Submitted by Jamie Dunlap

James Rhoads Elementary School can be found in the Millcreek section of West Philadelphia. The area is challenged by urban blight, although it once was fertile woodlands fed by the creek it was named for. Wildlife flourished, as did the Lenape native peoples who signed the treaty with William Penn.

childWith the help of a Teacher and Artist Partnership (TAP) grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) this year, a select group of students at James Rhoads Elementary School are flourishing thanks to the introduction of a program, MasterPeace, brought to the school by ArtWell, a Philadelphia non-profit that develops arts-based educational programs for schools. Artwell teaching-artists Blew Kind and Joe Brenman have been working to help third-graders explore Mill-creek’s rich history using poetry, story-telling, performance, and visual arts. The collaboration with their inspiring teacher, Quetta Blackman, brings liveliness and creativity to their classroom.

Lessons began with themes of citizenship and community. Children drew circles linked together to define who they are and to which groups they belong. Lessons about cultural traditions and rituals were enhanced with students creating personal flags, which were later transformed into flag collages made with colored paper. They authored poems about connectedness: “I belong to my family…I am a citizen of the United States of America…I am one who is a big brother…I am a great runner…I am a citizen of my block.”

The teaching artists have also embedded vocabulary and themes into lessons about local history and immigration through studying African-American heroes and poets, reading Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, and Maya Angelou and others. Students learned to conduct ethnographic interviews on each other, then interviewed their elders, writing poems in the voices of their elders. This exercise deepened their knowledge of personal, family and neighborhood histories, and helped them hear their families’ hopes for them as the next generation.

The TAP projects themes relate directly to their lives, history, and hopes for the future. The students are developing as thinkers, writers, artists, members of the community and citizens through the PCA’s TAP grant. This opportunity provides teachers and artists the chance to work together in deep ways which enrich not only the students but the adults as well. For more information about TAP grants, contact Jamie Dunlap, PCA Arts in Education program director, at jadunlap@pa.gov or at 717-525-5542.