Touching Terra Firma

Two girls stood together in front of the tile mural in the main hall after school today. They were much too old to be middle school students, but they looked vaguely familiar. As I walked by, one of the girls reached out and gently traced the line of the horse's mane, "Here's mine!"
"Mine's down here," answered her friend.
"Do you remember your class symbol?"
"Hmmm, this, what is it? Ying Yang, or something like that?"
"Yeah, we did this one." The second girl reached out and traced the circle of a peace sign tile.
The mural, entitled "Terra Firma" was completed and installed four or five years ago. It was a collaborative project integrating social studies and art. Every 7th grade student designed a tile representing an animal from one of the continents. Tiles representing world symbols were added, as well.
Geography lessons covered the ways in which the physical environment effects culture. Art lessons covered tile designs from around the world as well as ways to show animal textures in clay.
I don't know if these two former students remember the lessons, but they certainly remembered the experience and were clearly proud of the mark they'd left behind in their middle school.

Ceramic Lighthouse Fundraiser

During my first year of teaching art I was dismayed to see many students pitch their artwork into the trash can at the end of the term. No matter how much praise I laid on, students still didn't see the value in their artwork. I would beg them to take it home and let their parents decide, knowing that as a mother I would have treasured it. The answer often was, "my mom'll just throw it out." I didn't believe them, but I decided they needed a purpose for creating their art.
That year I began an annual art auction in December. Students made ceramic lighthouse candle lanterns and researched the plight of the homeless. Some students wanted to keep their lighthouses (mission accomplished!) and, of course, I didn't force anyone to donate their item. I also allowed students to make two, one to keep and one to donate. We put the lighthouses on exhibit in our media center and called it "Light the Way."
The students were proud of raising funds for a local food pantry and not a single ceramic piece ended up in the trashcan.