For the past three years, I have collaborated with the NYCDOE’s Arts Office and the NAEA to develop visual arts units that integrate Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Below are two units inspired by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Hill Framework, which emphasizes Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy. In the first unit, students create objects and performances designed to address and heal a school-related challenge. The second unit features a collective painting that explores the joys and struggles of middle school life.
Sculpture Unit: Identity Vessels, Monuments, and Healing Rituals
Painting Unit: Nature’s Healing Balm
Socratic Seminar
September 25, 2022
This year’s ED&I focus is on cultivating students’ identity. The topic is based off of Gholdy Muhammad’s Cultivating Genius, which emphasizes drawing upon students’ identity for greater learning. As an introduction to the theme we observed Jordan Casteel’s recent painting, Field Balm and had a 15 minute class discussion structured in a socratic seminar format. Students first wrote observations and questions they had about the painting and then discussed their writing in small groups. One representative from each group shared a question with the class and responses were made using turn-key sentence starters. Below is a video of the group leaders “reenacting” the discussion, recorded during a lunch period.