experience, I believe Thames High School has different school policies due to the student

population and has different levels of priorities and expectations from their students and learning

and using charcoal in the art room was clearly not one of them.

According to Delpit (2001), when children show learning challenges, they are

misunderstood for their disability; they are accused of being lazy, not capable, or disruptive.

Here we see that students with disabilities are harshly judged and criticized at a personal level

due to others limitation toward a better understanding of the particular disability. Through the

Silent Narratives of Frustration project, I focused my lesson on facilitating a process of

empowerment and as Michalko (2002) suggested made a place for disability. The students were

able to develop a critical awareness by being self-reflective of their actions and thus were able to

take ownership of their experience. They asked questions such as: How does this event affects

me? What is the right thing to do? What can I learn from this event? What are some morals and

values that are important to me? Further, the students, as Witherell (1995) states were able to see

themselves “as both participants and creators” of the narrative world (p.46). They were asked to

reflect on a frustrating event and through transforming it into a visual narrative and creating

meaning to their experience through art making students became “participants and creators”

simultaneously.

My student Steve’s story of his confrontation on the bus told of assumptions and

judgments about the disabled population. It was not Steve’s limitation that caused the incident on

the bus, but the passenger’s limited knowledge regarding disability that caused the tension.

Through the graphic representation of a frustrating event project, Steve and other students were

able to gain agency to interpret their own lives. Thus, I focused on students’ strengths rather than



weaknesses in my project. I also used differentiated instruction to emphasize students’ strength

in my methods of teaching, progressing “from one of providing services in segregated facilities

to a much more inclusive notion of empowerment and self-advocacy” (Patton, Blackborn, & Fad,

1996, p. 308). In order to create an inclusive classroom that promoted empowering ways to live

with disability, it was crucial for my action research that I talk about issues at hand, put emphasis

on students’ strengths and capabilities, and provide reflective, critical projects that would benefit

both disabled and able-bodied students alike.

CONCLUSION

My approach to teaching students with disabilities combined differentiated instruction

and critical exploration of social perception of disabilities. In the process I became aware of my

own biases and assumptions, society’s attitudes toward disability and the strengths of students

with disabilities. As Smith & Erevelles (2004) suggest, to create a human community we need to

start being critically self-reflective of our perceptions toward disability, in order to accommodate

people with disabilities. This statement shows how everyone needs to take ownership to the lack

of accommodation and accessibility resources for people with disabilities. They advice to take a

stand on facilitating this process by examining our speculations and normalizing attitudes in the

social construction of disability. This process of developing critical awareness of social

constructions of disability is particularly important for teachers, because our assumptions and

biases about disability shape our perceptions of students’ capabilities. Art educators can

challenge themselves to reflect critically on social construction of disability, in order to create

enabling learning environments for our students.



RECOMMENDATIONS

Since my research site was Thames High School, a special education school where all

students had cognitive disabilities and some had physical disabilities, I am referring my

recommendations to the particular group that I researched, students with disabilities, although I

believe my research findings can benefit any classroom, to all students and to teachers who teach

other subjects than art.

Through my action research project, I learned that differentiated instruction is important

when working with students. It is essential to interrelate ideas and themes and issues in our

curriculum to meet the needs of all students in our classrooms. By integrating a critical

curriculum and enforcing an inclusive classroom, teachers can focus on students’ strengths and

positive attributes rather than negative ones. One of the successful ways of approaching this is to

create an enabling environment by giving students the support they require. Lisa Delpit (2001)

suggests a few ways to accomplish this: “By presenting (students) with a challenging course,

letting them know that they could succeed, providing them with extra help and teaching them to

problem solve collaboratively” (p. 161). By implementing these strategies in the art room, art

educators can create an enabling curriculum that is an alternative to the deficit model to help

students to reach their potential. From my experience, I learned that it is crucial that art educators

give students opportunities to comment on events that are relevant to them, including perceptions

of disability and other issues that affect their day-to-day lives. This will give students an

opportunity to apply knowledge from one situation to another. I learned that an art education

curriculum grounded in student experience provides students a safe place to work through daily

situations, and also gives students a venue to bring personal meaning to their artwork.

Students also need to learn to connect with the world around them so they are able to



understand themselves better and, therefore, connect with others more fluidly. They need to be

taught to question and analyze global and local issues in order to find their voices and form

critical opinions on issues that they are passionate about. As a result, students may be able to

apply the knowledge and information they learn to solve day-to-day problems or find solutions in

their everyday lives. Flexibility was another one of the major strategies I learned while working

with students in my classroom. Also, having the willingness to change and adapt as I reflected on

my practice was vital for my students and for me to feel successful and secure during my

Apprentice Teaching. I found that learning about what it is like to live with a disability from the

perspective of students was crucial to building a trusting classroom community for students, who

needed a non-judgmental place to bring their stories.

In short, art educators need to explore critical definitions of disability and use those ideas

to understand their own biases and interpretations of what students are capable of. This kind of

study will allow educators to develop and to create alternate approaches to the deficit model, thus

making room for students to demonstrate their capabilities and reach to their potential. To

conclude, my research grounded in personal experiences and stories gave tools for students to

express their fears, dreams, frustrations, and conflicts, and a place to struggle against personal

and social limits, and surpass them.



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Day 2: PowerPoint lecture and discussion: 5 minutes

Create stencils: 15 minutes

Create reverse graffiti on paper using stencils: 15 minutes

Clean up: 5 minutes

•Students will learn about reverse graffiti artists such as Dutch Ink and Moose and their techniques of creating reverse graffiti as public art.

• Students will watch PowerPoint of reverse graffiti.

• Students will see visual guide to reverse graffiti on paper. Teacher will show how to use astencil and create reverse graffiti by erasing the shape inside, rubbing off charcoal and

creating a form.

• Students will brainstorm and come up with a symbolic element from their life bytransforming a negative, fearful thing from their daily life into a positive image.

• Students will start sketching an object for stencil image on cardstock paper.

• Students are assigned to cut out their stencil image with scissors.

• Next, students will place their stencil on their dirty wall strip, erase out the shape inside

with an eraser creating reverse graffiti. Students can also use the scratching clay tool toscratch out charcoal.

• Teacher will show how to make multiple copies of an object using a stencil thus making a pattern of their stencils.

• Students will repeat the process making multiple copies of their stencil on their dirtywall. Students can use oil pastels with their stencils.

Day 3: PowerPoint lecture and discussion: 5 minutes

Create collage: 25 minutes

Clean up: 10 minutes

• Students will look at a PowerPoint of several artists' response on the West Bank Barrier including UK artist, Banksy.

• Students will learn to create a wall like installation in response to the disputes and

challenges that come about having no freedom when there is a barrier, whether physicalor mental walls.

• Students will watch a demonstration on creating a collage and how to glue pieces

together

• Students have a choice to create a collage on their dirty wall with cutout stencil pieces.

• When finished students will cut their wall into two vertical strips.

• Then they will install the piece back to the wall making sure there is a little space

between each strip.

Day 4: Finish project: 30 minutes

Clean up: 10 minutes

• Teacher will show how to punch holes on top of paper so students can put wire on top of

the wall creating a barbwire like piece.

• Teacher will also demonstrate how to braid two wires and manipulate it by twisting and



turning to create a barbwire like look.

• Students will punch holes on top of their wall.

• Next step, they will braid wire, cut them in sections, and start looping it and connecting itthrough the holes creating a barbwire on their wall.

• Students can swap their stencils with their peers and add different images to their wall

using oil pastels.• Finish the project.

• Fill out student self-assessment sheet.

Day 5:

Critique

• Fill out peer assessment sheet.

• Students will take turns sharing their peer assessment.

• Students will reflect on the installation project and its process.

• Teacher will guide the discussion making sure students stay focused to the topic and are being respectful and critical with their responses.

Step-By-Step Visual:

Step 1: Sketch an objectthat could symbolize

freedom and peace oncardstock paper

Step 2: Cut out yourobject with scissors

Step 3: Place stencil onthe dirty wall strip

Day 1: Creating a dirty wall by rubbing it on the floorand using charcoal and smudging it with eraser.

Day 2: How to use a stencil to create

continue >



Step 4: Erase out theshape with an erasercreating a simulating

Step 5: Make multiplecopies of your object on

Day 3: Cut the wall into strips and put a backing

Step 1: Fold your paper in Step 2: Open it up andcut through the crease

Step 3: Use glue stick and pasteeach strip onto the white/black

Step 4: When you are done, yourwall should look like this withwhite/black backing paper showing



Supplemental Materials

Visual stencil sheet per table

Materials and Equipment list *(for a class of 30 students)

30 6” x 9” white paper (for dirty wall)

30 pencils30 erasers

30 scissors30 glue sticks30 4” x 8” white/black strips of backing paper

180 12” wire

ADAPTATION FOR EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS, DIFFERENTIATED

INSTRUCTION

• PowerPoint and visual aids, step by step guided demonstration, oral review

Step 1: get two strips of wire and twist them

Step 2: cut them in sections, and start

looping it and connecting it through

the holes

1 21

3 42

1

Day 4: Using wire and making it look likebarbwire



LITERACY BUILDING/LANGUAGE ARTS INTEGRATION

• Vocabulary

• Collage: A picture or design created by adhering flat elements such as newspaper,

photographs, string, etc. to a flat surface and the result becomes three-dimensional (This

term will be introduced and demonstrated on Day 3 when students glue their stencil pieces on to the wall).

• Freedom: the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical

restraint (This term will be introduced and defined on Day 1 when students watch thePowerPoint).

• Overlap: When one thing lies over, partly covering something else. Depicting this is one

of the most important means of conveying an illusion of depth (This term will beintroduced and demonstrated on Day 2 while students make multiple copies of their

stencil).

• Pattern: The repetition of anything like shapes, lines or colors (This term will be

introduced and demonstrated on Day 2 after students cut out their stencils).

• Form: refers to the shape, visual appearance of an object. (This term will be introduced,demonstrated on Day 2 when students brainstorm different objects to create a stencil).

*All the terms will be evaluated the last day of the project for assessment.

Writing, Research, and Reflection

• Students will use the new vocabulary terms they learned to refer to each process. Teacher will also carry on discussions during PowerPoint presentation allowing students to

volunteer responses and offer choices for responses.

VISUAL CULTURE /ANNOTATED IMAGES

• See Figures 1 through 3 on pages 32, 33, and 34.

MEASURING STUDENT OUTCOME

• Assessment

A B C D

Clearly depicts a

dirty wall

Somewhat

clearly depicts

a dirty wall

Wall is clean There is no wall

Inventive with

creating an imagefor stencil

Imaginative

with creatingan image for

stencil

Common pick of an

image for stencil

Imitatively picked

an image for stencil

Used eraser/

scratching clay toolwell to create

Used eraser /

scratching claytool somewhat

Used eraser/

scratching clay tool poorly to create

No use of eraser/

scratching clay tool



reverse graffiti to createreverse graffiti

reverse graffiti

Student used wire

exceptionally

Student used

wire ok

Student used wire

carelessly

No use of wire

Student worked

consistently

throughout periodwith care and focus

Student

worked usually

throughout period with

care and focus

Student worked

occasionally

throughout periodwith care and focus

Student worked

rarely throughout

period with care andfocus

• Student Self-Assessment ( Please circle your choices):

I made a dirty wall using charcoal/rubbings on paper YES NOI sketched an image for my stencil YES NO

My image symbolizes freedom and peace for me YES NO

I cut out my image and made a stencil YES NOI used an eraser to create reverse graffiti YES NO

I created a pattern with my stencil on the wall YES NO

I cut my wall into two (or four) vertical strips YES NO

I glued all my strips on a 4” x 9” strip YES NOI punched holes on top of my wall strips YES NO

I used a wire and braided it to look like barb wire YES NO

I looped and connected my wire through the holes on top of the wall YES NOThese projects made me think about the idea of freedom critically YES NO

I completed my student self assessment sheet YES NO

• Peer assessment sheet

Your Name_______________________________

Peer’s name ___________________________

Write one compliment (something positive) and one critical feedback (something the student

could improve) to your peer about their wall piece.

One compliment (for example, your stencil image of feather shows you like to be free tomove like a feather):

One critical feedback (for example, you could incorporate both negative and positivestencils to your wall):

Ha Nsa George Thesis Rev7

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