SUMMER FOLK ARTS PROGRAM ENGAGES STUDENTS IN EXPLORATION OF FAMILY HISTORIES AND TRADITIONS
by Brenda Sendejo
This summer, Texas Folklife Resources partnered with Communities in Schools on a folk arts program at Sims Elementary School. The program, in its second year, involved Texas Folklife Resources staff teaching nineteen 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in Sims' summer program about folkways and traditions, and invited students to explore these concepts within their own communities and families.
Over the course of three, one-week sessions, Texas Folklife Resources educators Linda Ho Peché and myself worked with small groups of students, teaching them about various folkways and how traditions are passed down informally through everyday relationships, and how even students themselves are "bearers of culture" in this process. Students learned about oral history interviewing, family heirlooms, folk stories, art forms and food ways, and explored the traditions that are important to them in their own families and communities by participating in various class activities. With the assistance of Communities in Schools instructors, we worked together to define and illustrate what community means in relation to the students' own experiences. One way this was achieved was through the production of a map entitled, "In Our Community," which incorporated the various places, people and things in the students' communities. Additionally, students enjoyed a performance by storyteller, Carla Nickerson, who used songs and instruments from West Africa to engage the students in a variety of musical traditions that emphasized the universal qualities of music, song, and dance.
Each student was given a camera to document the customs and objects that are an important part of their own family history. They interviewed family members and photographed the people and things that hold meaning in their lives. Some images included: a sister getting her hair braided, a mother making tortillas, and favorite objects such a a quilt made by a grandmother, a first communion doll, and a family's basketball goal. Students wrote up their observations and family stories and used them along with their photos to construct colorful collages, each reflective of the unique and individual experiences of that student.
These art projects were exhibited at Oak Springs Library from July 6 to August 8, 2005. Students were excited to show their artwork to their families at the opening reception, and reveled in the fact that their works would be viewed by the public. Camp participant, Markel said of the experience:
It felt good because I got to see my work and I did a good job and we made something about us. We made something about what we each liked, each and every person in that camp. My artwork-- I'm glad people liked it and how it was and looked. I'm going to have to say how cool it was-- it's something that makes us feel good.