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January 5 - 17, 2020
To kick off 2020, YWIES invited me to work with the Middle School on an exciting project. As part of YWIES’s commitment to developing global competence in their students, I was brought to YWIES to inspire and engage the community to learn about the United Nations Global Goals and how students can add their voices to this global initiative.
Working with the students in teams, we designed four installation projects around the Global Goal that each team chose. This collaboration put the students in the roles of Witness, Advocate, Activist, or Community Builder so that each student would gain a perspective on what it means to be an engaged citizen in today’s world.
In December, I went to YWIES and worked with the teachers sharing tools and resources for teaching about the Global Goals. During the first week of January, faculty mentors for each team taught lessons about different aspects of the goals to their teams. Students then did their own research culminating in an individual or small group project. In week 2, these individual projects were integrated into the larger installations to to educate the YWIES community at large.
Students imbedded facts about their global goals into all their artworks as well as QR codes which the viewer could scan to get more information.
Yellow Lions - The Activists
Human civilization impacts life on land. The Yellow Lions investigated that impact and made work that illustrated some of the ramifications. Their installation was a butterfly garden where the butterflies were decorated with the markings of endangered species.
Blue Sharks - The Advocates
Climate change is real and affects us all. Acting as advocates for a sensible policy towards climate change the Blue Sharks made artwork about the impact fo these climate changes. Theis installation was a Blue Sky Curtain made of paper replicas of airplanes, ships, and cars, all major contributors to pollution.
Green Bears - The Witnesses
The Green Bears learned about social justice issues worldwide, especially those that effect children. Their witness wall used eyes to show the world that they are watching.
Red Eagles - Community Builders
It’s sometimes hard to understand the ramifications of hunger and malnutrition when you always have enough to eat. This team of students learned about how hunger exists in rich and poor countries alike. They created a restaurant with place settings for countries around the world, showing how hunger exists worldwide.
