Teaching Peace & Freedom in the Arts for MLK Day
Monday is our first Play in a Day Camp in honor of the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I decided that the theme of the day will be peace and freedom. We haven’t done this particular theme yet so I am up this morning doing some research. I, of course, first went to the Teaching Tolerance website. Their stuff is an amazing resource to teachers and us teaching artists. They are high quality teaching materials that they provide mostly for free. Any of you who are exploring issues of diversity with your work will definitely want the get connected to these folks.
So, I am definitely inspired. Here is an activity I am looking at called Freedom Flag. What I like about it is that it uses multiple art forms – music, words, and collage. The purpose of the activity is to engage kids in a discussion of freedom to get to heart of what it actually means. I was challenged by figuring out how to do this so this is is good start. However, I will have to adapt the activity…here’s why…
“Using red, white and blue construction paper, create a class “Freedom Flag,” by writing the key words for freedom on strips of red and white paper…”
Using red, white and blue construction paper?!? How are kids supposed to learn about freedom if we tell them they can only use 3 colors in their flag? Actually, limiting it to 3 colors is not the problem. That’s actually a nice parameter. The problem is that we are telling them which 3 colors they can use. I understand that these are the colors of the US flag as it currently exists but the purpose of teaching kids art is teaching them how to notice things that exist and comment on it in their own way.
To me, freedom is being able to be and create your true self without anyone else imposing on you what they think that is. I might say to the group, “we are going to create our own flag that represents our own freedom here in Oakland at Glitter & Razz. Our flag should have 3 colors. What 3 colors should we use to create this flag. What 3 colors would represent us?” And then take them through a process of voting as a group. Now, the activity is teaching democracy in action through a creative process. It is also helping them build their identity as part of a community. It even provides a fertile ground to discuss dissent (”yuck, I don’t like pink!”) and how important it is to freedom.
I will run it by Martin, our art teacher, and see what he says. And I will keep researching to figure out how to take this same idea into our creative movement and drama classes. Either way, I am very excited about this.
Oh, another little criticism about Teaching Tolerance…they do not seem too friendly to those of us who work for ourselves…their free materials go to classroom teachers, administrators, church leaders, and employees of non-profits. You even need a signature from some boss. Maybe I will contact them and let them know about us small business artists who are doing important work with kids too.
Zak will likely see you MOnday and I think you should let the kids decide how many colors to put on the flag. If it’s truly about freedom – that means they should choose. I know Zak will want a rainbow flag!