Pecha Kucha: Graffiti Art and Vandalism in Commerce City, CO
Each year since 2010, the final instructional unit in my classroom has focused on graffiti art and vandalism. I created this unit with the objective of teaching students how to use graffiti in positive ways. For their summative assessment, students created a virtual graffiti mural accompanied by an artist’s statement to justify their design decisions and explain how the mural would serve as a community asset. I created this presentation as a supplemental resource for this final instructional unit. I created a Pecha Kucha presentation to show my students how graffiti vandalism can hurt a community while graffiti art can enhance it. I illustrated how graffiti was used in my students’ neighborhoods so they could develop an understanding of how to decide whether specific pieces helped or hindered their communities.
Instructional Video: A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader
Each spring my sixth grade team hosts an open house to welcome our incoming sixth graders to middle school. We meet parents and students to begin building relationships so middle school does not seem so scary when the first day of school arrives in August. I created this instructional video to teach incoming sixth graders about academic skills and social behaviors successful students exhibit each day in middle school. After watching the instructional video, the audience will identify and explain ways students can be successful in sixth grade.
Infographic: 4 Tips for Entering Adams City High School
I have worked in a school district serving low-income families with a large population of English language learners. My students encounter challenges outside of school only adults should experience like caring for younger siblings and dodging gang activity in the neighborhood. According to student interviews, many students struggle when transitioning from middle to high school as a result of these obstacles, which equates to a negative high school experience. I designed my infographic to provide advice that will help incoming ninth graders transition from middle to high school. My goal was for students to make personal connections to the advice and apply it to their lives. I wrote the objectives below to outline my intentions.
- Students can identify advice they can use in their real world.
- Students can explain how they will use the advice in their real world.
Wes Akers 